Good day for everybody.

 

This is a second thread from my retrospective project. Now we came back in 60s decade and maybe even find something interesting in 50s.

 

My retro thread was started from 1970. I think, that 1964 year is a nice start for "Vintage # 1s" thread. So my main challenge on some next months is doing the update with my favourite singles (which were released in UK) from 1964-1969 period.

 

It was 50 years ago, when Beatles were huge and some great British female singers started their music careers.

Edited December 23, 20159 yr by Ever After

Good day for everybody.

 

1970 was the first year in my Retro favourite thread. Now I'm in the middle of 1986, so I will try to finish 80s decade in 3-4 weeks.

 

Which my step must be next ?

 

Do you have any interest in my Vintage # 1 singles from 60s (or even maybe from 50s) ?

 

Here is a dilemma : I can continue with 50s / 60s and do Vintage # 1s or you prefer My Retro # 1 favourites from 90s decade before ?

 

well I'm more interested in how people who weren't around in the 60's see it than the 90's, but I guess 90's nostalgia is going to be big business in the next few years, it tends to run in 20-25 year-cycles as kids & teenagers hit their 40's and long for the good old days when they had no troubles, so most people will probably prefer you keep on going with the 90's B-)

 

you can always come back to the 50's/60's!

cheers

john

 

28.12.1963 : Dora Bryan - All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle (2 weeks # 1)

 

http://rymimg.com/lk/f/a/fb912cd530c99b04e006b5447b7934e9/3165546.jpg

 

 

In the end of 1963 year The Beatles was everywhere, so it wasn't a surprise when English actress Dora Bryan recorded the Christmas song "All I want for Christmas is a Beatle" with funny Beatles-related lyrics :

 

"I want it for Christmas it's a real live little boy.

All I want for Christmas is a Beatle.

Not a teddy bear, just a Beatle.

I told mum nothing else would do.

There are four, so she can have one too.

I don't care which ever one she gets me.

Ringo, Paul, John, George, they're all the same.

I can't wait for Christmas day to come

'Cause all I want for Christmas is a Beatle".

 

The single reached top 20 in UK on Christmas week. The Four was on the top with maybe my favourite their song "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

Edited May 19, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

11.01.1964 : Brenda Lee - As Usual (1 week # 1)

 

http://www.hittraxmidi.com/artists/brenda_lee729553738.jpg

 

 

Brenda Lee is an American performer and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1960s. She sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s, and is ranked fourth in that decade surpassed only by Elvis Presley, Beatles and Ray Charles. She is best known for her 1960 hit "I'm Sorry", and 1958's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", a US holiday standard for more than 50 years. Lee's popularity faded in the late 1960s as her voice matured, but she continued a successful recording career by returning to her roots as a country singer with a string of hits through the 1970s and 1980s.

 

"As Usual" was recorded as a single from her 1964 album "By Request". The song reached #5 in UK and # 12 in U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Australia.

 

18.01.1964 : Nino Tempo And April Stevens - Whispering (3 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.bsnpubs.com/la/whitewhale/wwninoapril.jpg

 

 

Nino Tempo & April Stevens (born Antonino and Carol LoTempio) are a brother and sister singing act from Niagara Falls, New York. Formed in the early 1960s when Nino Tempo and April Stevens signed as a duo with Atco Records, the group had a string of Billboard hits and earned a Grammy Award as "best rock & roll record of the year" for the single "Deep Purple". "Whispering" was their next single after U.S. Hot 100 # 1 "Deep Purple" and reached # 20 in UK and # 11 in U.S. Pop Songs chart.

 

1964 year brought sweeping changes to the face of pop music, worldwide. The waning chart success of our heroes may be due in part to radio programmers mistakenly identifying them with less inventive, homogenized acts of the time. That The Invasion squeezed April & Nino off the charts is a terrible irony. There are more similarities than differences when you compare the first Atco recordings to those of Beatles and other Britpop from the same period.

Edited May 27, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

08.02.1964 : Cilla Black - Anyone Who Had A Heart (3 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.45vinylvidivici.net/SEVENTIESimages%20(ac)/black%20cilla%203747.jpg

 

 

A scout for UK record producer George Martin discovered and saw the song "Anyone Who Had a Heart" as a vehicle for Cilla Black, the Liverpool vocalist whose star potential had yet to be realized despite her association with the Beatles, her recording of the Lennon-McCartney original "Love of the Loved" having been only a modest hit (#35). Martin produced the session for Black's recording of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" at Abbey Road Studios.

