Post by vastar iner on Aug 11, 2013 12:01:29 GMT 1
Ronnie Savoy (CB, 21 January 1961)
One of those songs that makes me glad I did this - had I not looked through the Cashbox listings I’d’ve missed this one...
Born in Detroit as Eugene Hamilton, he started out as a singer in The Nitecaps, with brother Bob (who became an in-house producer for Golden World), and despite a good number of singles (at least six) only had this one chart entry, with a little help from the Cliff Parman Orchestra. It’s one of the most unusual vocal performances I’ve heard, and one of the most engaging - indeed I’d put this track as the absolute best in this thread...
So don’t blame me in thinking it’s a total shame this wasn’t a much bigger hit; it was one of those rare ones that was bigger in both Billboard and Music Vendor than Cashbox, but even then only marginally. Became a top ten hit in the UK via an inferior cover by Anthony Newley (q.v. Billy Daniels; everything is connected &c). Ronnie himself quit the studio in 1966 to become an A&R rep at Gold Dust Records. He did have one big success in the UK though - he co-wrote The Rockin' Berries' top fiver "Poor Man's Son".
Clyde Stacy (RW, 22 September 1958)
And in one of those odd coincidences - again - The Nitecaps are relevant to this entry as well. In 1957 Clyde Stacy had a number 68 hit in Billboard with the somewhat louche “So Young”, which made no impact on the Music Vendor or Cashbox charts. His backers - who had disappeared for this one hit in Music Vendor alone - were The Nitecaps...
However this was a different set of Nitecaps to Ronnie Savoy’s; his was a doo-wop group, Clyde’s was a rockabilly outfit from Tulsa. Stacy formed the band in 1955 and "So Young" proved to be their one hit (seductress Pat Peyton’s sexually sibilant susurrations caused the song to be banned on many stations - probably the closest to an orgasm broadcast at the time), but after this Stacy went to New York to cut his follow-ups with session men. Including "Once In A While", a huge hit for Tommy Dorsey in 1937 (and a very minor hit for The Black Velvets over here in 2005). It was quite successful in Canada, where Stacy was more popular than in the States, reaching number 26, but not at all back home. Undaunted, Stacy continued playing the clubs until retirement in 1985, although he has since come back out of it.
Summer Wine (CB, 24 February 1973)
The origin of this British studio combine was the mid-sixties band The Castaways, as two members of Summer Wine - singer Tony Rivers and bassist John Perry - came from there, and the group was produced by Mike Hurst, who also produced SW. Summer Wine never bothered the charts at home but came close in Billboard, bubbling under at 103. At least they all charted at home as parts of other combinations:
-Rivers as part of two other groups (Harmony Grass in 1969 and, er, West Ham United Cup Squad in 1975), and as one of the regular Top Of The Pops cash-in albums probably topped the album charts as well. Worked a lot with Cliff in the seventies and eighties;
-Hurst had previously been The Springfields’ guitarist (which, incidentally, also gave him a US top 20 hit) and discovered Cat Stevens (and, er, Sam Fox), but his biggest hits came in producing Manfred Mann’s chart-topper “The Mighty Quinn” and Showaddywaddy’s near-Christmas number one;
-guitarist Ray Fenwick had been on the Spencer Davis Group’s last hit (and recorded with them the theme tune to Magpie, which he wrote) and did a lot of session work until at least 2003, also being a permanent member of The Ian Gillan Band. Still performs with Hurst under the name Rockmasters, who had sixties hits as a member of The Springfields, along with drummer extraordinaire Clem Cattini.
And John Perry? We’ve seen him before. He was one of the Castaways who joined Grapefruit. He and Rivers worked together with Cliff et al until he did his own thing from 1985.
One of those songs that makes me glad I did this - had I not looked through the Cashbox listings I’d’ve missed this one...
Born in Detroit as Eugene Hamilton, he started out as a singer in The Nitecaps, with brother Bob (who became an in-house producer for Golden World), and despite a good number of singles (at least six) only had this one chart entry, with a little help from the Cliff Parman Orchestra. It’s one of the most unusual vocal performances I’ve heard, and one of the most engaging - indeed I’d put this track as the absolute best in this thread...
So don’t blame me in thinking it’s a total shame this wasn’t a much bigger hit; it was one of those rare ones that was bigger in both Billboard and Music Vendor than Cashbox, but even then only marginally. Became a top ten hit in the UK via an inferior cover by Anthony Newley (q.v. Billy Daniels; everything is connected &c). Ronnie himself quit the studio in 1966 to become an A&R rep at Gold Dust Records. He did have one big success in the UK though - he co-wrote The Rockin' Berries' top fiver "Poor Man's Son".
Clyde Stacy (RW, 22 September 1958)
And in one of those odd coincidences - again - The Nitecaps are relevant to this entry as well. In 1957 Clyde Stacy had a number 68 hit in Billboard with the somewhat louche “So Young”, which made no impact on the Music Vendor or Cashbox charts. His backers - who had disappeared for this one hit in Music Vendor alone - were The Nitecaps...
However this was a different set of Nitecaps to Ronnie Savoy’s; his was a doo-wop group, Clyde’s was a rockabilly outfit from Tulsa. Stacy formed the band in 1955 and "So Young" proved to be their one hit (seductress Pat Peyton’s sexually sibilant susurrations caused the song to be banned on many stations - probably the closest to an orgasm broadcast at the time), but after this Stacy went to New York to cut his follow-ups with session men. Including "Once In A While", a huge hit for Tommy Dorsey in 1937 (and a very minor hit for The Black Velvets over here in 2005). It was quite successful in Canada, where Stacy was more popular than in the States, reaching number 26, but not at all back home. Undaunted, Stacy continued playing the clubs until retirement in 1985, although he has since come back out of it.
Summer Wine (CB, 24 February 1973)
The origin of this British studio combine was the mid-sixties band The Castaways, as two members of Summer Wine - singer Tony Rivers and bassist John Perry - came from there, and the group was produced by Mike Hurst, who also produced SW. Summer Wine never bothered the charts at home but came close in Billboard, bubbling under at 103. At least they all charted at home as parts of other combinations:
-Rivers as part of two other groups (Harmony Grass in 1969 and, er, West Ham United Cup Squad in 1975), and as one of the regular Top Of The Pops cash-in albums probably topped the album charts as well. Worked a lot with Cliff in the seventies and eighties;
-Hurst had previously been The Springfields’ guitarist (which, incidentally, also gave him a US top 20 hit) and discovered Cat Stevens (and, er, Sam Fox), but his biggest hits came in producing Manfred Mann’s chart-topper “The Mighty Quinn” and Showaddywaddy’s near-Christmas number one;
-guitarist Ray Fenwick had been on the Spencer Davis Group’s last hit (and recorded with them the theme tune to Magpie, which he wrote) and did a lot of session work until at least 2003, also being a permanent member of The Ian Gillan Band. Still performs with Hurst under the name Rockmasters, who had sixties hits as a member of The Springfields, along with drummer extraordinaire Clem Cattini.
And John Perry? We’ve seen him before. He was one of the Castaways who joined Grapefruit. He and Rivers worked together with Cliff et al until he did his own thing from 1985.