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| Copyright 2007 by JimmyClanton.com. All Rights Reserved. No part of this Website may be used without prior written permission. Contact admin@JimmyClanton.com. |
| Management by |
| PRODUCTIONS |
Fats Domino's 1956 classic hit,
"Blueberry Hill," was originally
a number one hit for Big Band
leader Glenn Miller in 1940.
"Blueberry Hill" was also a hit for
Louie "Satchmo" Armstrong, and
it ended up being the biggest hit
of Fats Domino's career.
Surprisingly, although he had a
vast number of hit records, not
one of Antoine's (his real name) songs ever went all
the way to number one on the charts. Amazing! It is
interesting to note that Fats Domino was the
featured performer at a big citywide prom dance
in New Orleans when Jimmy Clanton was a
senior. Jimmy looked
up at the stage and
said to himself, "Man,
I wonder what it would
be like to meet and get to know someone that
famous." Within two years, with "Just a Dream"
racing up the pop charts, Jimmy was performing
onstage with Fats Domino, his teenage idol.
people's attention and sold the song. The Boudleaux
and Felice Bryant-penned tune became the Everly
duo's first big hit, rising to # 2 on the US Pop charts
and # 1 on the Country and R&B charts during 1957.
Early manufacturers of jukeboxes never referred
to them as "jukeboxes." Instead, the term was
"Automatic Coin-Operated Phonographs" or
"Coin-slot Phonographs." The term "juke"
is Southern US slang for dancing. "Juke Joints"
were places where automated music-playing
devices thrived. Who can imagine the Fifties and
Sixties without Rock `n Roll blaring from jukeboxes?
Somehow it would have lost some of the flavor to
say, "Slide another dime into that Automatic Coin-
Operated Phonograph and hit B-14. I just gotta hear
more of that new Jimmy Clanton tune." Yep,
definitely, "jukebox" is better!
On May 4, 1959, Tommy Dee reached #11 on the
Billboard chart with a record called "Three Stars,"
a tune dedicated to the memory or Buddy Holly,
Richie Valens and The Big Bopper. The song was
meant for Eddie Cochran, but Eddie was unable to
complete the recording because of the incredible
sadness caused by the death of his friends.
The plane crash happened when Tommy
Donaldson was just finishing his first week as a
DJ at radio station KFXM in San Bernardino,
California. He quickly came up with the idea for a
talking tribute song to the three rock and roll
legends, approached Crest records with a demo and
recorded the disk with Carol Kay and The Teen-Aires
under the name Tommy Dee. "Three Stars" jumped
up the charts even as Buddy's surviving band,
Jimmy Clanton, Dion and others finished the Winter
Dance Party Tour. This would turn out to be Tommy
Dee's only hit record, but he continued as a country
music promoter and producer in Nashville until he
passed away on January 26, 2007.
The only US number one single to be re-recorded by
the same artist and become a Top Ten hit all over
again is "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" by Neil Sedaka.
The original, up-tempo version topped the Billboard
chart in 1962, while a ballad rendition reached
number 8 in 1975. Other songs have made a second
or third appearance on Billboard's Hot 100, but with
the other hits, the original version came back each
time. (Also, did you know that Neil Sedaka wrote one
of Jimmy Clanton's biggest hits, "Venus in Blue
Jeans"?)
ever done. After some pressure from Nino, Ertegun
gave in and released the song as a single. It quickly
soared to #1 on the Billboard Pop chart and enjoyed
a twelve week run. The following year it won a
Grammy Award for the Best Rock and Roll Recording
of 1963.
While talking on the phone with his mother,
Disc Jockey Murray The K mentioned that he
and Bobby Darin were soaking their feet
after playing a game of softball in Central
Park. A few minutes later, she called back to
say that she had an idea for a song, "Splish,
Splash, take a bath..." Murray and Bobby
began sorting out some lyrics while Murray's
mother, Jean, who had been a vaudeville
piano player, finished the melody. It became
the first of Bobby's 22 U.S. Top 40 hits when
it reached #3 in the Summer of 1958.
Buddy Holly's Crickets drummer, Jerry Allison,
played drums on The Everly Brothers 1959 hit "Til I
Kissed You." Also, some may not know that Jerry did
a solo record in the summer of 1958, "Real Wild
Child," with Buddy Holly playing lead guitar, Jerry on
drums and Joe Mauldin on bass. On the 45 single,
the artist was listed simply as IVAN!
their biggest hit with the million seller "Buttons and
Bows," from the Bob Hope and Jane Russell movie
Paleface. One of the sisters, Jean (along with her
husband, Red Surrey), wrote "Teen Angel."
After recording a number of demo
songs on January 1, 1962, The
Beatles received a rejection
letter from the Decca Recording
Company that said "We don't like
their sound and guitar music is
on the way out."
"Blueberry Hill," was originally
a number one hit for Big Band
leader Glenn Miller in 1940.
"Blueberry Hill" was also a hit for
Louie "Satchmo" Armstrong, and
it ended up being the biggest hit
of Fats Domino's career.
Surprisingly, although he had a
vast number of hit records, not
one of Antoine's (his real name) songs ever went all
the way to number one on the charts. Amazing! It is
interesting to note that Fats Domino was the
featured performer at a big citywide prom dance
in New Orleans when Jimmy Clanton was a
senior. Jimmy looked
up at the stage and
said to himself, "Man,
I wonder what it would
be like to meet and get to know someone that
famous." Within two years, with "Just a Dream"
racing up the pop charts, Jimmy was performing
onstage with Fats Domino, his teenage idol.
