Hey, old school's the rule...
and you're stuck like glue on Shady Blue!
How are ya doing, this morning?
You're tuned to the greatest little
station in the nation, S-P-M-M,
home of The Shady Bunch.
Kicking off the show you heard
songwriter Barry Mann singing
his one and only top 10 hit as a
solo recording artist, "Who Put
The Bomp," a ditty he co-wrote
with Gerry Goffin. Background
vocals on that record were done
by the Bronx doo-wop group
The Halos.
The El Dorados, a doo-wop group from Chicago, are best known
for their chart-topping R&B hit "At My Front Door" released in
August 1955. Wouldn't you know it, mild-mannered pop crooner
Pat Boone waxed a cover of the song and had his vanilla version
on the radio and in record shops a couple of weeks later!
CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!
Shady Blue always gives credit where its due. The Patster's
whitewashed, sanitized cover is so bad... it's great. Go Pat, go!
"At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)" - Pat Boone
(Nov./Dec. 1955, highest chart pos. #7 Hot 100/#8 Cash Box)
That was Mr. Clean, Pat Boone, doing a decent job of covering
"At My Front Door," originally recorded by the El Dorados.
Shady Blue keeping you company on
S-P-M-M Retrosonic Radio, and now
here's a song written by Bert Berns,
the influential songwriter and producer
who founded two of the coolest record
labels of the 1960s - Bang and Shout.
"Tell Her" was first recorded in the
spring of '62 by Johnny Thunder.
His platter failed to chart. By
the end of the year the song
was famous thanks to a
cover with a slightly
different title waxed
by the R&B group
The Exciters.
START VIDEO NOW!
Check it out... a record that made Billboard's list of The 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. The Exciters-- "Tell Him!"
"Tell Him" - The Exciters
(Dec. 1962/Jan. 1963, highest chart pos.
#4 Hot 100/#5 Cash Box/#5 R&B)
"Tell Him," a top 5 hit by The Exciters, featuring Brenda Reid, a little lady
with powerful pipes, a "girl group" that included her husband Herb Rooney.
If you're just tuning in, you're Stuck Like
Glue on Shady Blue and this is S-P-M-M,
where we go hunting for great sounds of
the past and bring 'em back alive. In the
early to mid 60s, this next young lady's
voice was heard singing soda pop
jingles as "The Pepsi Girl." Billed
as "The Voice of the Sixties" she
made records with Edd "Kookie"
Byrnes of 77 Sunset Strip, waxed
solo singles and albums and
acted on TV and in movies.
START VIDEO NOW!
As a recording artist she worked with some of the best songwriters,
arrangers and producers in the business. Nevertheless, she is remembered
as a one-hit-wonder for the girl pop single now spinning on my turntable.
Her name is Joanie Sommers and this her claim to fame-- "Johnny Get Angry!"
"Johnny Get Angry" - Joanie Sommers
(June/July 1962, highest chart pos. #7 Hot 100/#11 Cash Box)
That was Joanie Sommers with her signature song "Johnnie Get Angry,"
a top 10 memory maker from the summer of '62. Joanie got angry
because that teen romance ditty was her only hit.
Here's an actress & singer who made a much
bigger name for herself. Debbie Reynolds was
a popular leading lady of the 50s in musicals
and comedies, the one time wife of singer
Eddie Fisher and the mother of Carrie
Fisher - "Princess Leia" in Star Wars.
START VIDEO NOW!
In 1957 Debbie starred in the movie Tammy and the Bachelor and waxed
the theme song. The sweet ballad
rode the pop chart for more than
half a year and spent seven weeks
at #1. Here now is the late, great
Debbie Reynolds with the theme from Tammy and the Bachelor, the first of four Tammy movies.
In the 1950s our next featured artist
was one of the most eligible bachelors
in Hollywood, a regular teenage idol.
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It's Ricky Nelson with one of his
biggest and best, a song penned by
Gene Pitney. Ricky sings-- "Hello
Mary Lou (goodbye heart)."
"Hello Mary Lou" - Ricky Nelson
(May/June 1961, highest chart pos. #9 Hot 100 & Cash Box, B side of "Travelin' Man")
Ricky Nelson there with "Hello Mary Lou," the fab
flip side of his #1 smash hit "Travelin' Man."
Hey, I'm all outta time. Thank you
very much for joining me. I hope
by now you're stuck like glue on
me - Shady Blue. Stick around
for my good buddy Jerry Blavat,
"The Geator with The Heater,"
coming up on the flipside of
news right here on S-P-M-M,
the station that's #1 for
music and fun.
CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!
To play us off, here's Elvis singing a great ballad, his top 3
charting hit "Can't Help Falling In Love," in a scene
from the film Blue Hawaii. Aloha!
"Can't Help Falling In Love" - Elvis Presley
(Dec. 1961/Jan. 1962, highest chart pos. #2 Hot 100, #4 Cash Box, from Nov. 1961 film Blue Hawaii)
