Forever #1 - Tito Jackson (Jackson 5)

[Gary]

Lloyd Price, early rock legend behind 'Stagger Lee,' dead at 88
The hitmaker behind “Lawdy Miss Clawdy" died of complications from diabetes
By Tyler McCarthy | Fox News


Lloyd Price, best known as the early rock 'n roll icon behind hits like "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," "Personality" and the semi-forbidden "Stagger Lee," is dead at age 88.

Price's wife, Jacqueline Price, confirmed to the Associated Press that he died on Monday at a long-term care facility in New Rochelle, New York, due to complications from diabetes.

Price was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He is among the last survivors of a post-World War II scene in New Orleans that anticipated the shifts in popular music and culture leading to the rise of rock in the mid-1950s. Along with Fats Domino and David Bartholomew and others, Price fashioned a deep, exuberant sound around the brass and swing of New Orleans jazz and blues that placed high on R&B charts and eventually crossed over to white audiences.


"Very important part of Rock history. He was BEFORE Little Richard!" rock singer and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt said Saturday on Twitter. "Lawdy Miss Clawdy of 1952 has a legit claim as the first Rock hit.... Righteous cat. Enormous talent."

Price’s nickname was "Mr. Personality," fitting for a performer with a warm smile and a tenor voice to match. But he was far more than an engaging entertainer. He was unusually independent for his time, running his own record label even before such stars as Frank Sinatra did the same, holding on to his publishing rights, and serving as his own agent and manager. He would often speak of the racial injustices he endured, calling his memoir "sumdumhonkey" and writing on his Facebook page during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests that behind his "affable exterior" was "a man who is seething."

Born in Kenner, Louisiana, Price was one of 11 siblings and had been singing in church and playing piano since childhood. He was in his late teens when a local DJ’s favorite catchphrase, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," helped inspire him to write his boundary-breaking first hit, which he worked on in his mother’s fried fish restaurant.

Featuring Domino’s trademark piano trills, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" hit No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1952, sold more than 1 million copies and became a rock standard, covered by Elvis Presley and Little Richard, among others. But Price would have mixed feelings about the song’s broad appeal, later remembering how local officials in the Jim Crow South resisted letting both blacks and whites attend his shows.

This March 14, 2011 file photo, shows Lloyd Price appears backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, in New York. The New Orleans mainstay and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has died. Price was known for such hits as "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Stagger Lee." His wife Jackie said he died Monday, May 3, 2021 in New Rochelle, N.Y.
This March 14, 2011 file photo, shows Lloyd Price appears backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, in New York. The New Orleans mainstay and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has died. Price was known for such hits as "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Stagger Lee." His wife Jackie said he died Monday, May 3, 2021 in New Rochelle, N.Y. (AP Photo, File)

Price was drafted and spent the mid-1950s in military service in Korea. He began a career restart with the 1957 ballad "Just Because," and hit the top with the brassy, pop-oriented "Stagger Lee," one of the catchiest, most celebratory songs ever recorded about a barroom murder.

Written by Price, "Stagger Lee" was based on a 19th century fight between two Black men — Lee Shelton, sometimes known as Stag Lee, and Billy Lyons — that ended with Shelton shooting and killing his rival. Their ever-changing legend was appearing in songs by the 1920s, and has inspired artists ranging from Woody Guthrie and Duke Ellington to Bob Dylan and the Clash.


Price’s version opened with a few spoken words that had the understated tension of a crime novel: "The night was clear, the moon was yellow, and the leaves came tumbling ... down." The band jumps in and Price shouts out the story of Stagger Lee and Billy fighting over a game of dice, concluding with a bullet from Stagger Lee’s 44 passing through Billy and breaking the bartender’s glass. "Go Stagger Lee!" a chorus chants throughout.


The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart early in 1959, but not everyone was entertained. "American Bandstand" host Dick Clark worried the song was too violent for his teen-centered show and pressed Price to revise it: For "Bandstand" watchers and some future listeners, Stagger Lee and Billy peacefully resolve their dispute.

Price followed with the top 10 hits "Personality" and "I’m Going To Get Married" and the top 20 songs "Lady Luck" and "Question." He fared no better than many of his contemporaries once the Beatles arrived in the U.S. in 1964, but he found his way into other professions through a wide range of friends and acquittances. He lived for a time in the same Philadelphia apartment complex as Wilt Chamberlain and Joe Frazier and, along with boxing promoter Don King, helped stage the 1973 "Thrilla in Manila" between Frazier and Muhammad Ali and the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" championship fight between Ali and George Foreman. He was also a home builder, a booking agent, an excellent bowler and the creator of a line of food products.

In this Feb. 20, 2003 file photo, Lloyd Price, left, and Mary Wilson, of the Supremes, pose for a photograph with boxer Evander Holyfield during the reception of the 13th Annual Pioneer Awards presented by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in New York. The New Orleans mainstay and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has died. Price was known for such hits as "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Stagger Lee." His wife Jackie said he died Monday, May 3, 2021 in New Rochelle, N.Y.
In this Feb. 20, 2003 file photo, Lloyd Price, left, and Mary Wilson, of the Supremes, pose for a photograph with boxer Evander Holyfield during the reception of the 13th Annual Pioneer Awards presented by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in New York. The New Orleans mainstay and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has died. Price was known for such hits as "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Stagger Lee." His wife Jackie said he died Monday, May 3, 2021 in New Rochelle, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

His career in music continued, sporadically. He and his business partner Harold Logan started a label in the early 1960s, Double L Records, that gave an early break to Wilson Pickett, and they also ran a New York nightclub. But after Logan was murdered, in 1969, Price became so disheartened he eventually moved to Nigeria and didn’t return until the 1980s. He would become a favorite on oldies tours, performing with Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis among others.


He settled in New York with his wife, but was not forgotten back home. A street in Kenner was renamed Lloyd Price Avenue and for years Kenner has celebrated an annual Lloyd Price Day.


Price would credit clean living and steady focus for his endurance.


"I never drank, smoked, used drugs or had bad habits," he told interviewer Larry Katz in 1998. "I’d drive a taxi cab to get me the food I need to live. I never was starstruck. I had 23 hit records and I never looked for the next record to hit. I never had that need that they had to be somebody. I just wanted to be."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

[Gary]

Spent 4 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100

[Gary]

Forever No. 1: Lloyd Price's 'Stagger Lee'
By Brad Shoup
5/12/2021
Click to copy
www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/9571162/lloyd-price-stagger-lee-forever-number-one/

Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer -- a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single -- by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor the late Lloyd Price with a look back at his lone No. 1: the exhilarating 1958 recording of the well-traveled murder tale "Stagger Lee."

By the time Lloyd Price -- who died on May 3 at age 88 -- first heard “Stagger Lee,” the tune had had nearly as many angles as the murder the song depicts.

In 1895, “Stag” Lee Shelton shot and killed Billy Lyons during an argument in a St. Louis bar. That wasn’t particularly uncommon, but the particulars of the incident -- it happened on Christmas night, Shelton was a pimp, Lyons had enraged him by snatching his Stetson-made hat -- quickly gave it a mythical cast. Within two years, a “Stack-O-Lee” rag was making its way across Missouri. In 1910, John Lomax heard a Texan version that was concerned with the legal aftermath: the police treat Stag with kid gloves; his girlfriend pays his $10,000 bail. (This rendition was sung by levee workers, which had been Lyons’ occupation.) Ma Rainey’s 1925 single “Stack O’ Lee Blues” -- featuring Coleman Hawkins and Fletcher Henderson -- posits the man’s death as just desserts for drinking and leeching off women.

Three years later, Mississippi John Hurt issued his own “Stack O’ Lee Blues,” a decidedly more delicate and mournful take. He was fixated on Shelton’s five-dollar hat, the theft of which allegedly precipitated the murder. To Hurt, it was a pathetic rationale for a senseless act. But for other performers, the Stetson established Stack’s flash and fearlessness, a terrifying exercise of free will that roiled St. Louis’s white power structure. (Shelton received two pardons from two separate governors before dying of tuberculosis in 1912.) During the first part of 1950’s two-parter “Stack-A’Lee” -- written and performed by New Orleans singer/pianist Archibald -- it is noted that Billy took the Stetson in a dice game. In the second, the police kill Stack, but Stack dethrones the devil. (Call it a draw.) It is this version that Price -- born in neighboring Kenner, Louisiana -- probably knew best. Like Stack and Billy, he was a gambler. But Price gambled exclusively on himself.


You would too, if your first single -- which you wrote before you were old enough to drink -- was a smash hit. “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” nicked a local DJ’s catchphrase and the progression from Fats Domino’s “The Fat Man,” and it was enough to get him signed to Art Rupe’s Specialty Records. (Another lucky break: during the recording of “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” the Fat Man himself dropped by the studio to see producer Dave Bartholomew -- who cajoled Domino into replacing the session pianist, for which the rock ‘n’ roll legend was paid union scale.) Released in 1952, the tune topped Billboard’s R&B Songs chart for seven weeks, crossing into the young Southern white demographic. (Elvis Presley, for one, would perform it at the drop of a hat.)

Price logged four more R&B top 10 hits within a year. Having just turned 20, he was at a cultural peak. Then, as would happen to Presley, the government drafted Price into the Army. Vaguely aware of the talent they had acquired, the Army gave Price a Special Services gig in Korea and -- finally -- his own band. A high point of his act involved a dramatic staging of “Stagger Lee”. He enlisted men to perform the parts of Shelton and Lyons; he had giant prop dice constructed for the stage. The bit killed.

His time served, Price returned to an altered musical landscape. Two years away will do that, and, ironically, he played a part in altering it. His encouragement led a Georgia entertainer named “Little” Richard Penniman to submit a demo to Specialty, the result of which cracked rock ‘n’ roll wide open. After Little Richard took his first sabbatical from popular music, the label scored with Larry Williams (Price’s cousin, former valet, and a go-to piano player), whose series of raucous singles like “Bony Moronie,” “Slow Down,” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” captivated some notable Liverpudlian teens. There didn’t seem to be much room for Price.