 

Black's single of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" debuted at #28 on the UK Top 50 dated 8 February 1964. The Dionne Warwick original, issued by Scepter's UK licensee Pye Records, debuted on the chart for the following week at #42; by then Black's version had reached #10, ascending in the subsequent two weeks to #2 and then #1 while Warwick's version concurrently ended its chart run with two weeks at #47. On the chart dated 29 February 1964, besides Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" at #1 for the first of three weeks and Warwick's version in its final chart week at #47, the UK Top 50 featured a third version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" as the version by Mary May made its one week appearance at #49. On 25 April 1964, Billboard reported that the sales tally for Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was nearing one million units.

 

"Anyone Who Had a Heart" was also a #1 hit for Cilla Black in Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.

 

Edited May 27, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

29.02.1964 : Maureen Evans - I Love How You Love Me (5 weeks # 1)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Maureen_Evans.png/250px-Maureen_Evans.png

 

 

Maureen Evans is a Welsh pop singer who achieved fame briefly in the 1960s. She released her first singles in 1958 on the Embassy Records label. She entered the UK Singles Chart in 1960 at #26 with the song "The Big Hurt", but her biggest hit was 1962's "Like I Do", which peaked at #3 in UK in early 1963 and achieved silver certification for selling in excess of 250,000 copies in United Kingdom.

 

In 1963, Evans competed in the British trials for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Pick the Petals", but came in third; Ronnie Carroll represented the UK that year in the competition.

 

"I Love How You Love Me" got to #34 in UK charts in March 1964.

Edited May 27, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

04.04.1964 : Kathy Kirby - Let Me Go Lover (4 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.stthomasu.ca/~pmccorm/research/kathykirby2a.jpg

 

 

Kathy Kirby (Kathleen O'Rourke) was an English singer, reportedly the highest-paid female singer of her generation. She is best known for her cover version of Doris Day's "Secret Love" and for representing the United Kingdom in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in second place. Her physical appearance often drew comparisons with Marilyn Monroe. She peaked in popularity in the 1960s, when she was one of the best-known and most recognised personalities in British show business.

 

The single "Let Me Go, Lover!" is the remake of a '50's hit for Joan Weber, Teresa Brewer and Patti Page, reached # 10 spot in UK in early 1964. Kirby disliked the song, stating that: "Honestly, I was really surprised because I never had much hope for this record, and when I recorded it I thought it might never get anywhere at all."

Edited May 27, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

02.05.1964 : Doris Day - Move Over Darling (5 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.crazy4cinema.com/Actress/imgs/day.jpg

 

 

Doris Day is an American actress and singer. Day began her career as a big band singer in 1939. Her popularity began to rise after her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", in 1945. After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to try a solo career, she started her long-lasting partnership with Columbia Records, which would remain her only recording label. The contract lasted from 1947 to 1967, and included more than 650 recordings, making Day one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century.

 

Over the course of her career, Day appeared in 39 films. She was ranked the biggest box-office star, the only woman on that list, for four years (1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964) ranking in the top 10 for ten years (1951–1952 and 1959–1966). She became the top-ranking female box-office star of all time and is currently ranked sixth among the top 10 box office performers (male and female), as of 2012.

 

Day teamed up with James Garner, starting with "The Thrill of It All", followed by "Move Over, Darling" (both 1963). "Move Over, Darling" was originally titled "Something's Got to Give", a 1962 comeback vehicle for Marilyn Monroe. Filming was suspended following Monroe's dismissal and her subsequent death. A year later, filming resumed with Day recast as the leading lady. This was the 21st and final of Day's 39 movies to be in the Top 10 at the box office. The film's theme song, "Move Over, Darling", was co-written by her son specifically for her and charted at #8 in U.K.

Edited May 28, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

09.05.1964 : Cilla Black - You're My World (7 weeks # 1)

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VHDUWIIqzc0/TNbl8HUmaWI/AAAAAAAABTk/PEgc03viAag/s320/s3683_300.jpg

 

 

Although the original Italian version by composer Umberto Bindi was not a hit, even in Italy, the song came to the attention of UK record producer George Martin, who commissioned an English version to be recorded by his protegee Cilla Black. Black cut the song - translated as "You're My World" - at Abbey Road Studios with Johnny Pearson conducting his orchestra and The Breakaways providing background vocals; Black has said that her manager and future husband Bobby Willis also sang on the track.

 

"You're My World" reached No. 1 in Britain on the chart dated 30 May 1964 and remained there for a total of four weeks, one week more than Black's preceding single "Anyone Who Had a Heart". Although Black would return to the UK Top Ten eight times, "You're My World" would be her final No. 1 hit.