- The song "Bye, Bye Love"
had been turned down by 30
other artists (including Elvis
Presley) before the Everly
Brothers recorded it. The
boys liked it the first time
they heard the song, but they
struggled in the studio for
hours. Finally in frustration,
Don started playing an intro
he had thought up for
another song. Chet Atkins,
working on the session,
asked, "Tack that onto the
front of 'Bye Bye Love'. I think
we've got something here."
Chet was right.
people's attention and sold the song. The Boudleaux
and Felice Bryant-penned tune became the Everly
duo's first big hit, rising to # 2 on the US Pop charts
and # 1 on the Country and R&B charts during 1957.
Early manufacturers of jukeboxes never referred
to them as "jukeboxes." Instead, the term was
"Automatic Coin-Operated Phonographs" or
"Coin-slot Phonographs." The term "juke"
is Southern US slang for dancing. "Juke Joints"
were places where automated music-playing
devices thrived. Who can imagine the Fifties and
Sixties without Rock `n Roll blaring from jukeboxes?
Somehow it would have lost some of the flavor to
say, "Slide another dime into that Automatic Coin-
Operated Phonograph and hit B-14. I just gotta hear
more of that new Jimmy Clanton tune." Yep,
definitely, "jukebox" is better!
On May 4, 1959, Tommy Dee reached #11 on the
Billboard chart with a record called "Three Stars,"
a tune dedicated to the memory or Buddy Holly,
Richie Valens and The Big Bopper. The song was
meant for Eddie Cochran, but Eddie was unable to
complete the recording because of the incredible
sadness caused by the death of his friends.
The plane crash happened when Tommy
Donaldson was just finishing his first week as a
DJ at radio station KFXM in San Bernardino,
California. He quickly came up with the idea for a
talking tribute song to the three rock and roll
legends, approached Crest records with a demo and
recorded the disk with Carol Kay and The Teen-Aires
under the name Tommy Dee. "Three Stars" jumped
up the charts even as Buddy's surviving band,
Jimmy Clanton, Dion and others finished the Winter
Dance Party Tour. This would turn out to be Tommy
Dee's only hit record, but he continued as a country
music promoter and producer in Nashville until he
passed away on January 26, 2007.
The only US number one single to be re-recorded by
the same artist and become a Top Ten hit all over
again is "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" by Neil Sedaka.
The original, up-tempo version topped the Billboard
chart in 1962, while a ballad rendition reached
number 8 in 1975. Other songs have made a second
or third appearance on Billboard's Hot 100, but with
the other hits, the original version came back each
time. (Also, did you know that Neil Sedaka wrote one
of Jimmy Clanton's biggest hits, "Venus in Blue
Jeans"?)
- After Nino Tempo and April
Stevens hastily recorded a
song called "Deep Purple,"
the master tape was sent to
Atlantic Records producer
Ahmet Ertegun, who said that
the effort was not only
ever done. After some pressure from Nino, Ertegun
gave in and released the song as a single. It quickly
soared to #1 on the Billboard Pop chart and enjoyed
a twelve week run. The following year it won a
Grammy Award for the Best Rock and Roll Recording
of 1963.
While talking on the phone with his mother,
Disc Jockey Murray The K mentioned that he
and Bobby Darin were soaking their feet
after playing a game of softball in Central
Park. A few minutes later, she called back to
say that she had an idea for a song, "Splish,
Splash, take a bath..." Murray and Bobby
began sorting out some lyrics while Murray's
mother, Jean, who had been a vaudeville
piano player, finished the melody. It became
the first of Bobby's 22 U.S. Top 40 hits when
it reached #3 in the Summer of 1958.
Buddy Holly's Crickets drummer, Jerry Allison,
played drums on The Everly Brothers 1959 hit "Til I
Kissed You." Also, some may not know that Jerry did
a solo record in the summer of 1958, "Real Wild
Child," with Buddy Holly playing lead guitar, Jerry on
drums and Joe Mauldin on bass. On the 45 single,
the artist was listed simply as IVAN!
- You remember how Mark
Dinning scored a number one
hit in the U.S. on February 8,
1960, with "Teen Angel." Who
can forget those haunting
words, "That fateful night the
car was stalled upon the
railroad track; I pulled you out
and we were safe, but you
went running back"? What
you may not know is that Mark
came from a family of nine
children, all of whom except
one brother pursued a
musical career.
their biggest hit with the million seller "Buttons and
Bows," from the Bob Hope and Jane Russell movie
Paleface. One of the sisters, Jean (along with her
husband, Red Surrey), wrote "Teen Angel."
You also may not know that when
Mark was growing up in Oklahoma,
one of the family's friends was a
girl named Clara Ann Fowler, who
would go on to have a recording
career of her own as Patti Page.
After recording a number of demo
songs on January 1, 1962, The
Beatles received a rejection
letter from the Decca Recording
Company that said "We don't like
their sound and guitar music is
on the way out."
- When song writer Burt
Bacharach asked B.J. Thomas
to sing "Raindrops Keep
Fallin' On My Head" for the
movie Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid, he neglected
to tell Thomas that the song
had already been turned
down by Bob Dylan and Ray
Stevens.
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| Jimmy Clanton, Bobby Rydell and Bobby Darin (1958) |
Buddy, Joe and Jerry
[top right] (1958)
[top right] (1958)
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