After some perfunctory sessions, he bet on himself again. He bought out the remainder of his Specialty contract and, with the help of West Virginian promoter and one-time numbers runner Harold Logan, founded the KRC label. It was an exceedingly rare step for a Black artist at the time, but Price -- who had befriended some lawyers in the service -- never expressed any doubts about the move. He found some success fronting a classic New Orleans-style R&B combo, but when KRC’s distributor ABC-Paramount made an offer to join their roster, he accepted.

Again, it was the right move. Ever since his stint in Korea, Price had been plotting out a new sound. A chance encounter with Golden Age pop producer Don Costa (Frank Sinatra, Steve & Eydie) confirmed he was on the right track. With ABC-Paramount’s backing, he brought on a big band and Costa to arrange them. Even more provocatively, he hired the Ray Charles Singers, an all-white group (founded by the longtime Perry Como associate, not the country-soul titan). Still, all of this effort was undertaken for “Just Because,” a perfervid devotional ballad. “Stagger Lee” was the B-side -- in interviews, Price would claim that he knocked it out in one take. True or not, it was immediately apparent to the jockeys which side was hotter.


After a scene-setting, doo-wop-indebted intro (“The night was clear/ And the moon was yellow...”), Price stuck close to Archibald’s text: the narrator’s bulldog barking at the gamblers, Billy disputing Stack’s roll and claiming the Stetson as winnings, Stack heading home and returning with a .44. Price had no use for an infernal postscript: Everything before, frankly, was exciting enough. There’s a glee to Lloyd’s storytelling, savoring every detail leading to the infamous end. Cannily, he lets the Singers do the exhorting first: Stagger draws himself up to speak, and they start -- crisply, primly -- chanting “go, Stagger Lee!”

It’s no Hurt-like lament. Nor is it a winking tale of comeuppance like Jim Croce’s Price homage, the rollicking 1973 #1 “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” And it’s certainly not a nihilistic depiction of a murderer like, say, Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” With the Ray Charles Singers providing cover, Price shouts his encouragement all over the place. “Get out of here, Stag,” he hollers in the fadeout, the blood still pooling on the barroom floor. “Police is coming!”

Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee” was sordid and rollicking, a throwback to a rough-and-tumble age with a Black subject who found himself a folk hero in that age and all the others. At its peak, the single was reportedly moving almost 200,000 copies a day. It replaced The Platters' "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" at pole position of the Hot 100 on February 9, 1959 -- staying at the top for four weeks, with an identical penthouse run on the R&B chart.


For the requisite American Bandstand appearance, Price had to recalibrate the entire story. In his re-recording, gambling becomes arguing; Billy steals Stagger’s date, who goes home to have a real good pout. Lloyd spends the outro encouraging Stag to accept Billy’s apology. And yet, even bowdlerized, the song excites: Sticks Simpkins still steps high behind the kit, and the Singers probably make even more sense in this new context.

In that era between the rises of Sam Cooke and Berry Gordy, Price enjoyed a number of pop hits, most of which employed a similar pop/R&B meld. 1959 saw him hit the Hot 100’s top 5 two more times, with “Personality” -- a strutting portrait of degradation that made him “Mr. Personality” for the rest of his life -- and the forgettable too-young cut “I’m Gonna Get Married.” A ‘63 Vegas-lounge take on “Misty” was his final pop Top 40 hit.


But Price always had options: his Double-L label, founded with Logan around this time, introduced a young Wilson Pickett to the world. He operated Lloyd Price’s Turntable Nightclub in New York -- at the former address of the legendary Birdland -- for a time, then altered the trajectory of boxing when he connected his dear friend Muhammad Ali to a Cleveland numbers runner and aspiring promoter named Don King. After helping promote epochal bouts with George Foreman and Joe Frazier, Price settled in Nigeria for a short while, returning after Muhammadu Buhari’s 1983 military coup.

Ever the businessman, Price bought developments, created a line of food products, and licensed his image for bowling balls. In 1993, he toured Europe with a vintage rock ‘n’ roll lineup that included Little Richard. Price hadn’t really considered the oldies circuit before, possibly because he just wasn’t wired to look backwards. He hadn’t tried to recapture the frantic magic of his only No. 1 hit -- what would be the point? There would never be anything quite like it: a leering depiction of a long-ago murder whose effects upended a city and reverberated throughout Black America. Its success may not have been part of Price’s plan, but like any gambler worth remembering, he rode the hot hand.

[Gary]

Pervis Staples of Staple Singers Dead at 85
By Associated Press
5/13/2021
Click to copy
www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/9571924/pervis-staples-staple-singers-obit/


Pervis Staples, whose tenor voice complimented his father’s and sisters’ in the legendary gospel group The Staple Singers, has died, a spokesman announced Wednesday. He was 85.

Pervis Staples died May 6 at his home in Dalton, Illinois, according to Adam Ayers, a spokesman for Staples’ sister, Mavis Staples. The cause of death wasn’t given.

Pervis Staples sang gospel songs with his father, the guitar-playing Roebuck “Pops” Staples, and sisters Mavis, Yvonne and Cleotha in Chicago churches before gaining a national following when they began recording songs such as “So Soon,” “If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and “Uncloudy Day” for Vee Jay records in the 1950s.

The group gained fame in the 1960s by singing music that urged change on a variety of social and religious issues. The Staple Singers gained a huge audience with their first No. 1 hit, “I’ll Take You There” in 1972 and followed with top 40 hits “Respect Yourself,” “Heavy Makes You Happy,” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me).”

However, Pervis’ last album with The Staple Singers was their first for Stax Records, “Soul Folks in Action” in 1968. The album featured new songs such as “The Ghetto” and their interpretations of tunes like Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and The Band’s “The Weight.” He went on to manage the girl group The Emotions and operated a popular nightclub, Perv’s House.

Pervis Staples was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his family in 1999. The group also received a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2005.

Mavis Staples, the lone survivor of the group, said in a statement that her brother’s childhood was filled with wonderful experiences.

“He liked to think of this period of his life as setting the stage for all that he wanted to do in life,” she said. “Some of Pervis’ best friends as a youngster included Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Jerry Butler. Pervis and the guys would stand under the lamp posts in the summertime singing doo-wop songs.”

Despite the success of Rawls and Cooke, Roebuck Staples routinely rejected offers to the group to record rhythm and blues, saying it was in conflict with his faith. However, it was with the nudging of Pervis Staples that the group compromised by performing message music in the 1960s, performing at music festivals around the country.

Pervis Staples was born November 18, 1935 in Drew, Mississippi. He and his family moved to Chicago for economic opportunities. That is where Roebuck Staples started teaching his children gospel songs to entertain them and occupy their time.

Pervis Staples was preceded in death by his parents, Roebuck and Oceola; and three sisters, Cynthia, Cleotha, and Yvonne. He is survived by his six children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Monday in Chicago.

[Gary]

[Gary]

John Davis, Real Voice Behind Milli Vanilli, Dead of COVID at 66: 'He Gave So Much to the World'
Eric Todisco 2 hrs ago
|

John Davis, one of the real vocalists behind the legendary R&B duo Milli Vanilli, died on Monday from COVID-19. He was 66.

a man wearing glasses talking on a cell phone: Nico Schimmelpfennig/picture alliance via Getty John Davis© Provided by People Nico Schimmelpfennig/picture alliance via Getty John Davis
Davis' daughter Jasmin shared the news in a Facebook post Monday that featured a video of her dad performing.

"Unfortunately my dad passed away this evening through the coronavirus," Jasmin wrote. "He made a lot of people happy with his laughter and smile, his happy spirit, love and especially through his music. He gave so much to the world! Please give him the last round of applause. We will miss him dearly."

Jasmin also started a GoFundMe page to help with Davis' funeral expenses and to give him "one last performance, with people he loved and got loved from." The page has raised over €10,258 as of Thursday morning.


Davis, who was born in South Carolina and moved to Germany, was a backup singer for Milli Vanilli, a German-French band that was created in 1988 by music producer Frank Farian and fronted by Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The band rose to fame with their 1989 debut album Girl You Know It's True, which earned a Grammy Award in 1990 for best new artist.

However, later that year it was revealed that Morvan and Pilatus were actually lip-syncing and Davis, as well as other backup singers for the band, were the true vocalists behind the album.

Due to the scandal, the group's Grammy was rescinded.

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"We made the mistake ourselves, but it's true, we let our fans down," Morvan, now 55, said in a Los Angeles Times piece published in November 1990. "For them we are idols and they loved our videos and bought the records and we let them down. It's very hard, I know. I just hope they will forgive us."

Added Pilatus, who died in 1998 at age 33, "I know it's going to be hard for the kids to stand behind us. But I hope they understand that we are just two human guys who were so hungry for success that we allowed ourselves to be manipulated."

Rob Pilatus, Rob Pilatus sitting on a bench: Michael Putland/Getty Milli Vanilli© Provided by People Michael Putland/Getty Milli Vanilli
a person wearing a suit and tie: Tristar Media/Getty Fab Morvan and John Davis© Provided by People Tristar Media/Getty Fab Morvan and John Davis
After Milli Vanilli disbanded, Davis decided to start his own short-lived band called The Real Milli Vanilli with Brad Howell, one of the album's other singers. Together, the two released an album, The Moment of Truth, in 1991 and dropped three singles.


