EVERY SO OFTEN I SPEND A LOT OF TIME TO PRESENT AN IN-DEPTH POSTING TO PROVIDE TO A FINE ELEMENT OF SOCIETY SOME ADDED DETAILS. TODAY, THIS FOCUS IS MOSTLY FOR THOSE BETWEEN 70 AND 75 WHO GREW UP IN THE USA. OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS I WILL REPEAT THIS SPOTLIGHT ON:
- Nuclear Power Exposed and
- The Venus Syndrome (greenhouse effect going haywire)
Then I'll go back to shorter postings, as requested. But it's Sunday, so let's go back in time for an epic (this will be my longest posting, by far) presentation of:
Last night PBS had a two hour program on THE 60'S: GIRL GROOVES. As this has become a nostalgic weekend, I will run through the highlights, and provide some added background on where these Girl Groovers are today. The program showed only clips when these female groups were at their peak, meaning for most, at their very beginning, mostly from around half a century ago. I found it particularly interesting that some entertainers I thought were black, were white, and vice versa. I didn't watch TV that much in those days. Taking myself back to 1963, this is like someone then reviewing songs of 1913 for me. I couldn't have cared much, so this is thus mostly for really old people.
By the way, the top song of 1913 was When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (yes, you can actually hear him singing this song clicking on it) by Chauncey Olcott (left), while #2 was Peg o' My Heart by Charles Harrison. Chauncey had a another big one, Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra at #10, Al Jolson with #12 You Made Me Love You, Enrico Caruso (called the greatest tenor, ever--click on the following to hear his voice) #14 Ave Maria and Christy MacDonald (right) #23 Sweethearts. Hmmm...I know those songs. More than I can say about those hits today. By the way, much later came Jeanette MacDonald, no relation, with her version of Sweethearts with Nelson Eddy.
For the record, the top three of 1963 were: #1 Sugar Shack (Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs), #2 Surfin' USA (Beachboys) and #3 The End of the World (Skeeter Davis--who appears later). In fact, seemed like half those songs following were in the 1963 top 100.
First on were the Angels with My Boyfriend's Back (1962). The song reached #1 on Billboard and sold a million records. It was their only hit. Two of them appeared on the PBS show. This is probably why the producers decided to only show reruns. Not too many females in their seventies are entertaining today. 
Next, the Marvelettes with Please Mr. Postman (1961). They were the first Motown hit group. Cathy Horton in the middle was the lead singer and founder. Cathy passed away two years ago. 
Little Peggy March sang I Will Follow Him. (Click on it, for this is a version she sang in Japanese when she was around 16. She was very popular there.) Peggy recorded the song when she was 13, but when it became a #1 hit, she was 15, and till today, that age remains as the youngest #1 female singer. On the right, Peggy March at 19.
Martha and the Vandellas turned on the Heatwave. Recorded for Motown in 1962, it sold a million and won them a GRAMMY. They had 25 other hits. Martha Reeves served on the Detroit City Council from 2005 to 2009. The group is still touring, and, in fact, they perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on August 7, then on to Manchester on August 10.
One of my very favorites was the Shirelles, especially, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, written by Carol King and Gerry Goffin, and recorded in 1960. This song became the first song by an all-girl group to reach #1 in the USA. WYLMT was, actually, their fourth hit record, as I Met Him on a Sunday was released in 1958. Part of their story became Baby It's You on Broadway in 2011. The group is still touring today.
The Shangri-Las did Leader of the Pack (this is the version shown on PBS), which in 1964 reached #1, and was their second hit. They actually toured with both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
The Ronettes began as a family act and originally were of African-American, Cherokee, Irish-American and Puerto Rican heritage. The lead singer, Veronica Bennett, changed her name to Ronnie, from which came the Ronettes, and she certainly took a roller coaster of a life, beginning with their linkage to Phil Spector. In 1963 they recorded Be My Baby, featuring Phil's Wall of Sound.
Cher performed her first back-up vocal for this song. She was then the girlfriend of Sonny Bono, who was working for Spector, who began living with Ronnie. They eventually got married. The Ronettes accompanied the Beatles on a 14 stop tour through America in 1966. But Phil kept Ronnie home in jealousy, so the group had to completely reconform. His mental illness was already undoing him (to the right more recently). RS after divorcing PF reformed an entirely new Ronettes, but that failed. Ronnie Spector (left) continues to tour today. She turns 70 on August 10.
Of course, there is that recent turmoil in Phil Spector's life, who in 2009 was convicted of second degree murder. Here are Helen Mirren as his lawyer and Al Pacino as PF in the 2013 movie entitled Phil Spector, suggesting that, perhaps, there were extenuating circumstances.
The Ronettes began as a family act and originally were of African-American, Cherokee, Irish-American and Puerto Rican heritage. The lead singer, Veronica Bennett, changed her name to Ronnie, from which came the Ronettes, and she certainly took a roller coaster of a life, beginning with their linkage to Phil Spector. In 1963 they recorded Be My Baby, featuring Phil's Wall of Sound.
Cher performed her first back-up vocal for this song. She was then the girlfriend of Sonny Bono, who was working for Spector, who began living with Ronnie. They eventually got married. The Ronettes accompanied the Beatles on a 14 stop tour through America in 1966. But Phil kept Ronnie home in jealousy, so the group had to completely reconform. His mental illness was already undoing him (to the right more recently). RS after divorcing PF reformed an entirely new Ronettes, but that failed. Ronnie Spector (left) continues to tour today. She turns 70 on August 10.
Carla Thomas had a better life. She cut "Gee Whiz" when she was 15 years old, and it took four years for the song to become a hit in 1961:
She recorded around 50 songs, including an album with Otis Redding, and is known as the Queen of Memphis Soul. She is now 70.
