The Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 1 - The 50s

[daf]

Slacking, daf.

He he - I wondered if anyone was noticing my OCD time postings *

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* (and yes, my finger slipped on this last one - curse it!!)

[daf]

A-bop-bop, a-loo-mop, a-lop bop-bop, its . . .

47.  Pat Boone - I'll Be Home



From : 10 June – 14 July 1956
Weeks : 5
Flip side : Tutti Frutti

Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone was born on 1 June, 1934, in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of Margaret Virginia (née Pritchard) and Archie Altman Boone. He was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, where his family moved when he was two years old.

Boone began recording in 1954 for Republic Records, and by 1955, for Dot Records. His 1955 version of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" was a hit. This set the stage for the early part of Boone's career, which focused on covering R&B songs by black artists for a white American market, including :
"Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard;
"At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)" by The El Dorados;
and the blues ballad "I Almost Lost My Mind" by Ivory Joe Hunter

He appeared as a regular performer on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends from 1955 through 1957, and later hosted his own The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, on Thursday evenings. In the early 1960s, he began writing a series of self-help books for adolescents, including Twixt Twelve and Twenty. The British Invasion led by The Dave Clark Five and The Brumbeats ended Boone's career as a hitmaker, though he continued recording throughout the 1960s. In the 1970s, he switched to gospel and country, and he continued performing in other media, as well.

In 1997, Boone released In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, a collection of heavy metal covers. To promote the album, he appeared at the American Music Awards in black leather.

"I'll Be Home" is a 1955 song that was written by Ferdinand Washington and Stan Lewis. The song was originally a hit for The Flamingos on the Checker Records subsidiary of Chess Records. Their recording went to No. 5 on Billboard's

It was also a 1956 hit for Pat Boone, produced by Randy Wood. Boone's version was released as a single with "Tutti Frutti" as the B-side. It peaked at No. 5 on the US Billboard chart. Overseas, it was a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart, spending five weeks at No. 1, and 24 weeks on the charts altogether. It was the best-selling single of 1956 in the United Kingdom.

On This Day :

21 June : US dramatist Arthur Miller is called before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the United States House of Representatives, but declines to name suspected Communists, resulting in his conviction for contempt of court.
22 June : Green Gartside, (Scritti Politti) born in Cardiff, Wales
22 June : Walter de la Mare, 83, English poet, died
28 June : The film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1951 stage musical The King and I released in the US
29 June : Marilyn Monroe marries US dramatist Arthur Miller at Westchester County Court in White Plains, New York.
4 July : The first flight of the U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union are made by the US from Wiesbaden in West Germany.
6 July : Vice President Richard Nixon visits South Vietnam, saying that "the march of Communism has been halted".
7 July : First episode of the TV version of Hancock's Half Hour broadcast (and performed live!) on the BBC.
8 July : Russell Christian, (The Christians - sax), born in Liverpool
9 July : Tom Hanks, US actor and director, born in Concord, California
14 July : The 1956 British Grand Prix is held at Silverstone and is won by Juan Manuel Fangio.

[daf]

Just noticed a lot of the youtube links have broken, so here's some replacements * :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. Al Martino - Here In My Heart
2. Jo Stafford - You Belong To Me
3. Kay Starr - Comes A-Long A-Love
4. Eddie Fisher - Outside Of Heaven / flip side : Lady of Spain
6. Guy Mitchell - She Wears Red Feathers
9. Frankie Laine - I Believe / flip side : Your Cheatin' Heart
10. Eddie Fisher - I'm Walking Behind You
11.  Mantovani - The Song From The Moulin Rouge
13.  Frankie Laine - Hey Joe
15.  Frankie Laine - Answer Me
16.  Eddie Calvert - Oh Mein Papa
18.  Doris Day - Secret Love  / Flip side : The Deadwood Stage (Whip - Crack - Away!)
19.  Johnnie Ray - Such A Night
21.  Kitty Kallen - Little Things Mean A Lot
22.  Frank Sinatra - Three Coins In The Fountain
23.  Don Cornell - Hold My Hand
25. (Rosemary Clooney) Flip side : Hey There
27.  Dickie Valentine - Finger Of Suspicion
28.  Rosemary Clooney - Mambo Italiano
31.  Perez Prado - Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
32.  Tony Bennett - Stranger In Paradise
39.  Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around The Clock / (in the notes :  "Crazy Man, Crazy" / "Shake, Rattle and Roll" )
40.  Dickie Valentine - Christmas Alphabet
41.  Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
42.  Dean Martin - Memories Are Made Of This
44.  Kay Starr - The Rock And Roll Waltz
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

* (click on the number to go to the original post / singer & song title for the new youtube link)

[The Culture Bunker]

I've never heard Boone's version of "Long Tall Sally" before, and have no intention, as it would surely be a very futile endeavour. But I hope Richard enjoyed the royalty checks, if he got any.