Morvan paid tribute to Davis following news of his death on Twitter. "R.I.P BROTHER @johndavisrmv CAN'T BELIEVE IT, THANKS FOR ALL THE LOVE YOU'VE SPREAD THROUGH OUT THE YEARS, FROM THE EDGE OF THE STAGE. YOU AND I HAD A GREAT RUN, IT WAS FUN TO CELEBRATE LIFE WITH THE HELP OF MUSIC. PEACE ONE LOVE YOUR VOICE WILL LIVE ON. PLAY IT LOUD EVERYBODY," he wrote.

a man wearing glasses talking on a cell phone: John Davis© Nico Schimmelpfennig/picture alliance via Getty John Davis
Milli Vanilli's official Twitter account also honored Davis, writing, "It's a sad day..... RIP John. We wouldn't be who we are without you......"

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

^Shame that the real Milli Vanilli was overshadowed by the fake one ...

[Push The Button]

Before the scandal, that Milli Vanilli album was huge. 5 top 5 singles, including four in the top 2.

[Gary]

TheWrap
BJ Thomas, Grammy-Winning 'Hooked on a Feeling' Singer, Dies at 78
Diane Haithman 13 mins ago


B.J. Thomas, the Grammy-winning singer whose mellifluous voice crossed multiple genres including country pop and gospel, died Saturday at his Arlington, Texas, home. He was 78.

B.J. Thomas wearing a microphone: bj thomas© TheWrap bj thomas
The singer is perhaps best known for his recording of the 1968 hit "Hooked on a Feeling" and the single "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." The upbeat lyrics included the line: "It won't be long 'til happiness steps up to greet me.: The infectious tune won an Oscar for Best Original Song.


"It is with profound sadness we confirm the passing of B.J. Thomas," a statement read on Thomas' Twitter account. Representatives confirmed in a statement that Thomas died from complications from Stage 4 lung cancer.

Thomas was a five-time Grammy Award winner and a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. He also earned CMA and Dove awards and nominations during a long career launched in the 1960s.

Along with "Raindrops," Thomas' hits include the million-selling cover of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and the Grammy-winning "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song." Thomas has sold over 70 million albums worldwide, scoring eight No. 1 hits and 26 Top 10 singles. He was named one of Billboard's Top 50 Most Played Artists Over The Past 50 Years. Other hits include "I Just Can't Help Believing," "Don't Worry Baby," "Whatever Happened To Old Fashioned Love" and "New Looks From An Old Lover."

Despite the positive lyrics of "Raindrops," Thomas struggled with drugs and battled substance abuse. According to a statement, Thomas' wife Gloria became a born-again Christian and Thomas also became a believer in 1976. He promptly quit drugs and expanded his career into gospel music, adding to his previous track record in country songs. He also voiced the theme song "As Long as We've Got Each Other" for the TV series "Growing Pains."

In a 2020 interview published in TulsaWorld, Thomas talked about his humble roots, born in Oklahoma and growing up in Houston. "My Dad was just a working man. He was a good man and he loved music. I can remember being a kid and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night."

In a quote from his website, Thomas said: "All I am is just another guy. I've been very lucky…I've had a wonderful life, I've been a husband and a father who cherishes his children and now I'm a grandfather, and I'm motivated like all these teachers and preachers and mothers and fathers to help my kids grow up with character and self respect. I hope that doesn't sound too grandiose but that's what it comes down to. It's what I've tried to do with my music and with the majority of my life."

B.J. Thomas is survived by Gloria, his wife of 53 years; three daughters Paige Thomas, Nora Cloud and Erin Moore, and four grandchildren.

[Gary]

[Gary]

B.J. Thomas' Biggest Billboard Hits: 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' & More
By Jim Asker, Keith Caulfield and Gary Trust
5/29/2021
Click to copy
www.billboard.com/articles/news/9580242/bj-thomas-biggest-billboard-hits/
BJ Thomas
Mike Windle/Getty Images for SeriousFun Children's Network
B. J. Thomas performs onstage during the SeriousFun Children's Network 2015 Los Angeles Gala: An Evening of SeriousFun celebrating the legacy of Paul Newman on May 14, 2015.

The late singer scored No. 1 hits on the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary charts.
Following a battle with stage-four lung cancer, B.J. Thomas, whose musical career endured for over 50 years, died May 29 at his home in Arlington, Texas. He was 78.

Thomas was a chart force beginning in the 1960s. He logged 26 hits, including two No. 1s among five top 10s, on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1966 through 1983 and achieved No. 1 singles across the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary charts. His 1969 classic "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" became his first leader on any Billboard survey, spending four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and seven frames atop Adult Contemporary.

Born in Hugo, Texas, and raised in Houston, Thomas also topped tallies with: "I Just Can't Help Believing" (one week, Adult Contemporary, 1970); "Rock and Roll Lullaby" (one week, Adult Contemporary, 1972); "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (one week each on the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Hot Country Songs, 1975); "Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love" (one week, Hot Country Songs, 1983) and "New Looks From an Old Lover" (one week, Hot Country Songs, 1983).

B.J. Thomas, 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' Singer, Dies at 78

Thomas last sang a top 10 Billboard chart hit that was known to millions before it even became a single: "As Long as We Got Each Other," credited to Steve Dorff & Friends, was sung by Thomas and fellow multi-decade pop star Dusty Springfield. Serving as the theme song to the hit ABC sitcom Growing Pains, it rose to No. 7 on Adult Contemporary in February 1989.

Thomas initially appeared on a Billboard chart when his version, with The Triumphs, of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" entered the Hot 100 dated Feb. 19, 1966. It reached No. 8 that April. He returned to the top 10 in January 1969 with the No. 5-peaking "Hooked on a Feeling," later a No. 1 for Blue Swede in 1974. Thomas' next top 10, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," became his first Hot 100 leader in January 1970.





B.J. Thomas' Biggest Billboard Hits
Rank, Title, Artist, Hot 100 Peak Position, Year

1. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," No. 1 (four weeks), 1970
2. (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," No. 1 (one week), 1975
3. "Hooked on a Feeling," No. 5, 1969
4. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (with The Triumphs), No. 8, 1966
5. "I Just Can't Help Believing," No. 9, 1970
6. "Don't Worry Baby," No. 17, 1977
7. "Rock and Roll Lullaby," No. 15, 1972
8. "No Love At All," No. 16, 1971
9. "The Eyes of a New York Woman," No. 28, 1968
10. "Everybody's Out of Town," No. 26, 1970

B.J. Thomas' Biggest Billboard Hits recap is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.

Thomas scored his first success on Hot Country Songs in 1975 with his initial entry, "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," which led the list that May. In 1975-2000, he notched 16 Hot Country Songs appearances, including three No. 1s among five top 10s. Along with his additional No. 1s "Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love" and "New Looks From an Old Lover," both in 1983, he reached the top 10 with "Two Car Garage" (No. 3) and "The Whole World's in Love When You're Lonely" (No. 10), both in 1984. He last visited the chart in 2000 with "You Call That a Mountain."

[Gary]

[Gary]

Forever No. 1: B.J. Thomas' 'Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head'
By Paul Grein
5/31/2021
Click to copy
www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9580324/bj-thomas-raindrops-keep-falling-on-my-head-forever-number-one/

Thomas' easygoing style fused pop, country and folk in a way that made it perfect for this plucky, folksy tune.
Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer -- a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single -- by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor the late B.J. Thomas with a look at his first Hot 100 No. 1, the enduring optimist's anthem "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head."

B.J. Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” was the right song at the right time in the right film – the 1969 Paul Newman/Robert Redford blockbuster Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Good thing the film’s director, George Roy Hill, didn’t listen to one of his film's stars (and a future director of note), who wasn’t sure the song made sense in the film.


“When the film was released, I was highly critical — how did the song fit with the film? There was no rain,” Redford told USA Today in 2019, a half-century later. “At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. How wrong I was.”


“Raindrops…” was hardly the most sophisticated song that Burt Bacharach and Hal David -- the duo who'd penned many of the most pristine and affecting pop songs of the late '50s and '60s, including most of Dionne Warwick's signature smashes -- ever wrote. But it may have been their most universal, a song that everybody who has ever had a bad day or a rough patch could relate to.

David’s lyric has a dash of whimsical humor (“So, I just did me some talkin' to the sun/ And I said I didn't like the way he got things done/ Sleepin' on the job”) and a lot of philosophical wisdom (“Crying's not for me/'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'”), with Thomas' delivery landing gently on each word like the titular droplets. You can hear the gentle philosophizing of “Raindrops” – sure, things are bad right now, but I refuse to get stuck here – in such future Hot 100-toppers as Neil Diamond’s “Song Sung Blue” and Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day.”


Thomas, who had previously reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hooked on a Feeling” and a cover version of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” wasn’t Bacharach and David’s first choice to perform the song. They had approached Ray Stevens, who passed on the song. (Not Stevens’ smartest career move -- though he still would go on to score a pair of Hot 100 No. 1s of his own in the '70s, with his "Everything Is Beautiful" reaching the top spot later in 1970.)

But songs often seem to wind up where they’re meant to. In all likelihood, no one would have done a better job on the song than Thomas. His easygoing style fused pop, country and folk in a way that made it perfect for this plucky, folksy tune.

Thomas, who was 28 when he recorded the song that made him a household name, died on May 29 at age 78 from complications due to stage four lung cancer.




Thomas was recovering from a bout of laryngitis in 1969 when he recorded the soundtrack version of “Raindrops.” As a result, his vocal is a bit raspier and huskier than it was on the single version he recorded weeks later. Bacharach, a notorious perfectionist, asked Thomas to record seven takes before he was satisfied with the vocal for the film version.

For the single version, Bacharach added a snazzy, 30-second instrumental outro which introduced some rhythmic tension and made the song a better fit for top 40 playlists of the era. “Raindrops” also has a strong bridge (“But there's one thing I know/ The blues they sent to meet me won't defeat me/ It won't be long 'til happiness steps up to greet me”) – later echoed by a trumpet solo following the same tune -- which provided vital variation in a song mostly built around a simple, sing-songy melody.