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, known professionally, as Dusty Springfield, was born in London in 1939, and was shown to sing I Only Want to be with You. Recorded in 1964, she made frequent revivals when her songs were used in films and TV series. Being gay, she lived a tough life, and passed away in 1999 on the day she was scheduled to be honored by the Queen with an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). She is known as the White Queen of Soul.
Barbara Harris (left and right, to the right) and the Toys with their 1965 hit, Lover's Concerto, which sold 2 million, but was their only original hit. The melody is based on J.S. Bach's "Minuet in G major," although more recently, the composer is now said to be Christian Petzold. The Toys still tour today.
The host for the program tonight was Mary Lewis of the Supremes. They sang a medley of hits, including Baby Baby. The Supremes was the most commercially successful Motown act and, with a dozen #1 singles, is America's most successful group. Originally founded in 1959 as the Primettes, the sister act of the Primes, who went on to become the Temptations, the four became a trio with Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson in 1962. They signed on with Motown but in two years with eight singles and no hits, became known as the no-hit Supremes. Well, that changed.
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, known professionally, as Dusty Springfield, was born in London in 1939, and was shown to sing I Only Want to be with You. Recorded in 1964, she made frequent revivals when her songs were used in films and TV series. Being gay, she lived a tough life, and passed away in 1999 on the day she was scheduled to be honored by the Queen with an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). She is known as the White Queen of Soul.
Barbara Harris (left and right, to the right) and the Toys with their 1965 hit, Lover's Concerto, which sold 2 million, but was their only original hit. The melody is based on J.S. Bach's "Minuet in G major," although more recently, the composer is now said to be Christian Petzold. The Toys still tour today. 
The host for the program tonight was Mary Lewis of the Supremes. They sang a medley of hits, including Baby Baby. The Supremes was the most commercially successful Motown act and, with a dozen #1 singles, is America's most successful group. Originally founded in 1959 as the Primettes, the sister act of the Primes, who went on to become the Temptations, the four became a trio with Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson in 1962. They signed on with Motown but in two years with eight singles and no hits, became known as the no-hit Supremes. Well, that changed.
Betty Everett sang The Shoop Shoop Song in 1964, 26 years before Cher's version, here accompanied by Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci from Mermaids. Everett regained her popularity after that 1990 film, and passed away in 2001 at the age of 61.
The well known story of Little Eva Narcissus Boyd being the babysitter for Carol King and Gerry Goffin (right), who were married, is true. They wrote Locomotion (this is the video used in the program) for her in 1962, but really for Dee Dee Sharp to record. However, Little Eva got the first start and made it a #1 hit, for which she was never paid, and received no royalty. Maybe even worse, the couple wrote He Hit Me for the Crystals after discovering that Eva was regularly beaten by her boyfriend. That song was arranged by Phil Spector. Eva passed away a decade ago at the age of 60 on welfare and penniless.
Next came Dee Dee Sharp with 1962's Mash Potato Time, Interesting that Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash, also out in 1962, uses the same moves. The latter reached #1, but not the former. Sharp had five straight major hits in 1962 into 1963, including Slow Twisting with Chubby Checkers, but nothing much thereafter.
Shelly Fabares sang Johnny Angel a song recorded in 1962, attaining #1 and selling a million. The clip is part of The Donna Reed Show, where she is the daughter of the star to the right. This was Shelley's only big hit. Mermaids used this song too.
Lesley Gore appeared with You Don't Own Me from 1963 which she recorded at the age of 17. The song reached #2, but just couldn't nudge I Want to Hold Your Hand by the Beatles. She sang the song in various languages. Here it is in French. YDOM has become a feminist theme. Lesley Sue Goldstein was born in 1948 and recorded It's My Party also in the same year, which did hit #1. She still tours and will be entertaining on Holland America's Eurodam from Fort Lauderdale, November 3-10. She is 67.
Barbara Mason (left) did Yes I'm Ready from 1965, her first hit, and most memorable. This sound has come to be known as Philly soul.Fontella Bass (right) performed a song she co-wrote, Rescue Me, recorded in 1965. It has been covered by a range of artists and has been used in an assortment of films.
Petula Clark sang My Love, which reached #1 in 1966. She made her radio debut in 1942 as a nine-year old. Downtown was a bigger seller, in 1965. Beginning with these two, this refugee from England had 14 consecutive hits in America. In 1968 she acted opposite Fred Astaire in Finian's Rainbow. How Are Things in Glocca Morra? She still performs. Can you believe she is 81? This is how she looked this year on the right.
Then, of course, there was Aretha Franklin with Respect, first recorded (he wrote it) by Otis Redding in 1965, but the signature song for Aretha from 1967. Of course, this is also a theme song of the feminist movement, and could well be the best R&B song ever. Respect is #5 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. On the other hand, #1 is Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan and #2 is Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, so you got to wonder if the magazine was being completely honest.
You know, it would have been nice for them to have shown the Teddy Bear's To Know Him is to Love Him,
Yikes, this song was written by Phil Spector, and he was born a couple of months after me. Here he is at 18:
How important was he? He produced the debut Rolling Stones album:
I also would have wanted to see the Poni-Tails' Born Too Late (1958)
And Chiffon's He's So Fine and One Fine Day, in their final performance two years ago for PBS.
Before, leaving, kudos to 41-year old TJ Lubinsky, whose father founded a record company and whose uncle was a disc jockey. At the age of 22, Terry James started with PBS in South Florida, but soon relocated to Pittsburg, now the mecca of oldies music because of him. H produces all these nostalgic shows.
Oh, I should finally add that I donated $150, and will get six CD's of these artists:
You, too, can contribute by calling those numbers.
-
0 comments:
Post a Comment