[machotrouts]

I know this song because of its integral role in a dark family secret.

Can't elaborate publicly, obviously. Fill in the back story for yourself, dark family secret fans.

[daf]

Der, Doom-a, Doom-a, D-doom-a, Duh-duhh, its . . .

48.  Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall in Love



From : 15 July – 4 August 1956
Weeks : 3
Flip side : Please Be Mine
Bonus : The Frankie Laine Show

Franklin Joseph Lymon was born in Harlem, New York on 30 September, 1942 to Jeanette and Howard Lymon. At 12 in 1954, Lymon heard a local doo-wop group known as the Coupe De Villes at a school talent show. He became friends with the lead singer, Herman Santiago, and he eventually became a member of the group, now calling itself both The Ermines and The Premiers.

"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" was the Teenagers' first and biggest hit. The group, known for both their harmony and choreography, also had hits with "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent" and "The ABC's of Love".

In early 1957, Lymon and the Teenagers broke up while on a tour in Europe. During an engagement at the London Palladium, Goldner began pushing Lymon as a solo act, giving him solo spots in the show. Lymon began performing with backing from pre-recorded tapes. The group's last single, "Goody Goody" backed with "Creation of Love," initially retained the "Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers" credit, but they were actually solo recordings (with backing by session singers). Lymon had officially departed from the group by September 1957; an in-progress studio album called Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers at the London Palladium was instead issued as a Lymon solo release.

As a solo artist, Lymon was not nearly as successful as he had been with the Teenagers. Beginning with his second solo release, "My Girl", Lymon had moved to Roulette Records. On a July 19, 1957 episode of Alan Freed's live ABC TV show The Big Beat, Lymon began dancing with a white teenage girl while he was performing. His actions caused a scandal, particularly among Southern TV station owners, and The Big Beat was subsequently canceled.

After losing Lymon, the Teenagers went through a string of replacement singers, the first of whom was Billy Lobrano. In 1960, Howard Kenny Bobo sang lead on "Tonight's the Night" with the Teenagers; later that year, Johnny Houston sang lead on two songs. The Teenagers, who had been moved by Morris Levy to End Records, were released from their contract in 1961. The Teenagers briefly reunited with Lymon in 1965, without success.

On 21 June, 1966, he was arrested on a heroin charge and was drafted into the United States Army in the lieu of a jail sentence. He reported to Fort Gordon, Georgia, near Augusta, Georgia, for training.[citation needed] While in the Augusta area, Lymon met and fell in love with Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher at Hornsby Elementary in Augusta. The two were wed in June 1967, and Lymon repeatedly went AWOL to secure gigs at small Southern clubs.

Traveling to New York in 1968, Lymon was signed by manager Sam Bray to his Big Apple label, and the singer returned to recording. After being clean for 3 years following his spell in the Army, Lymon celebrated his good fortune by taking heroin - On 27 February, 1968, Lymon was found dead at the age of 25 on the floor of his grandmother's bathroom.

"I'm Sorry" and "Seabreeze", the two songs Lymon had recorded for Big Apple before his death, were released later in 1968.

In late 1955, The Teenagers (at that time calling themselves The Premiers) auditioned a song called "Why do Birds Sing So Gay?" for George Goldner, recording producer and owner of Gee Records. Herman Santiago, tenor of the group, had written the song based on a line from some love letters given to the guys by a tenant in bassist Sherman Garnes' apartment building. One of them featured the words "Why do birds sing so gay?," which fit in with lyrics of other songs that Herman had been writing based on a 1-6-2-5 chord pattern. Herman adjusted the harmony to take advantage of Frankie Lymon's high tenor/soprano. Along the way, at Goldner's suggestion, some of the lyrics were changed. During the audition Frankie's voice stood out and Goldner recommended the lead in subsequent recording sessions be given to Frankie. Frankie did some improvising and re-created the melody to match his own style. According to Jimmy Merchant, what happened at the recording session was a combination of "Frankie's singing ability coupled with George Goldner's special ability to bring out the best in Frankie."