The song reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in the issue dated Jan. 3, 1970, making it the first No. 1 hit of the 1970s. It logged 13 weeks in the top 10 -- the longest stay by any single in the nearly five-year period between The Beatles' "Hey Jude" (14 weeks in 1968) and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" (13 weeks in 1973).



“Raindrops” was Thomas’ first No. 1, though it was Bacharach and David’s second (following Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s in Love With You” in 1968). Both artist and songwriters returned to the top spot. Bacharach and David were back at No. 1 in July 1970 with Carpenters’ cover version of “(They Long to Be) Close to You.” Thomas returned to the top spot in April 1975 with “(Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.”

“Raindrops” won the Oscar for best original song on April 7, 1970. It was Bacharach and David’s first win after three losses, for “What’s New Pussycat” (1965), “Alfie” (1966) and “The Look of Love” (1967). It was a heavy favorite to win, even against a strong field of nominees – “Come Saturday Morning,” “True Grit," “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life," and "Jean," the latter a No. 2 Hot 100 hit for pop singer Oliver from another Oscar-winning picture that year, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

It was obvious that the producers of the Oscar telecast figured it would win. They gave it an elaborate production number that ran more than six minutes. Thomas’ performance of the song on the telecast was interrupted midway through with a carefully choreographed bicyclists’ routine. This mirrored the way his performance of the song on the film soundtrack was interrupted by a vaudeville-style instrumental break, presented in double time while Newman performed bicycle stunts to impress co-star Katharine Ross.



“Raindrops” was the first No. 1 song in Hot 100 history (which dates to 1958) to also win an Oscar. It has been followed by 16 more songs that have achieved both of these headline-making feats – the most recent being “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from the latest iteration of A Star Is Born.

Bacharach won a second Oscar that night for best original score. “It was a knock-out picture to work on,” Bacharach said in accepting the score award.

The 1970 Oscar telecast remains the highest-rated Academy Awards broadcast in history, with a 43.4 Nielsen rating. Other audience boosters on the night included John Wayne winning his first (and only) Oscar for True Grit and Midnight Cowboy becoming the first (and only) X-rated film to win best picture. (Its rating has since been downgraded to R.)


Thomas received his first Grammy nomination (best contemporary vocal performance, male) for "Raindrops," which also brought Bacharach and David nods for song of the year and best contemporary song. Thomas’ single, which Bacharach and David produced and Bacharach arranged, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014. Barbara Mason’s soulful spin on the song reached No. 38 on what was then called Best-Selling Soul Singles in 1970, but no cover versions of “Raindrops” have ever appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 -- probably because Thomas’ version was so definitive.

Thomas’ recording of “Raindrops” has since appeared on the soundtracks to Forrest Gump (1994), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and Spider-Man 2 (2004), as well as multiple TV shows over the years.

In the 1998 box set The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection, Steve Tyrell, then a Scepter Records A&R executive and now a prominent traditional pop singer, noted that “Raindrops” was never really of its time.

“Mainly everything else was Flower Power, the protest songs, people were taking acid and we were like ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,' right,” he laughed. “But that song was a monster.”

[Gary]

Forever No. 1: B.J. Thomas' '(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song'
By Andrew Unterberger
6/1/2021
Click to copy
www.billboard.com/articles/columns/country/9580549/bj-thomas-another-somebody-done-somebody-wrong-song-forever-number-one/
BJ Thomas
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
BJ Thomas poses for a portrait in circa 1975.

Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer -- a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single -- by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor the late B.J. Thomas with a look at his second and final Hot 100 No. 1, the 1975 country meta-weeper "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song."

Listeners mostly familiar with B.J. Thomas as the performer of the better-remembered No. 1 hit "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" -- or as the original singer of the breezy pop culture staple "Hooked on a Feeling" -- might be surprised to hear that his second No. 1 came with a country song. But Thomas' roots in the genre ran deep, dating back to an early love of Hank Williams growing up in Texas that eventually led to a cover of the country legend's signature ballad "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" with his mid-'60s group B.J. Thomas and the Triumphs. Their cover climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966, becoming Thomas' breakthrough hit.

However, when greater success came with poppier singles like "Feeling" and "Raindrops" in the late '60s, Thomas drifted away from country for most of the early '70s. His rich baritone remained well-suited for country, however, and in a review of his 1974 Very Best of B.J. Thomas compilation, critic Robert Christgau even posited that Thomas never embraced rock because "he was, and is, a country singer [at heart]." That would be borne out a year later when, at the end of a multi-year dry spell on the pop charts, Thomas would rebrand as a country singer with the 1975 set Reunion.

Stewarding Thomas' country reinvention was Tennessee fixture Chips Moman, who ran the American Sound Studio in Memphis -- where dozens of hit singles and albums were recorded, and famous visits were paid by Elvis Presley and Dusty Springfield for their respective In Memphis sets -- before moving to Nashville in 1972. Moman was also a renowned producer and writer. He produced the entirety of Reunion for Thomas while also co-writing the set's lead single, "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song."


The story behind the song, as told by its writers and performers to Fred Bronson in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, is a modest one, to say the least: Moman and co-author Larry Butler didn't write it for Thomas or any other singer in particular, and it wasn't inspired by any particular experience of theirs. ("The guy who wrote 'Fly Me to the Moon' never had been to the moon," Moman quipped to Bronson. "You do have to have some imagination.") And if Thomas himself found any particularly strong connection to the material, he wouldn't likely recall it anyway: He was at the nadir of a debilitating drug habit while recording Reunions, and according to Bronson, "barely remembers the recording session" for "Somebody."

This all probably should have been inauspicious beginnings for a potential comeback hit. But in the case of "Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," it worked, because the song wasn't a classic tearjerker like "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" anyway -- rather, it was a sort of meta tribute to those timeless country songs and the legions of perhaps less-immortal heartbreak ballads they inspired. The song doesn't make any grand claims about Thomas' own problems; all we know about his current misery is that he "misses his baby," and that while he's out in the world, he wants to hear a song that makes everyone as sad as he is, so he doesn't have to "cry all alone." Even the titular request is kept purposefully vague and somewhat lazy: Thomas doesn't care what the song is or who it's by, as long as someone's left in pain at the end of it.


The effect isn't one of conveying any resounding devastation on the part of Thomas or his writers, but rather, just a sort of weary exhaustion, which Thomas doesn't try to escape with his own sonorous but slightly delirious delivery. "Somebody" doesn't even really have much in the way of verses to advance its story; outside of a two-line intro, it's mostly just the same pair of refrains circulated over and over until they're pretty tiring in their own right. But in its own way, it's still as relatable and recognizable as any country song that describes heartbreak in excruciating detail. Instead, it nails the overall emotional and physical fatigue that comes with one too many heartbreaks and one too many drunken barroom singalongs, until you barely even remember how else you used to engage with love or music.

It also serves as a sort of riff on country balladry in general, and the reputation the genre had long developed by the mid-'70s as being primarily a vehicle for tales of near-cartoonish woe -- like the old joke about playing a country song backwards and getting your dog, your truck and your wife back. "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" sends up country music by treating it as a genre full of countless unavoidable and interchangeable torch songs for bringing the mood down, where one is as good as another when it comes to getting the job done. (Even the ten-word title -- at the time the longest for a No. 1 single in Hot 100 history -- could be read as a wink at country's predilection for long, parenthetically inclined song names.) It never comes off as mean-spirited in its ribbing, though, because Thomas' vocal is so straight-faced, because the song's breezy production is so gentle and convivial, and because Thomas is such a natural fit within country that it never feels like outsider commentary. Rather, it feels knowing and affectionate towards the genre, like toothless teasing between old friends.


In any event, the sentiment connected in the mid-'70s, a time when country music was infiltrating the Hot 100 like never before, with crossover stars like John Denver and Olivia Newton-John helping the genre find common ground with pop audiences. A month after "Somebody" topped the Hot 100 -- replacing Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom," and lasting for one week before giving way to Tony Orlando and Dawn's "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" -- two more country songs followed it to the top spot, in Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy." "Somebody" also found success with adult contemporary listeners, topping Billboard's Adult Contemporary airplay chart (then known as Easy Listening), which helped it become one of the biggest multi-format hits of 1975.

Thomas' run as a country star in the mid-'70s was brief: Reunion failed to produce another crossover hit on the same level as "Somebody," and by 1976, Thomas had kicked drugs and pivoted to gospel music, recording spiritual albums for Myrrh Records for the next half-decade. But he found his way back to country music again in the mid '80s, releasing New Looks on Columbia. The album even spawned a pair of Hot Country Songs chart-toppers, in "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" and "New Looks From an Old Lover" -- not exactly Somebody Done Somebody Wrong songs themselves, but still worthy of a barroom singalong or two in their own right.

[Gary]

Dennis 'Dee Tee' Thomas, founding member of Kool & the Gang, dies at 70
By Tyler AquilinaAugust 07, 2021 at 02:43 PM EDT



Diane has a fireside chat with RBG in 'The Good Fight' clip
Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, a founding member and longtime fixture of the legendary R&B group Kool & the Gang, died Saturday in his sleep, according to a statement from the group. He was 70.

Thomas was a member of Kool & the Gang for its entire existence, from the band's origins in the 1960s to its most recent efforts, appearing on every album including the forthcoming Perfect Union. His last performance with the group took place just last month, at Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl on the 4th of July. Thomas primarily served as the band's saxophonist, but played multiple roles — and multiple instruments — over his long tenure with the group.

Musician Dennis 'D.T.' Thomas of Kool and The Gang performs at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois in August 1988.

"An original member of Kool & the Gang, Dennis was known as the quintessential cool cat in the group, loved for his hip clothes and hats, and his laid-back demeanor," the band said in a statement posted to Facebook. "A huge personality while also an extremely private person, Dennis was the alto saxophone player, flutist, percussionist as well as master of ceremonies at the band's shows."