 

"You're My World" was also No. 1 in Australia for two weeks that July when it also spent three weeks at No. 2 in New Zealand while in South Africa the disc was the second biggest hit for the year 1964. A Top Twenty hit in Denmark, the track also reached No. 12 in Canada, No. 2 in Ireland, No. 8 in Norway and No. 7 in Sweden. "You're My World" was the first track by Black to be released in U.S. Peaking at No. 26 in August 1964, "You're My World" would become Black's only Top 40 hit in United States.

 

Cilla remade "You're My World" in 1985 for her "Surprisingly Cilla" album and then again in 1993 for her "Through the Years album"; both tracks attempted to capture the original's orchestral quality via synthesizers.

Edited May 28, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

25.07.1964 : Dusty Springfield - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (2 weeks # 1)

 

http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/ebccdd6c2560097ac96df1d45abc89b8/3917062.jpg

 

 

"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

 

The third UK single release of Springfield's solo career - following "I Only Want to Be With You" and "Stay Awhile" - "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" was Springfield's first UK single release to display her signature vocal style; rising to #3 in the summer of 1964 the track remained Springfield's highest charting UK hit until she reached #1 in 1966 with "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" which would remain Springfield's only UK solo hit to chart higher than "I Just Don't Know...".

Edited May 28, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

08.08.1964 : Cilla Black - It's For You (1 week # 1)

 

http://www.cillablack.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cilla-black-extended-plays-parlophone-records-years.jpg

 

 

Third # 1 single (or even 8th # 1, if include 1970-1999 period) for Cilla Black. "It's for You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles for Cilla Black for whom it was a UK Top Ten hit in 1964. The song was mainly a McCartney composition.

 

Paul McCartney, who had been present at Abbey Road Studios when Cilla Black had recorded her breakthrough hit "Anyone Who Had a Heart", had written "It's for You" with John Lennon using "Anyone Who Had a Heart" as the model although Black herself has opined: "For my money, ['It's for You'] is nothing like the 'Anyone...' composition."

 

Having Black, well publicized as an associate of the Beatles, record a Lennon–McCartney tune did not result in the anticipated smash hit: "It's for You" followed Black's back-to-back #1 hits: "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "You're My World", into the Top Ten but remained there for only two weeks - 29 August & 5 September 1964 - at #8 and #7.

Edited May 29, 201411 yr by AlexRange

great choices so far Alex, most of them are classics, plus one I've never heard (Whispering). That Maureen Evans record is one I didn't recognise from the title, but is a song I do actually know - from other versions, and there have been loads before and since (I wikipedia'd) :lol:

great choices so far Alex, most of them are classics, plus one I've never heard (Whispering). That Maureen Evans record is one I didn't recognise from the title, but is a song I do actually know - from other versions, and there have been loads before and since (I wikipedia'd) :lol:

 

Thanks for your comments, John. There is a small competition for # 1 position, but the quality of all top songs is very good.

 

15.08.1964 : Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By (2 weeks # 1)

 

 

 

Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades.

 

Faithfull began her singing career in 1964, landing her first gigs as a folk music performer in coffeehouses. She soon began taking part in London's exploding social scene. In early 1964 she attended a Rolling Stones launch party with John Dunbar and met Andrew Loog Oldham, who discovered her. Her first major release, "As Tears Go By", was written by Jagger, Richards and Oldham, and became a chart success (# 9 in UK).

 

Marianne Faithful's 1964 version of "As Tears Go By" features percussion and strings throughout; the Rolling Stones' version completely lacks percussion and opens with acoustic guitar followed by strings entering in the second verse, just as in "Yesterday" by The Beatles.

Edited May 29, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

29.08.1964 : Julie Rogers - The Wedding (4 weeks # 1)

 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415T8ETYZJL.jpg

 

 

Joaquin Prieto, a Chilean musician, wrote a song in Spanish in 1958 that he called "La novia" ("The bride"). British singer Julie Rogers heard the song while working in Spain in the early 1960s, and by 1964 she was the featured singer with British bandleader Teddy Foster. After recording a version of the song "It's Magic", and releasing the latter as her debut single, Rogers suggested "The Wedding" as its follow-up, since it was a song she remembered fondly from her time in Spain.

 

The single was released in UK in August 1964 and marked her first appearance on the UK Singles Chart, steadily climbing the chart until it spent two weeks at number three in October and November of that year. Around this time Rogers' recording was released in U.S., and "The Wedding" reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and logged three weeks atop the Billboard Middle-Road Singles (adult contemporary) chart in January 1965. The song also reached the summit on the Australian Kent Music Report and was a hit in other countries as well.

 

For many years after its release, it was a popular selection at wedding ceremonies around the world. The only controversy about the song was to have a Protestant woman sing a song about a Catholic wedding, especially with the use of the Latin words: "Ave Maria".

 

Maybe the most interesting discovery from this year, didn't heard any her songs before.