Although early vinyl single releases of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" credit Frankie Lymon, Herman Santiago, and George Goldner as co-writers of the song, later releases and cover versions were attributed only to Lymon and record producer George Goldner. Goldner's name was later replaced by Morris Levy when Levy bought Goldner's interest in Gee Records, the Teenagers' record company.
After a lengthy court battle, songwriting credits were awarded to original Teenagers members Herman Santiago and Jimmy Merchant in December 1992.
However, in 1996, this ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit under the statute of limitations and authorship, because Santiago and Merchant did not bring the case to court soon enough. This gave the song rights back to Lymon and Levy.

The Canadian group The Diamonds also did a more traditional doo wop version that came out the week after Lymon's, in March 1956. peaking at No. 12 in the US.
Alma Cogan released a version of the song as a single in 1956 that reached #25 in the UK.
The song was the B-side for The Beach Boys single "Fun, Fun, Fun", and included on their 1964 album Shut Down Volume 2.
Diana Ross released a cover version on the RCA label in 1981 - a No.1 in Belgium and the Netherlands.

On This Day :

15 July : Ian Curtis, (Joy Division) born in Stretford, Lancashire.
20 July : Paul Cook, drummer (Sex Pistols), born in Shepherds Bush, London.
22 July : The first UK Albums Chart is published in Record Mirror (Frank Sinatra's 'Songs for Swingin' Lovers!' is #1)
24 July : After 10 years together, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together at the Copacabana nightclub in New York
30 July : Filthy Ron Phil Fearon, (Galaxy), born in Jamaica . . . (of his own accord!!)
3 August : Kirk Brandon, (Spear of Destiny), born in Westminster, London

[Pranet]

Interesting experience reading that increasingly depressing post while listening to such a chirpy song.

[Satchmo Distel]

Mike Love's band does the Lymon song most concerts but Brian Wilson's does not.

I think it is indisputably the best No. 1 so far and perhaps the best we will hear until the first Motown one.

[Satchmo Distel]

Interesting experience reading that increasingly depressing post while listening to such a chirpy song.

Jose Marti avatar?

[Pranet]

I'm pretty sure it isn't (I had not heard of him until two minutes ago.) I don't know who it is. I just wanted an avatar back in the days you had a grumpy baby if you didn't upload one. I more or less chose a picture at random. I have a feeling it might be a Victorian footballer.

[DrGreggles]

I think it is indisputably the best No. 1 so far and perhaps the best we will hear until the first Motown one.

Can't argue with that.

[machotrouts]

It's probably just the filter of my 2019-ass ears, but everyone who's covered this sounds like they sing "why do birds sing so gay?" with a sort of embarrassed understatement; this charming little pre-puber, on the other hand, belts "SOOOO GAYYYY" at me with such assurance, it transports me right back to my school days.

[Pranet]

It was more of a pleasant shock to my ears than Rock Around the Clock certainly.

[daf]

Matt Busby . . . Dig it! . . Dig it! . . Dig it! . . , its . . .

49.  Doris Day - Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)



From : August 5 – September 15 1956
Weeks : 6
Flip side : You Made Me Love You (I Don't Want To Do It)

Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff was born on 3 April, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is probably best known for her 1955 flop b-side "Ooh Bang Jiggilly Jang".

Between 1950 and 1953, the albums from six of her movie musicals charted in the Top 10, three of them at No. 1. In 1953 Doris Day appeared as the title character in the comedic western-themed musical, Calamity Jane. A song from the film, "Secret Love", won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Day's first No. 1 hit single in the UK. After filming Lucky Me with Bob Cummings and Young at Heart (both 1954) with Frank Sinatra, Day chose not to renew her contract with Warner Brothers.

Day starred in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. She sang two songs in the film, "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and "We'll Love Again", which didn't.