Born February 9, 1951 in Orlando, Flor., Thomas was one of the seven teenage friends who originally formed the band that would become Kool & the Gang in 1964, alongside Ronald Bell and Robert "Kool" Bell, Spike Mickens, Ricky Westfield, George Brown, and Charles Smith. After several years and various names (including the Jazziacs, The New Dimensions, and Kool & the Flames), the group would become one of the biggest bands of the 1970s, with music spanning jazz, funk, R&B, soul, disco, and pop, and such hits as "Jungle Boogie," "Celebration," and "Ladies' Night."

Thomas' sonic contributions to the band included the intro to their 1971 hit "Who's Gonna Take the Weight." According to the band's statement, Thomas also served as their wardrobe stylist, "who made sure they always looked fresh," and early on "served as the 'budget hawk,' carrying the group's earnings in a paper bag in the bell of his horn."

Thomas is survived by his wife Phynjuar Saunders Thomas and three children. His death follows the passing of his Kool & the Gang co-founder Ronald "Khalis" Bell last year.

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[Gary]

Don Everly, half of singing duo who influenced generations of musicians, dies at 84
Terence McArdle 1 hr ago
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Don Everly, whose soaring harmonies and aggressive rhythm guitar work as part of the Everly Brothers duo with his younger brother, Phil, influenced generations of rock performers, died Aug. 21 at his home in Nashville. He was 84.
The musical harmony of the Everly Brothers, rooted in a long tradition of fraternal country duos, could be heard in many acts that followed them after their popularity waned in the mid-1960s, including the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Hollies. At their peak, the brothers nearly rivaled Elvis Presley in commercial power.

His daughter Erin Everly confirmed the death but did not provide an immediate cause.

Their first million-seller, “Bye Bye Love” (1957), a bouncy synthesis of country and rock buoyed by four guitars, made them one of the top acts in the country and led to appearances on variety programs, including TV’s “The Ed Sullivan Show” and radio’s “The Grand Ole Opry.” They had 31 records in the Billboard Hot 100, with 12 in the top 10.

Mr. Everly wrote some of their most popular songs, among them “(’Til) I Kissed You” (1959), “Cathy’s Clown” (1960) and “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)” (1960). Phil Everly’s compositions included “When Will I Be Loved” (1960), later covered by Linda Ronstadt.

The brothers benefited from a relationship with the Nashville husband-and-wife songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, beginning with “Bye Bye Love.” The Bryants’ lyrics for songs such as “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Bird Dog” and “Wake Up Little Susie” — a song that featured Mr. Everly’s percussive guitar work — captured the longing and drama of teenage love without trivializing it.

The Everly Brothers also covered rhythm-and-blues songs such as Little Richard’s “Lucille” and Ray Charles’s “This Little Girl of Mine” in their country vocal style. Their ballads included the enduring “Let It Be Me” (1960), translated from the French chanson “Je t’appartiens” by singer Gilbert Bécaud.

They recorded their early hits in Nashville with A-team session players such as pianist Floyd Cramer and guitarist Chet Atkins. Atkins, also their producer, placed their voices against an understated drum beat, with the brothers’ high-tuned acoustic guitars at the front of the mix. The Gibson company marketed a signature Everly Brothers folk guitar with an all-black finish.

After a six-month stint in the Marine Corps Reserve, Don and Phil found their careers slowing down. The duo charted only sporadically after 1962. They quarreled with their publishing and management company, Acuff-Rose, a move that restricted their access to new songs from the Bryants.

Mr. Everly, addicted to uppers and downers — Ritalin and vitamins to keep him awake and barbiturates to help him sleep — twice attempted to kill himself with an overdose during an English tour in 1962. When they returned stateside, he received electroshock therapy, which he said blocked his ability to write songs for several years.

“People didn’t understand drugs that well then,” he told Rolling Stone in 1986. “They didn’t know what they were messing with.”

The brothers’ personal relationship was less harmonious than their music. Their relentless performing over 30 years magnified their sibling rivalry and simmering resentments. They endured long periods when they sang together but wouldn’t talk to each other.

When interviewers could get them in the same room, Mr. Everly, the more gregarious of the two, tended to dominate the conversation. They also fractured on politics, with Phil a conservative and Don a liberal.

Both singers attempted solo careers, with limited success. In 1970, Mr. Everly toured to promote his first solo album with Lindsey Buckingham, then the Everly Brothers’ lead guitarist and later a member of Fleetwood Mac, singing harmony. After an unreceptive audience demanded oldies such as “Bye Bye Love,” he canceled the tour.

Although they would reunite in the 1980s, the Everly Brothers officially broke up after a 1973 concert in Buena Vista, Calif. Don Everly, who had given notice to his brother, came onstage drunk. Irate, the venue’s manager stopped the duo in the middle of the show, causing Phil to smash his guitar and walk offstage.

“It was really a funeral,” Don Everly later told Rolling Stone. “People thought that night was just some brouhaha between Phil and me. They didn’t realize we had been working our buns off for years. We had never been anywhere without working; had never known any freedom. We were just strapped together like a team of horses. . . . It was one of the saddest days of my life.”

Isaac Donald Everly was born Feb. 1, 1937, in Brownie, a town in Kentucky’s coal mining region. His father, Ike, a miner turned itinerant guitarist, sang with his wife, Margaret. The family eventually settled in Iowa, where the boys began performing on their father’s radio show, billed as “Little Donnie” and “Baby Boy Phil.”

Don Everly was a hitmaking songwriter in his teens, with “Thou Shall Not Steal” and “Here We Go Again,” recorded by Kitty Wells and Anita Carter, respectively. In 1955, the brothers moved to Nashville to pursue careers as country singers. Their first hit, however, came a few years later for a small New York pop label, Cadence Records. “Bye Bye Love” had reportedly had been turned down by four other performers.

With more hits to their credit, the duo signed in 1960 with Warner Bros. records for $1 million, to be paid over 10 years. At the time, it was an unprecedented sum for a rock-and-roll act.

Phil Everly, Don Everly are posing for a picture: Phil, left, and Don of the Everly Brothers in 1960.© AP Phil, left, and Don of the Everly Brothers in 1960.
Although best known for their singles, the Everly Brothers received critical praise for several albums. “Songs Our Daddy Taught Us” (1958), their folk album, consisted primarily of traditional Appalachian songs sung to the sparse accompaniment of the brothers’ guitars. “Two Yanks in London” (1966), an attempt to update their sound, featured compositions and accompaniment from longtime admirers the Hollies. “Roots” (1968), which combined vintage Everly family radio shows with newer recordings, is considered one of the finest early country rock albums.

The brothers also served as summer replacement hosts for Johnny Cash in 1970 on the ABC variety program “Johnny Cash Presents the Everly Brothers.”

In the 1970s, Mr. Everly recorded two more solo albums and did session work as a harmony singer behind Emmylou Harris. When Phil Everly’s 1983 duet with Cliff Richard, “She Means Nothing to Me,” topped the British charts, the duo was persuaded to do a reunion concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

They released the album “EB 84” (1984) and, from that, had a minor hit single with “On the Wings of a Nightingale,” written by Paul McCartney. Two years later, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and scored a top-20 country hit with the title track from the album “Born Yesterday.” According to producer Dave Edmunds, on their later recordings, Phil preferred to record his harmonies separately after Don recorded his lead.

Both brothers sang on the title track of “Graceland” for another longtime admirer, Paul Simon. Simon and Garfunkel, who began their career as an Everly-style duo by the name of Tom and Jerry, later covered “Bye Bye Love” and had the brothers as guests for their 2003-04 reunion tour.

The Everly Brothers’ honors included a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 1997 and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Don Everly’s marriages to Mary Sue Ingraham, model and actress Venetia Stevenson and Karen Prettyman ended in divorce. In 1997, he married Adela Garza.

In addition to his fourth wife, survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, Venetia; three children from his second marriage, Stacy, Erin and Edan; his mother, Margaret Everly of Nashville; and six grandchildren.

Phil Everly died in 2014 at 74. Don Everly attributed their musical success to a shared instinct and, in the later years in his life, even expressed gratitude to be musically reunited with his brother.

“I think that what Phil and I have done is something that took being brothers, growing up together and having worked together all these years,” he told the Daily Telegraph of Sydney in 1998. “We have separate lives, but when we walk out onstage, it comes back, and it amazes me that we can do it. It’s like riding a bicycle. I don’t know how it’s done but I know it can be done.”

[Gary]

3 number ones All I Have To Do Is Dream and Wake Up Little Susie in 1957 and 1968 (both predating the Hot 100)

Then in 1960 Cathy's Clown spend 5 weeks at #1

[Gary]

UB40 saxophonist Brian Travers dies at 62, following 'heroic battle with cancer'
He was a founding member of the British reggae-pop band.

By Jolie LashAugust 23, 2021 at 06:20 PM EDT



Brian Travers, the saxophonist and founding member of the British reggae-pop band UB40, died Sunday from complications of cancer. He was 62.

UB40 confirmed the news Monday on social media, issuing a statement saying, "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our comrade, brother, founding UB40 member and musical legend, Brian David Travers. Brian passed away yesterday evening with his family by his side, after a long and heroic battle with cancer."

The band added, "Our thoughts are with Brian's wife Lesley, his daughter Lisa and son Jamie. We are all devastated by this news and ask that you respect the family's need for privacy at this time."

Travers was a part of UB40's early lineup when they first formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978. The band found crossover success in the U.S. with songs including "Red Red Wine" and their version of the pop standard "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You."

UB40 have been nominated for a total of four reggae-related Grammy Awards.

Travers suffered a seizure last December, according to BirminghamLive. He previously had one in March 2019, followed by surgery to remove brain tumors, the local outlet reported. Travers was unable to tour with UB40 for their 40th anniversary tour in 2019 under the advice of a physician.