 

26.09.1964 : Lesley Gore - Maybe I Know (5 weeks # 1)

 

http://chartarchive.org/artwork/2228-300.jpg

 

 

Lesley Gore is an American singer. At the age of 16, in 1963, she recorded the pop hit "It's My Party".

 

"It's My Party" was followed by many other hits in United States, including the sequel "Judy's Turn to Cry" (US #5); "She's a Fool" (US #5); the protofeminist million-selling "You Don't Own Me", which held at #2 for three weeks behind the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand"

 

"Maybe I Know" (# 20 in UK) is a very good catchy pop song and it doesn't sounds as old-fashioned 60s.

Edited May 30, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

31.10.1964 : Sandie Shaw - (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me (4 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.12inch.de/l/44833.jpg

 

 

British impresario Eve Taylor heard Johnson's version while on a US visit scouting for material for her recent discovery Sandie Shaw, who consequently covered the song for the UK market. Rush-released in September 1964, the song was premiered by Shaw with a performance on Ready Steady Go!, the pop music TV program. Shaw's version reached #1 on the UK charts in three weeks, spending three weeks at #1 in November 1964, and that same month it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100. However, despite reaching the Top Ten in some markets including Detroit and Miami. Shaw's version of failed to best the national showing of the Lou Johnson original; the Hot 100 peak of Shaw's version was #52.

 

A #1 hit in Canada and South Africa, Shaw's version of "Always Something There to Remind Me" was also a hit in Australia (#16), Ireland (#7) and Netherlands (#10), the track's success in the latter territory not precluding hit status for the Dutch rendering by Edwin Rutten entitled "Ik moet altijd weer opnieuw aan je denken" (#12). Shaw herself recorded "Always Something There to Remind Me" in French, as "Toujours Un Coin Qui Me Rappelle", with lyrics by Ralph Bernet, which reached #19 in France. Shaw made a bid for a German hit as well, rendering "Always Something There to Remind Me" as "Einmal glücklich sein wie die ander'n". It was not a success.

Edited May 30, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

28.11.1964 : Twinkle - Terry (4 weeks # 1)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Twinkle_Terry.jpg

 

 

"Terry" is a song written and sung by British singer Lynn Ripley, who performed under the name Twinkle. It was her first single, and reached number 4 in UK Singles Chart in December 1964, spending fifteen weeks in the charts. The track also reached number 5 in Canada, spending four weeks in Top 40 in February 1965.

 

The song is about the death of a young man named Terry, killed in a motorcycle accident. It was banned by both the BBC, and by ITV's "Ready Steady Go!" on grounds of taste, but despite (or possibly because of) this, it shot up the charts. It was Twinkle's only Top 10 hit, although her follow-up "Golden Lights" (later covered by Smiths) reached number 21 in the UK.

Edited May 30, 201411 yr by AlexRange

 

26.12.1964 : Petula Clark - Downtown (3 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.petulaclark.net/discography/6566/ld666.jpg

 

 

"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark in 1964, became an international hit. Tony Hatch had first worked with Petula Clark when he assisted her regular producer Alan A. Freeman on her 1961 No. 1 hit "Sailor". In 1963 Freeman had asked Hatch to take over as Clark's regular producer: Hatch had subsequently produced five English-language singles for Clark none of which had charted.

 

"Downtown" was recorded 16 October 1964 at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch. Thirty minutes before the session was scheduled, Hatch was still touching up the song's lyrics in the studio's washroom. Of his arrangement for the session Hatch would recall: "I had to connect with young record buyers...but not alienate Petula's older core audience...The trick was to make a giant orchestra sound like a rock band."

 

In the wake of Smith's interest "Downtown" was released in UK in November 1964. It entered the UK Top 50 dated 14 November 1964, ending a virtual two-year UK chart absence for Clark; of the ten singles she'd had released in the UK during that period only one, "Chariot", had appeared in even the lower charts (#39 the spring of 1963). "Downtown" rose to #2 UK in December 1964, remaining there for three weeks, kept out of the #1 position by the Beatles' "I Feel Fine". Certified a Gold record for sales in the UK of 500,000, "Downtown" also reached #2 in Ireland and #1 in Australia, New Zealand and was also a hit in Denmark (#2), Netherlands (#3) and Norway (#8).

 

"Downtown" leapt to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 23 January 1965, retaining that position a further week before being overtaken by the ascendancy of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Petula Clark thus became the first UK female artist to have a US #1 hit during the rock and roll era and the second in the annals of US charted music, Vera Lynn having hit #1 US with "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" in 1952. "Downtown" also made Clark the first UK female artist to have a single certified as a Gold record for US sales of one million units.

Edited June 1, 201411 yr by AlexRange