In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies. This success began with Pillow Talk (1959), co-starring Rock Hudson, who became a lifelong friend, and Tony Randall. Day received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Day teamed up with James Garner, starting with The Thrill of It All, followed by Move Over, Darling (both 1963). The film's theme song, "Move Over Darling", co-written by her son, reached #8 in the UK. Twenty years later, Tracey Ullman's version would also peak at #8 - spooky!

When her third husband Martin Melcher died on April 20, 1968, she discovered that Melcher and his business partner Jerome Bernard Rosenthal had squandered her earnings on fizzy pop and sweets - leaving her deeply in debt, and had also committed her to a television series.
The first episode of The Doris Day Show aired on September 24, 1968, and, from 1968 to 1973, employed "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song.

Day, aged 89, released 'My Heart' in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2011, her first new album in nearly two decades. Day became the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material.

Since her retirement from films, Day has lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. She has many pets and adopts stray animals.

"Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" was written by the songwriting team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The song was introduced in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), starring Doris Day and James Stewart.

The title sequence of the Hitchcock film gives the song title as "Whatever Will Be". Day's recording of the song for Columbia Records made it to #2 in the US and #1 in the UK Singles Chart. It was also #1 hit in Australia for pop singer Normie Rowe in September 1965.

The popularity of the song has led to curiosity about the origins of the saying and the identity of its language. Both the Spanish-like spelling used by Livingston and Evans and an Italian-like form ("che sarà sarà") are first documented in the 16th century as an English heraldic motto.

The "Spanish" form appears on a brass plaque in the Church of St. Nicholas, Thames Ditton, Surrey, dated 1559. The "Italian" form was first adopted as a family motto by John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford after his experience at the Battle of Pavia (1525).
The line "Che sera, sera / What will be, shall be" is found in ACt 1 of Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus (1590).

The saying is always in an English-speaking context, and has no history in Spain, Italy, or France, and in fact is ungrammatical in all three Romance languages. It is composed of Spanish or Italian words superimposed on English syntax. It was evidently formed by a word-for-word mistranslation of English "What will be will be".

Composer Jay Livingston had seen the 1954 Hollywood film The Barefoot Contessa, in which a fictional Italian family has the motto "Che sarà sarà" carved in stone at their ancestral mansion. He immediately wrote it down as a possible song title, and he and lyricist Ray Evans later gave it a Spanish spelling "because there are so many Spanish-speaking people in the world".

Other versions of "Que Sera, Sera" include:
    The High Keys (1963)
    Los Moonlights (1964)
    Earl Royce & The Olympics (1964)
    P.J. Proby as "Whatever Will Be" (1964)
    Normie Rowe (a number 1 in Australia in 1965)
    Alvin and the Chipmunks (1965)
    Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band (1966)
    The Shirelles (1966)
    Mary Hopkin (1970)
    Sly and the Family Stone (1973)
    Shakin' Stevens (1982)
    K Foundation (1993)

On This Day :

8 August : David Grant, (Jaki Graham), born in Hackney, London
11 August : Jackson Pollock, US artist, killed in a car crash age 44
14 August :Bertolt Brecht, German playwright, died age 58
16 August : Bela Lugosi, Hungarian actor best known for playing a Draclea, died age 73 . . . or did he?
25 August : Matt Aitken, (Stock Aitken & Waterman), born in Coventry
27 August : Glen Matlock, (Sex Pistols), born in Paddington, London
4 September : Sweden's television service officially begins with transmissions by Radiotjänst TV.
9 September : Elvis Presley appears for the first time The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by 60 million viewers.
10 September : Johnny Fingers (John Peter Moylett), (Boomtown Rats), born in Dublin
12 September : Barry Andrews, (XTC / Shriekback), born in West Norwood, London
13 September : Joni Sledge, (Sister Sledge), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
13 September : The hard disk drive is invented by an IBM team led by Reynold B. Johnson.
15 September : Jaki Graham, (David Grant), born in Birmingham
15 September : The UK's commercial TV station, ITV, begins broadcasting The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, starring William Russell ('Ian' from Dr Who).

[machotrouts]

Mum routinely watches, and loudly sings along with, Pillow Talk. Move Over Darling saw the highest airplay in our house of any of those songs. Usually doesn't bother with the Roly Poly one. Used to swear blind she was Doris Day "in a past life", before she found out she isn't dead yet. Big fan of all things Doris Day, except Calamity Jane is banned in the house because of her morbid fear of whips.