In addition to his musical talents, Travers was also a painter, and he had told ITV News he wanted to write a bossa nova album.

Following the news of Travers' death, the Brain Tumor Charity released a statement offering condolences to his loved ones.

"Our deepest condolences go to Brian's family and friends," the statement said. "Our thoughts are with you in this difficult time. This is also a reminder of the urgent need to speed up progress towards a cure for brain tumours."

[Gary]

[Gary]

Forever No. 1: The Everly Brothers' 'Cathy's Clown'
By Andrew Unterberger
8/24/2021
Click to copy
www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/9618625/everly-brothers-cathys-clown-forever-number-one/

Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer -- a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single -- by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Don Everly of the Everly Brothers, who died at age 84 on Saturday (Aug. 21), with a look at the duo's lone No. 1 single of the Hot 100 era: the heart-piercing breakup classic "Cathy's Clown."

For six decades, Warner Records has been one of the bedrock labels of the music industry, and today (following a rebrand from its longtime Warner Bros. Records name in 2019) remains the home to such star artists past and present as Dua Lipa, Saweetie, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna. But at the beginning of the 1960s, the label was on the precipice of collapse. Having been formed just a few years before -- the Warner Bros. film empire was inspired to get into music after realizing they had no claim to their film star Tab Hunter's burgeoning recording career -- the label had built a roster around film soundtracks, novelty artists and movie stars mostly doing spoken word. Hits were scarce, losses were mounting and the label was in desperate need of a true success.

Luckily for Warner, after some restructuring and cost-cutting, they had just enough left to place one more big bet, this time on a rock act with a track record of chart success: The Everly Brothers. The duo, built around the sweet harmonies of brothers Don and Phil Everly, had strung together an impressive run of hits, including such smashes (whose peaks predate the Hot 100) as "Wake Up Little Suzie," "Bye Bye Love" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream," before royalty disputes led to them parting ways with their label Cadence Records. The star free agents were snatched up by Warner in 1960, with a contract reportedly worth at least a million dollars -- one of, if not the very first, million-dollar deals in label history -- and Don and Phil set out to record a single to prove they were worth the investment.

According to Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, the Everly Brothers had tried out eight songs already by the time they started on "Cathy's Clown," but didn't feel any of them were right for their Warner debut. Then, at home in Nashville, Don was struck by inspiration, which he would later explain came from memories of a failed relationship with an old high-school girlfriend (named Catherine Castle Craven Coe). He called Phil to help him finish off the song that would eventually become "Cathy's Clown," their first single on Warner. (Though Phil, who died of pulmonary disease in 2014, was a credited co-writer on the song's original release, Don filed a complaint against his late brother's heirs in 2017 alleging that he had written the song entirely on his own; earlier this year, a Tennessee federal judge declared him the song's sole author.)

While "Cathy's Clown" carries with it many of the hallmarks of the melodic, gentle rock hits that had made the Everly Brothers stars in the late '50s, three elements set it apart in their catalog: the structure, the rhythm and -- even for the Everlys -- the harmonies. The structure was unusual in that it led with its chorus, a mighty, heart-walloping refrain that towers over the rest of the song. There are verses, technically speaking, sandwiched in between, but by comparison they're low-key, hushed and feel somewhat rushed, as if they're just filler in between chorus hits. (Essentially, that's what they are: You'd be forgiven if you'd heard "Cathy's Clown" 100 times and still could only sing along to the refrain.)


And a large part of why the chorus is so much more memorable than the verses is because of their respective rhythms. The song kicks off with an almost martial-sounding clomp, punctuated by the mini-drum rolls (doubled through tape loop) of renowned session musician Buddy Harman -- which briefly cuts out at the end of each four-measure phrase, making the song's sectional transitions even more conspicuous. It's a jarring choice of beat for a breakup torch song that most artists would play as a traditional ballad -- Don claimed in his 2017 suit that he was inspired by the noise of "mules going down the path" from the 1958 Disney short Grand Canyon, which was set to composer Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite" -- and it makes the two lovelorn singers sound as if they're marching straight to the firing squad in their misery. For the verses, the rhythm section takes a lighter, jazzier touch, as if offering much-needed respite from the death parade of the song's chorus.

But the reason "Cathy's Clown" works at all, let alone as a hit pop song, is because of those harmonies. The intertwining twang of Don and Phil had long been the duo's calling card, but their first Warner release took it to an entirely new level. The "Cathy's Clown" chorus begins with Don and Phil singing in unison for the first four unisyllabic words -- "Don't want your loooove..." -- before Don's vocal breaks free on "love," yo-yo-ing up and down the scale as Phil's voice soars and sustains above him, before landing in perfect harmony with his brother for the closing "...a-ny-more." It's an absolute show-stopper, and it repeats through the various phrases of the chorus ("Don't want your kiiiiiiisses... that's for sure...") to arresting effect each time. Though the rhythm and lyrics ("I die each tiiime... I hear this sound") are fatalistic, the vocals are so sublime that the song ends up far more devastating than draggy.

The devastation proved irresistible for American audiences of the early '60s, who made "Cathy's Clown" the biggest hit of the Everly Brothers' career. The song zipped to No. 1 in just its sixth week on the Hot 100 (dated May 23, 1960), replacing Elvis Presley's "Stuck on You," and stayed there for five weeks total -- ending up as the No. 3 single on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 for 1960 -- before giving way to Connie Francis' "Everybody's Somebody's Fool." The Everlys thrived on Warner for the following year, landing four additional top 10 hits ("When Will I Be Loved," "So Sad [To Watch Good Love Go Bad]," "Ebony Eyes" and "Walk Right Back"), before the duo enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in late 1961, stalling their career. They had some success upon returning in 1962, including the No. 9 hit "That's Old Fashioned (That's The Way Love Should Be)," but were further slowed by publishing disputes and substance abuse -- as well as the incoming British Invasion, which left their sound quickly outmoded -- and never threatened the Hot 100's apex again.

The second wind that the Everlys provided Warner turned out to be all that it needed. Soon after the chart takeover of "Cathy's Clown," the label hit pay dirt with one of their comedy acts: Bob Newhart, whose The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart live album became one of the surprise runaway successes of 1960, topping the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks and even winning the 1961 Grammy for album of the year. By 1963, Warner had added comedy phenom Allan Sherman and hitmaking folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary to their roster, and the label even had the juice to purchase music icon Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records on its downslope -- resuscitating both label and artist in the process. Thus began the expansion of Warner from just a record label to the conglomerate currently known as Warner Music Group, one of the Big Three record companies currently serving as pillars for the entire music industry.

The legacy of "Cathy's Clown" goes far beyond Warner, however. The song has been covered by a variety of artists -- most notably, country superstar Reba McEntire, who scored a No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 1989 with her version of the song. (Just the next year, British singer/songwriter John Wesley Harding paid tribute to the song with his "Cathy's New Clown.") In 2013, the Everlys' original was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, for its enduring impact on popular music. That impact has been cited by subsequent hitmaking duos like Simon & Garfunkel, but also by the very band who helped end the Everly Brothers' stateside pop supremacy: The Beatles, who once toyed with calling themselves "The Foreverly Brothers," and who patterned the harmonies in U.S. debut single "Please Please Me" after those of "Cathy's Clown."

[Gary]

Rolling Stones Drummer Charlie Watts Dies at 80

By Gary Graff

8/24/2021

Click to copy

www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/9618913/rolling-stones-charlie-watts-dead/


The "engine room" of the Rolling Stones has shut down.

Co-founder and virtuoso drummer Charlie Watts, who guitarist Keith Richards frequently referred to with the "engine room" sobriquet, has died at age 80, his rep confirmed Tuesday (Aug. 24). Watts had just exited the band’s upcoming U.S. tour to allow him to recover from an unspecified medical procedure.

A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Modern Drummer Hall of Fame, and considered by many to be rock's greatest drummer of all time, Watts incorporated a jazz sensibility into the Stones' blend of rock, blues and R&B. Always on time but often playing around the beat, Watts' style was a perfect complement to the band's spacious and deceptively complex rhythm patterns, providing -- along with bassists Bill Wyman and Darryl Jones -- a solid foundation that propelled the songs, both in the recording studio and especially onstage.

"Rock swings with a heavy backbeat," Watts once explained to writer Chet Flippo. "It's supposed to be fun, and that's why I like it. It's dance music...Heavy backbeat, that's what it is." And that sensibility became a hallmark of the Stones' enduring sound.

"To me, Charlie IS the Rolling Stones," Keith Richards once told Billboard. "We can be as wild as we want, all over the place, but Charlie never falls out of place. He keeps it all locked in and moving forward."

Wyman, meanwhile, saluted Watts as "an economist" in both his playing and his instrument. "I look at all these drummers that have all these pieces on [their kits] to band around on, and Charlie has, like, seven," the bassist said with a laugh. "And he gets as much out of what he has as they do -- maybe more -- just 'cause he's such a great player."

Watts was also, for the most part, the Rolling Stone least affected by the group's iconic success. In his book STP: A Journey Through America With the Rolling Stones, Robert Greenfield recounts that during the Stones' 1972 North American tour, he spent a visit to the Playboy Mansion playing billiards rather than cavorting with women.

"Being a Rolling Stone has almost passed him by," Wyman wrote in his memoir, Stone Alone. "He has never courted fame or sought pop stardom. Inside a band of powerful personalities he remains a true British eccentric."

Raised in the northwest London district of Kingsbury, Watts played soccer and cricket as a youth but became enamored with jazz early, buying 78 RPM releases by Charlie Parker, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk and others. Watts started out playing banjo, but inspired by Gerry Mulligan's drummer Chico Hamilton, he put his banjo head on a stand and used it as a snare drum. His parents bought Watts his first proper drum kit in 1955, and he began playing in the Jo Jones All Stars and in clubs and coffee houses while studying at Harrow Art School and then working as a graphic designer for Charles Daniels Studios.


Watts had taken a job in Denmark when Alexis Korner asked him to join his band Blues Incorporated, in 1961. The drummer returned to London, working days at another advertising company, and met Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ian Stewart as they entered Korner's orbit. They courted him to join the Rolling Stones when they formed the band during 1962, and Watts finally agreed in January of 1963.

"I thought it would be good fun, and I liked [the other band members]," Watts -- who published a book about Charlie Parker, Ode to a High Flying Bird, during December of 1964 -- once said. "I did not at all think it would be a lifetime job. How could I?"


The Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts Makes Surprise Appearance at Detroit Jazz Show

In addition to playing drums Watts also lent his graphic skills to the band early on, helping to design covers for albums such as Between the Buttons and tour stages, logos and posters. While an unassuming presence on stage, letting his playing do the talking, Watts certainly understood his value within the band; Most famously, Watts responded to a late-night drunken phone call from Jagger, asking, "Where's my drummer?," by shaving, putting on a suit and tie, going to the singer's hotel room, knocking on the door and punching him in the face, telling Jagger, "Don't ever call me your drummer again. You're my f---ing singer!"

Outside of the Stones, Watts released a selection of albums, starting with Live at Fulham Town Hall with his own Charlie Watts Orchestra in 1986. He also formed a quintet and a tentet and recorded a collaborative project with fellow drummer Jim Keltner in 2000. A 2010 concert collaboration with the Danish Radio Big Band was released in 2017. He also periodically played with Stones touring musician Tim Ries at the saxophonist's solo jazz shows and, while in various towns, was known to frequent club and other players that he favored.

Despite his quiet demeanor, Watts grappled with some health issues over the years. He succumbed into alcohol and drug abuse, including heroin, during the early and mid-80s but quietly worked his way through them. And in June of 2004 he was diagnosed with throat cancer, which he successfully battled into submission. "We were scared," Richards said shortly after. "We've had other people come and go in the band...but if there's no Charlie, there's no Stones. I wouldn't want to go on if he's not there."

Outside of music, Watts was known for his sartorial style, named one of the World's Best Dressed Men by Britain's Daily Telegraph in 2006, while Vanity Fair chose him for its International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. He and his wife Shirley own an Arabian horse stud farm, and he was once president of the North Wales Sheepdog Society.

Watts is survived by Shirley, his wife since 1964, as well as their daughter Serafina and his grandchild, Charlotte.

[colson]

What was the Stones' biggest hit?

[Clode]

Aug 26, 2021 14:32:21 GMT -5 colson said:

What was the Stones' biggest hit?

Their most successful hit on the Hot 100 is "Honky Tonk Women" which spent 4 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Charts dated August 23, 1969 - September 13, 1969. 

[colson]

Didn't "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" also spend 4 consecutive weeks at #1?

[Clode]

Aug 26, 2021 14:59:09 GMT -5 colson said:

Didn't "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" also spend 4 consecutive weeks at #1?

It sure did, However "Honky Tonk Women" is the bigger hit overall. 

[Gary]

Terence 'Astro' Wilson, Former Member of UB40, Dies at 64
11/7/2021 by Mitchell Peters


British vocalist and former UB40 member Terence Wilson, better known by his stage name Astro, has died following a short illness. He was 64.

"We are absolutely devastated and completely heartbroken to have to tell you that our beloved Astro has today passed away after a very short illness," a statement on singer Ali Campbell and Astro's Twitter account said on Saturday (Nov. 6). "The world will never be the same without him."

Astro was a member of the British reggae-pop band for more than 30 years. He left the act in 2013 to join UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue

Further details about Astro's death were not available at press time.

UB40 remembered the singer in a tweet on Saturday. "We have heard tonight, the sad news that ex-member of UB40, Terence Wilson, better know as Astro, has passed away after a short illness," the group wrote. "Our sincere condolences to his family."

UB40 was founded in Birmingham, England, in 1978 by Robin Campbell, Ali Campbell, Brian Travers, Earl Falconer, James Brown, and Norman Hassan. Virtue and Astro joined in 1979, and the lineup remained the same until frontman Ali left in 2008. He was replaced by another younger brother, Duncan Campbell.

Together, the group landed five songs on the Billboard Hot 100: "Red Red Wine" climbed to the summit in 1988 and spent 40 weeks on the chart; "Can't Help Falling in Love" was No. 1 in 1993 and stayed on the chart for 29 weeks; "I Got You Babe" (a collab with Chrissie Hynde) reached No. 28 in 1985; "The Way You Do the Things You Do" peaked at No. 6 in 1990; and "Here I Am (Come and Take Me) reached a high of No. 7 in 1991. Notably, all five songs were cover versions. They were first popularized by Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley, Sonny & Cher, The Temptations and Al Green, respectively.

Their 1993 album, Promises and Lies, was the group's biggest chart success, peaking at No. 6 on the all-genre Billboard 200. UB40 has also earned four Grammy nominations: best reggae recording (album) in 1987 for UB40 CCCP (Live in Moscow); best reggae recordings for UB40 (album) and "Breakfast in Bed" (track) in 1988; and best reggae album for Who You Fighting For in 2006.

In late August, UB40 saxophone player and songwriter Travers died after a long battle with cancer. In March 2019, the musician announced that he was undergoing surgery for a brain tumor, and wouldn't be joining UB40 on their 40th anniversary tour.

[Gary]

2nd UB40 member to pass in 3 months

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

To be noted, Red Red Wine when originally released hit #34 on the Hot 100 in 1984. It hit #1 in 1988, when it was reissued with Astro's rap, which had been edited out during its original release as a single.

[Gary]

Michael Nesmith & The Monkees Set a Billboard Chart Record in 1967 That Still Stands Today
Since March 1956, when the Billboard 200 began publication on a consistent, weekly basis, no one else has had four No. 1 albums in a calendar year.


By Paul Grein

12/10/2021

The Monkees
Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork on the set of 'The Monkees' circa 1966.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Michael Nesmith, who died Friday (Dec. 10) at age 78, and his fellow Monkees – Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz – set a record in 1967 that no other act has equaled: They became the first and only act to have four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 in a calendar year.


They were on top as the year began with their debut album, The Monkees, which had spent the last eight weeks of 1966 at No. 1. The Monkees spent the first five weeks of 1967 in the top spot, until it was replaced on Feb. 11 by the group’s sophomore set, More of the Monkees. That album logged 18 consecutive weeks on top.

12/10/2021
After a one-week interruption by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – you’ll be reading more about them soon – The Monkees’ third album, Headquarters, grabbed a week at No. 1 in June before spending the next 11 weeks at No. 2 behind The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. (Hot as The Monkees were in 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s was a watershed album.) The Monkees made it back to the top spot in December with Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd., which spent the last five weeks of the year at No. 1.

Since March 1956, when the Billboard 200 began publication on a consistent, weekly basis, no one else has had four No. 1 albums in a calendar year. And only seven acts have had three No. 1 albums in a calendar year. The Beatles achieved this feat three times. Elvis Presley did it twice. Here’s a full report.

Elvis Presley (1957): Elvis, which had spent the last four weeks of 1956 at No. 1 on Best Selling Pop Albums, was No. 1 for a fifth week as the new year began. The Loving You soundtrack was on top for 10 consecutive weeks, from July to September. Elvis’ Christmas Album was No. 1 for the last three weeks of 1957 (and a fourth week in January 1958).

The Kingston Trio (1960): This folk/pop trio may not be as famous today as some of these other acts, but they were enormously successful in their time. Here We Go Again!, which had been No. 1 on Best Selling Monophonic LPs for the last three weeks of 1959, remained on top of Mono Action Albums for the first five weeks of 1960. Sold Out had 10 nonconsecutive weeks on top from May to July. String Along had five consecutive weeks on top of that chart in September and October.

Elvis Presley (1961): The G.I. Blues soundtrack, which spent four weeks on top of Mono Action Albums in December 1960, remained on top for six more weeks in 1961. Something for Everybody was No. 1 for three weeks in August and September. The Blue Hawaii soundtrack spent the last three weeks of the year at No. 1 (and stayed on top for 17 additional weeks in 1962).


The Beatles (1964): The Fab Four were the first act to have three No. 1 albums in a year following the August 1963 merger of separate mono and stereo charts into one definitive listing. Meet the Beatles! spent 11 consecutive weeks on top from February through April. It was replaced in the top spot on May 2 by The Beatles’ Second Album, which spent five weeks in the lead. The group returned to No. 1 in July with the A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack, which had 14 weeks on top, through Oct. 24.

The Beatles (1965): Beatles ’65 spent nine consecutive weeks on top, from January in to March. Beatles VI spent six consecutive weeks on top in July and August. The Help! soundtrack spent nine consecutive weeks on top from September to November.

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (1966): This instrumental ensemble reached its peak this year. Whipped Cream & Other Delights, which had spent the last five weeks of 1965 at No. 1, remained on top for three nonconsecutive weeks in 1966. Whipped Cream – famous for one of the sexiest album covers of that or any era – was replaced at No. 1 on March 5 by Going Places, which had six nonconsecutive weeks on top. After a one-week interruption by The Mamas & the Papas, What Now My Love took the lead in May and stayed on top for nine nonconsecutive weeks, ending Sept. 3.

The Beatles (1966): Rubber Soul had six consecutive weeks at No. 1 in January and February. “Yesterday”…and Today, featuring the 1965 ballad that is probably The Beatles’ most beloved song, had five weeks on top in July and August. After a one-week interruption by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – them again! — Revolver was No. 1 for six consecutive weeks in September and October.

The Monkees (1967): Details above.