[Satchmo Distel]

The b-side is probably better, in a potentially stalkerish way

[purlieu]

Home and catching up on this lovely thread.

The Rock n Roll Waltz - Bit of swagger to this, not bad.
The Poor People Paris - That was bloody great.
No Other Love - Back to this shit again then.
I'll Be Home - All these crooners are the same person, right?
Why Do Fools Fall in Love? - Ah, a bit of energy at last. Yeah, this is very good. You can definitely hear the very first traces of later pop music in here.
Que Sera, Sera - No way to properly judge this. It's Que Sera, Sera.

[machotrouts]

I didn't realise until now, well until yesterday, that the phrase "que sera sera" only entered common parlance through this song (and, seemingly, didn't previously exist at all with that specific spelling).

Similarly, people never used to say "ooh bang jiggily jang" before Doris came along. It's hard to believe there was a time before ooh banging jiggily janging was a fundamental part of our daily lives.

[daf]

Let's Do The Time-Warp Ag-a-a-a-a-a-in!, its . . .

50.  Anne Shelton - Lay Down Your Arms (with Wally Stott And His Orchestra And Chorus)



From : 16 September – 13 October 1956
Weeks : 4
Flip side :  Daydreams

Anne Shelton was born Patricia Jacqueline Sibley on 10 November 1923 in Dulwich, South London. She began singing at age 12 on the radio show "Monday Night at Eight", and by age 15 she had a recording contract.

Shelton performed at military bases in Britain during World War II. Her radio programme, Calling Malta, was broadcast from 1942 to 1947. In 1944, she was invited by Glenn Miller to sing in France with him and his orchestra. She declined because of prior commitments. Miller died during this tour when his plane crashed.

In 1948 she recorded "If You Ever Fall in Love Again", written by Irish songwriter Dick Farrelly, who is best remembered for his song "Isle of Innisfree", which Shelton also recorded. Her songs "Galway Bay" and "Be Mine" were popular in the United States in 1949, and she toured there in 1951.

She had a No.1 hit song in 1956 in the UK with "Lay Down Your Arms", engineered by Joe Meek. She also had a Top 10 hit in 1961 with her cover version of "Sailor". In the same year she participated in BBC Television's A Song for Europe contest, the UK qualifying heat for the Eurovision Song Contest. Her entry, "I Will Light a Candle" was placed fourth. Shelton made another attempt at Eurovision in 1963 with "My Continental Love" – and came fourth again.

In 1967 she covered the song, "It Won't Be Long 'Til Christmas" which was originally to be featured in the Walt Disney feature film musical, The Happiest Millionaire but then was deleted from the final cut of the film.

She made an appearance on a 1973 episode of The Benny Hill Show, when she sang "Put Your Hand in the Hand", a biblically inspired tune by the group Ocean that was a 1971 hit in the US. Shelton changed the words of one verse to describe briefly her father's positive influence on her family when she was growing up.

She continued to perform at charity and anniversary concerts almost until her death on 31 July 1994.

"Lay Down Your Arms" is a 1956 popular music song with music by Åke Gerhard and Leon Landgren and lyrics by Gerhard (original "Anne-Caroline" Swedish) and Paddy Roberts (English).

In the United States, the biggest hit version was recorded by The Chordettes, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard chart. In the United Kingdom, Forces sweetheart Anne Shelton had the major hit, reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart - beating off Elvis Presley's Hound Dog at No. 2 in late September 1956.

Initially the BBC took a dim view of the song as it might have encouraged British troops to 'lay down their guns', at a difficult time of the post-Suez crisis and the conflict in Cyprus with EOKA. The ban was soon lifted when many requested it on "Two-Way Family Favourites", a popular Sunday lunchtime radio show. Another UK version was recorded by Billie Anthony.