Elton John (1975): Elton John’s Greatest Hits, which spent the last five weeks of 1974 on top, also spent the first five weeks of 1975 in the lead. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, which in June became the first album (by anybody) to enter the Billboard 200 at No. 1, spent seven nonconsecutive weeks on top. Rock of the Westies, which in November became the second album to debut at No. 1, spent three weeks in the lead.


Glee Cast (2010): Glee, which was by most measures the biggest TV/music crossover phenomenon since The Monkees, had three No. 1 albums in the space of just eight weeks in May and June. Glee: The Music, the Power of Madonna was on top for one week in May. Glee: The Music, Volume 3: Showstoppers led for two weeks in June. Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals had one week on top in June.

Taylor Swift (2021): Swift is the only female solo artist to log three No. 1 albums in a calendar year. Evermore, which hit No. 1 in the last week of 2020, led for three additional weeks in 2021. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) spent two weeks on top. Red (Taylor’s Version) spent one week in the lead before being supplanted by Adele’s 30.

[Gary]

Michael Nesmith, Singer, Songwriter and Guitarist of The Monkees, Dies at 78
After starring with his bandmates on TV for two seasons, he won a Grammy, produced films and was a music video pioneer.


By Chris Koseluk

12/10/2021

Nesmith died Friday of natural causes, his family told Rolling Stone.


The Monkees
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“With Infinite Love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes,” they said.

12/10/2021
A Texan whose mother invented Liquid Paper, the Grammy winner also founded a multimedia company through which he created the prototype for MTV and produced several films, most notably the 1984 cult classic Repo Man.

Ariana Grande Teases Four New Songs, Deluxe Edition of 'Positions' | Billboard News
Nesmith was 24 and an up-and-coming musician getting noticed for penning such tunes as “Different Drum” — which would be recorded in 1967 by the Linda Ronstadt-led Stone Poneys — when he was cast as one of the four carefree youngsters living in a California beach house looking to make it in the music world on NBC’s The Monkees.

The brainchild of producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the comedy was designed to cash in on the popularity of The Beatles by mirroring the zaniness of Help! and A Hard Day’s Night. An immediate hit upon its September 1966 debut, it won the Emmy for outstanding comedy series after its first season and became a pop culture phenomenon.

“The Monkees was the first TV show that had only young people in the lead, with no ‘adult’ figure in sight (no parent, no manager),” Gwen Ihnat wrote in a 2016 article for The A.V. Club. “It was also unusual that the four didn’t have any character names but essentially played themselves: Mike the older leader, Davy the heartthrob, Micky the wacky cutup and Peter the childlike innocent.”

Dubbed the “Prefab Four,” The Monkees each received $400 a week for the show. Nesmith got in after answering an ad in the trades. “Madness!! Auditions,” read a blurb published Sept. 8, 1965. “Folk & Roll Musicians for acting roles in a new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys age 17-21.”

Nearly 450 aspiring actor-musicians tried out. Nesmith won over producers with his nonchalant demeanor. He also was very funny — so much so that after test audiences didn’t connect with the pilot, the producers added his and Jones’ screen test, and approval ratings soared.


There’s another reason Nesmith might have gotten the gig: he rode a motorcycle. To keep his hair out of his face, he wore a green wool hat. That look on a sunny California day made an impression during his audition.

Producers intended on calling his character “Wool Hat,” but Nesmith hated that idea. Schneider and Rafelson agreed to call him Mike but insisted he keep the hat.

Realizing the series could be a record-selling gold mine, Screen Gems featured two songs in each episode. Three Monkees singles — “I’m a Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Daydream Believer” — made it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while their first four albums — The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd — topped the Billboard 200 chart.

In 1967, The Monkees reportedly outsold The Beatles and Rolling Stones, combined.

Music producer Don Kirshner ran the recording sessions, chose the songs and solicited tunes from the likes of Neil Diamond, Carole King & Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka & Carole Bayer Sager and Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart. The Monkees sang, but others played the instruments.

This irked Nesmith, the group’s most accomplished musician; he thought The Monkees could become a real band had they been given the opportunity. He would lead the charge to give the boys a bigger say.

Head was intended to be an edgy satire that poked fun at war, Hollywood phoniness and The Monkees themselves, but it was a box office disaster. “They work very hard and they aren’t any good,” Renata Adler wrote in her review for The New York Times.

The soundtrack was equally disappointing. Head peaked at No. 45 — the first time a Monkees LP had failed to break the top five.

“We all were — very tired — and the show was starting to repeat itself,” Nesmith said in a 2018 interview. “Things like The Monkees show have a specific lifetime, and when it’s through, it is through, left for history to assess.”


Robert Michael Nesmith was born in Houston on Dec. 30, 1942. His parents, Warren and Bette, divorced when he was 4, and Nesmith moved with his mother to Dallas. His mom did office work to make ends meet, but that all changed in 1951 when she came up with the idea for Liquid Paper (originally called “Mistake Out”).

She used the product to build a multimillion-dollar company before selling it to Gillette in 1979 for $49 million but died of a stroke shortly after, leaving half of her fortune to her son.

After two years in the U.S. Air Force, where he earned his GED, Nesmith enrolled in San Antonio College, but he was most interested in writing songs and playing guitar. He and another aspiring musician, John Kuehne, began performing together and headed to Los Angeles to try to break into the music business.

In 1963, Nesmith recorded his first single, “Wanderin’,” followed in 1965 by other songs released under the name Michael Blessing.

Meanwhile, Frankie Laine recorded Nesmith’s “Pretty Little Princess” in 1965, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band included his “Mary, Mary” on its 1966 album, East-West, and The Stone Poneys released a version of his “Some of Shelly’s Blues” in 1968.

Nesmith’s “Papa Gene’s Blues” and “Sweet Young Thing” (co-written with King and Goffin) were featured on the first Monkees album, while their second LP included “Mary, Mary” and another song he wrote, “The Kind of Girl I Could Love.” But it was Kirshner calling the shots, and that angered Nesmith.

As detailed in Randi L. Massingill’s 2005 book, Total Control: The Mike Nesmith Story, Kirshner unveiled his pick for The Monkees’ next single during a 1967 party inside his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When Nesmith objected, Screen Gems attorney Herb Moelis defended Kirshner’s track record. Nesmith retorted that The Monkees could record “Happy Birthday” with a beat and it would sell a million copies. If he didn’t get a bigger say in the band’s music, he would quit.


“Moelis then made the mistake of telling Michael that he had better read his contract,” wrote Massingill. “With that, Michael exploded in anger and WHAM! He put his first right through the wall of the bungalow. In the midst of the dust and the shock of it all, Michael turned to Moelis and said, ‘That could have been your face, motherf—er.’”

Schneider agreed to give The Monkees control of the B-side of each single, but when Kirshner broke the deal with the very next release, he was gone. Going forward, The Monkees, led by Nesmith, had complete control of their music.

In 1969, Nesmith bought out his Monkees contract at considerable expense to join Kuehne, drummer John Ware and pedal steel guitarist Red Rhodes in Michael Nesmith & the First National Band. They released three albums, enjoying minor successes with the singles “Joanne” and “Silver Moon,” both written by Nesmith, before disbanding in 1971.

In 1974, Nesmith founded Pacific Arts Productions, which distributed his solo albums and promoted such artists as Kaleidoscope, Fresh and Pacific Steel Company.

He began creating videos around his songs, most notably 1977’s “Rio,” and approached Warner Communications with the idea for a TV series featuring music videos. From that, Popclips was born, and it ran for six episodes on Nickelodeon in 1980. (Howie Mandel was among the veejays on the show.)

John Lack, the Warner executive overseeing the project, thought the program would work better as a cable channel, and Popclips would become MTV. Lack wanted Nesmith to run it, but he declined, more interested in creating content than being a TV executive.

His biggest direct-to-video success was 1981’s Elephant Parts, a wacky lineup of comedy parodies weaved around videos of five Nesmith songs. An hourlong product for VHS, it won Nesmith a Grammy for video of the year — the first Grammy ever awarded for a video. (He spoke with David Letterman in 1983 about the project.)


Pacific Arts also dabbled in features. In addition to Repo Man (which featured a cameo by Nesmith as a rabbi), the company produced Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982), which Nesmith co-wrote, Square Dance (1987) and Tapeheads (1988).

Seeking to expand its library, Pacific Arts reached a deal to acquire the home video rights to the PBS library; after the network reneged, Nesmith sued and won a $47 million settlement.

Nesmith returned to the comedy/music video format in 1985 with Television Parts, a lively summer series featuring performances by Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg and Garry Shandling.

In 1986, Nesmith joined Jones, Dolenz and Tork during the encore of a Greek Theatre concert that marked The Monkees’ 20th anniversary. He later appeared as Santa Claus in a Monkees MTV video, performed with his bandmates at the Universal Amphitheatre and was there when The Monkees received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989.

A year after Nesmith was nominated for a Grammy for best new age album for 1994’s The Garden, The Monkees reunited with Justus, its first studio album since Head. Nesmith then wrote and directed Hey, Hey, It’s the Monkees, an hourlong special that blended interviews with videos of Justus songs.

After Jones’ sudden death in 2012, Nesmith joined Dolenz and Tork for a U.S. tour.

“Monkees fans … are a joy to perform for, and I particularly enjoyed channeling ‘Monkee Mike,’” Nesmith said in 2013. “It was a lot of fun when I was a kid — and it has its charm for me even now. The four of us were discussing going out and playing when David died. That was a real surprise — very unexpected — and it seemed that if we were ever going to do it, we should do it now. Each of us had his own agenda with the tour, I think, but mine was to give the fans another pass at their Monkees — which for many was a big part of their childhood — and to perform the songs.”

And after Tork died in 2019, he and Dolenz toured in 2021.


Nesmith was married and divorced three times. Survivors include his children, Christian, Jonathan, Jason and Jessica.