On This Day :

16 September : Television broadcasting in Australia begins, with the launch of the country's first TV station TCN-9, transmitting in the Sydney area.
16 September : David Copperfield, (Fictional Dickensian character floating in a box magician), born in Metuchen, New Jersey
18 September :  WWE Women's Wrestling Championship wrestling is established, with 'The Fabulous Moolah' becoming the first champion.  ("The Fabulous Moolah"!!!!)
27 September : The Bell X-2, piloted by Milburn G. Apt, 32, becomes the first manned aircraft to reach Mach 3. However, Apt experiences "inertia coupling", goes into a spin, fails to eject and is killed.
29 September : Sebastian Coe, (Olympic athlete), born in London, England
1 October : Theresa May, (Page 3 Stunnah British Prime Minister), born in Eastbourne, England
5 October : The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, is released.
6 October :  Bobby Charlton makes his first appearance for Manchester United, aged 18, in a match against Charlton Athletic.
12 October : Dave Vanian, (The Damned), born in Hemel Hempstead, England

[machotrouts]

A girl who loves a soldier is either sad or gay!

I went into this assuming it'd be a can't we all just get along? proto-Cranberries-Zombie ballad – nope, it sounds like a rousing call to arms. I'd love to think it's an ironically retro hippy peacenik anthem, but I think it's a decade too early for that – but also a decade too late to make sense as post-World War II our-work-here-is-done revelry. It seems incongruous in 1956 either way.

I'm sticking with the pacifist reading, perhaps out of wishful thinking more than authorial intent – the tune immediately drilled its way into my head and I want to justify its place there. You can't sing with such schoolmarmish, authoritative sexlessness and genuinely intend it to be received warmly by soldiers, right? She's a subversive agent on a mission to disarm our brave boys and I don't want to hear about her performing at military bases because that just ruins it. Anne Shelton is antifa

[daf]

I recognised the name 'Wally Stott', from the Goon Shows, but didn't know about his later life - which took a bit of an unexpected turn :

Stott was originally a composer of light music, best known for pieces such as the jaunty "Rotten Row" and "A Canadian in Mayfair", a homage to Robert Farnon's "Portrait of a Flirt". He is also remembered for writing the theme tune and incidental music for Hancock's Half Hour, and was the musical director for The Goon Show from the third series in 1952 to the last show in 1960. Another short but remembered theme was the 12-note-long "Ident Zoom-2", written for Lew Grade's Associated TeleVision (ATV), in use from the introduction of colour television in 1969, until the demise of ATV in 1981.

In 1958, Stott began an association with Shirley Bassey, including work for Bassey's recording of "As I Love You", which reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1959, and also worked with Dusty Springfield and on the first four solo albums by Jackie hit-maker Scott Walker.

Although Stott had been married and had children, he had, in the words of Max Geldray, the harmonica player who featured in the Goon Show, "a lifelong mental struggle with gender identity, a fact that, for all those years, he had kept sealed tightly inside himself". It was only after his first wife died and he met his second wife, Christine Parker, whom he married in 1970, that he was able to confront, and resolve, his identity crisis. He said: "It was only because of her love and support that I then was able to deal with the trauma, and begin to think about crossing over that terrifying gender border."

Two years after the marriage, Stott underwent what was then termed a sex-rectifying operation. He became Angela Morley, taking his mother's maiden name, and continued to work for BBC radio, arranging versions of standards for Radio 2. Earlier that year she had turned down the chance to be part of the Last Goon Show of All because she had not yet gone public about her sex change.

In between scoring films, she was also a regular conductor of the BBC Radio Orchestra, and helped John Williams with the orchestration of his scores for Star Wars, Superman and The Empire Strikes Back.

[purlieu]

That's truly the most bizarre song so far.

[Satchmo Distel]

I have always confuse this song with Arthur Alexander's 'Soldier of Love', which starts with the words Lay down your arms.

Joe Meek makes his first appearance, so the record had a gay engineer and transgender conductor, both in the closet.

[daf]

He Wo-o-o-ore a Spotted Bowtie, its . . .

51.  Frankie Laine - A Woman In Love



From : October 14 – November 10 1956
Weeks : 4
Flip side : Make Me A Child Again ‎

Under the guidance of Mitch Miller, Laine began recording for Columbia Records in 1951, where he immediately scored a hit with the single "Jezebel".
Other Laine hits from this period include "Jealousy" (1951), "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)" (1952), "Your Cheatin' Heart" (1953), "Granada" (1954), and "The Kid's Last Fight" (1954).

At this time, Laine had become more popular in the United Kingdom than in the USA -  Songs like "The Rock of Gibraltar", and "Answer Me, O Lord" were much bigger hits for him in the UK than in his native country.

In 1958 his theme song for Rawhide proved to be popular. Other TV series for which Laine sang the theme song included Gunslinger (1961), and Rango. In 1974 he sung the title song for Mel Brooks "Blazing Saddles". In 1976, Laine recorded The Beatles song, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" for the documentary All This and World War II.

Along with opening the door for many R&B performers, Laine played a significant role in the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s. When Nat King Cole's television show was unable to get a sponsor, Laine crossed the color line, becoming the first white artist to appear as a guest.

Laine died of heart failure on February 6, 2007, his ashes, along with those of his late wife, Nan Grey, were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.

"A Woman in Love" is a popular song. It was written by Frank Loesser and was published in 1955, introduced in Samuel Goldwyn's 1955 cinematic adaptation of the Broadway musical 'Guys and Dolls', and sung by the mumbling Godfather himself : Marlon Brando

The biggest hit version of the song in the U.S. was recorded by The Four Aces, backed by the Jack Pleis Orchestra - reching number 20. Frankie Laine also recorded a version that scored a big success in the United Kingdom, reaching number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks. In the UK, Ronnie Hilton also charted, at number 30, with another version of the song.

On This Day :

15 October : The sixth Miss World competition is held at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, and is won by Petra Schürmann of Germany.
18 October : Martina Navratilova, tennis player, born in Prague, Czech Republic
20 October : Danny Boyle, film director, born in Radcliffe, Lancashire
21 October : Carrie Fisher, actress, born in Beverly Hills, California
22 October : Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
23 October : Dwight Yoakam, (country singer), born in Pikeville, Kentucky
23 October : The Hungarian Revolution begins, as over 20,000 protesters convene at the statue of national hero József Bem in Budapest. Secret police forces open fire on the crowd, and the demonstration escalates into a full-scale armed revolution.
25 October : In Germany, the Berchetsgarden Tribunal declares Adolf Hitler "officially dead".
30 October : Juliet Stevenson, actress, born in Kelvedon, Essex
4 November : James Honeyman-Scott, (Pretenders), born in Hereford, Herefordshire
5 November : The Nat King Cole Show debuts on NBC, the first variety program to be hosted by an African-American
8 November : UN demands USSR leave Hungary
8 November : Richard Curtis, (Four Wedding and a Funeral), born in Wellington, New Zealand

[buzby]

Love the peaked cap they've painted onto Shelton's head there. Photoshop's nothing new, eh?

A girl who loves a soldier is either sad or gay!

I went into this assuming it'd be a can't we all just get along? proto-Cranberries-Zombie ballad – nope, it sounds like a rousing call to arms. I'd love to think it's an ironically retro hippy peacenik anthem, but I think it's a decade too early for that – but also a decade too late to make sense as post-World War II our-work-here-is-done revelry. It seems incongruous in 1956 either way.

Don't forget that the UK Armed Forces had been involved in the Korean war between 1950-53 and at the time of Shelton's hit we were building up our forces for the diastrous Suez campaign (which took place at end of October-beginning of November 1956) and the situation in Aden had also just turned 'hot'.

[machotrouts]

This is a bizarrely aggressive performance. Maniacally bellowing "those eyes, are the eyes, of a WOMAN IN LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE" in some poor lass's face. Spittle flying everywhere, neighbours calling the police. Ridiculous and terrifying, and for once I don't mean that as a compliment.

I don't know why this is the version of the song that buyers chose – maybe they felt intimidated into it – but it marks Frankie Laine becoming the first artist to have four #1 hits. 'Hey Joe' indisputably the opus of the bunch.

[purlieu]

Hmmm. Well it wasn't awful.

[daf]

Johnnie / Johnny sheet music confusion, its . . .

52.  Johnnie Ray - Just Walking In The Rain



From : 11 November – 29 December 29 1956
Weeks : 7
Flip side : In the Candlelight

Johnnie Ray was born January 10, 1927, in Dallas, Oregon, to parents Elmer and Hazel (née Simkins) Ray. Along with older sister Elma, Ray spent part of his childhood on a farm and attended grade school in Dallas. Ray began playing the piano at age three, and beginning at age twelve, sang in the local church choir.

Inspired by rhythm singers like Kay Starr, LaVern Baker and Ivory Joe Hunter, Ray developed a unique rhythm-based singing style, described as alternating between pre-rock R&B and a more conventional classic pop approach. He began singing professionally on a Portland, Oregon, radio station at age 15.

He later performed in comedy shows and theatrical productions in Seattle, Washington, before relocating to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, Ray would regularly perform at the Flame Showbar, an African American nightclub, where he developed a local following.
While performing at the Flame Showbar, Ray attracted the attention of Bernie Lang, a song plugger, who saw him perform with local DJ, Robin Seymour of WKMH. Lang went to New York to sell the singer to Danny Kessler of the Okeh label, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. Kessler came over from New York, and he, Lang and Seymour went to the Flame. According to Seymour, Kessler's reaction was, "Well, I don't know. This kid looks well on the stand, but he will never go on records."

Ray's first record, the self-penned R&B number for Okeh Records, "Whiskey and Gin," was a minor hit in 1951. The following year he dominated the charts with the double-sided hit single of "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried." Selling over two million copies of the 78rpm single, Ray's delivery struck a chord with teenagers and he quickly became a teen idol. When executives at Columbia Records, the parent company of Okeh, realized that Ray had developed a fan base of white listeners, he was moved over to the Columbia label.

The live television broadcast of Toast of the Town on January 6, 1952 included the first of his several appearances on the widely seen American program (which changed its title to The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955).

20th Century Fox included him in the ensemble cast of the movie There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) alongside Ethel Merman as his mother, Dan Dailey as his father, Donald O'Connor as his brother, Mitzi Gaynor as his sister, and Marilyn Monroe as his sister-in-law. This was his only film other than a cameo as a police officer in Rogue's Gallery. Rogue's Gallery was intended for release to cinemas in 1968 but was withdrawn and was not seen publicly until NBC telecast it in 1972, and it never was distributed to theaters. In the 1980s when Ray was asked why he never had made another widely seen film after There's No Business Like Show Business, he replied, "I was never asked."

Though his American popularity was declining in 1957, he remained popular in the United Kingdom, breaking the attendance record at the London Palladium formerly set by fellow Columbia Records artist Frankie Laine. In later years, he retained a loyal fan base overseas, particularly in Australia.

"Just Walkin' in the Rain" was written in 1952 by Johnny Bragg and Robert Riley, two prisoners at Tennessee State Prison in Nashville, after a comment made by Bragg as the pair crossed the courtyard while it was raining. Bragg allegedly said, "Here we are just walking in the rain, and wondering what the girls are doing." Riley suggested that this would make a good basis for a song, and within a few minutes, Bragg had composed two verses. However, because Bragg was unable to read and write, he asked Riley to write the lyrics down in exchange for being credited as one of the song's writers.

Bragg and his band, The Prisonaires, later recorded the song for Sun Records and it became a hit on the US Billboard R&B chart in 1953. However, the best-known version of the song was recorded by Johnnie Ray in July 16, 1956 on the label Columbia Records; it reached No. 2 in the US, and No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks. It became a gold record. Ray initially disliked the song, but sang it based on the recommendation of Mitch Miller. Ray's version featured the backup male vocals of the Ray Conniff Singers as well as a whistler.

On This Day :

11 November : Ian Craig Marsh, (Heaven 17), born in Sheffield
15 November : "Love Me Tender" Elvis Presley's debut film premieres in the US
20 November : Bo Derek, actress, born in Long Beach, California
22 November : Opening day of 1956 Summer Olympics, held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
29 November : Chris Brasher becomes first Briton to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field since 1936 (3,000m steeplechase)
8 December : Final day of the Melbourne Olympics - Britain came 8th in the medal table (6 Gold / 7 Silver / 11 Bronze / 3 Plywood)
6 December : Peter Buck, (REM), born in Berkeley, California
16 December : "Fanny" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 888 performances
19 December : Jimmy Cauty, (KLF), born in Wirral, Cheshire
28 December : Nigel Kennedy, (cockney fiddler), born in Brighton, Sussex

[machotrouts]

My favourite #1 written by an illiterate rapist after [REDACTED - COOK'D AND BOMB'D LEGAL TEAM]

[Satchmo Distel]

A rape conviction for a 17 year old black teenager in Tennessee in 1943 might not have been entirely above board