Rock & Roll Tidbits

The flip side of Bobby Helms' Christmas favorite "Jingle Bell Rock" is called "Captain Santa Claus And His Reindeer Space Patrol".

The first song of the rock era to become a US #1 twice by different artists was "Go Away Little Girl", first by Steve Lawrence (Dec 1962), then by Donny Osmond (Aug 1971). The second to accomplish this feat was "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva (July 1962), then Grand Funk (March 1974). Both songs were penned by the same songwriters, Gerry Goffin and Carole King.

The rock group Queen issued albums called "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" which were named after movies by The Marx Brothers.

It was in 1966 when Richard and Karen Carpenter formed a trio and won a battle of the bands contest at the Hollywood Bowl. The trio serenaded the crowd with the song “The Girl From Ipanema” and were accompanied by drums, piano and a tuba. One record executive visionary attempted to sell the enterprising trio as a “rock-tuba super group.” To no one’s surprise, the idea did not catch on.

The Four Tops recorded their first Motown hit, 1964's "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" in the wee hours of the morning, shortly after songwriter Eddie Holland had sang it for them for the first time.

Connie Francis was on the comeback trail in 1981 when her brother, George, was brutally murdered, allegedly by members of organized crime.

Pat Boone, who is a very religious man, once claimed to use his own surname in lieu of curse words when he is upset.

When Janis Joplin was in college in 1963, a local fraternity voted her "The Ugliest Man on Campus."

Mark Dinning scored a number one hit in the U.S. in 1960 with "Teen Angel". While he was growing up in Oklahoma, one of his babysitters was a girl named Clara Ann Fowler, who would go on to have a recording career of her own as Patti Page.

Bert Kaempfert, who led his orchestra on the January, 1961, number one US hit, "Wonderland By Night", would go on to produce the first recording session that The Beatles ever had. At the time, the boys were backing Tony Sheridan on "My Bonnie" and "When The Saints Go Marching In".

After Rick Nelson signed a one million dollar, twenty year recording contract with Decca Records in January, 1963, he had only two more hits, 1964's "For You" and 1972's "Garden Party".

About the same time that Ringo Starr received an offer from Brian Epstein to join the Beatles, he was also asked to join another Liverpool group called Kingsize Taylor and The Dominoes. Ringo chose the one offering the best wage...25 pounds a week.

Debbie Boone's 1977 hit "You Light Up My Life" became a multi-million selling smash that stayed at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 for ten weeks, becoming a far bigger hit than any of the 38 Top 40 songs her father, Pat Boone ever had.

The tapes for Don McLean's first album were rejected by 34 record companies before Mediarts agreed to release it in 1970. His next LP, "American Pie" would be considered a rock and roll classic and sell millions of copies.

The band Wild Cherry, who had a number one disco hit with "Play That Funky Music" in 1976, took their name from a box of cough drops.

The Miracles first number one hit, 1970's "Tears Of A Clown", was actually taken from an album that was released three years earlier. The song was issued as a single when record executives wanted another "tears" song to follow "Tracks Of My Tears" and found that the group had already recorded one.

Although many fans assumed that the Shirelles were named for their lead singer Shirley Owens, the members of the group say that this is not true. The girls came up with the name while they were still in high school and Doris Kenner was singing most of the lead vocals.

The next time you see the movie Back To The Future III, be sure to look for ZZ Top in a cameo roll. They play in the band that is performing in the Hill Valley party scene where Doc asks Clara to dance. That's drummer Frank Beard who twirls his snare drum around as the band breaks into song.

Due to his horrible singing voice, drummer Keith Moon was banned from the studio while the rest of The Who were recording vocals.

When Diane Renay's mother was pregnant with her, a gypsy fortune teller told her, "you're gonna have a daughter and your daughter one day is going to be a star." That prediction came true in 1964 when 17 year old Diane reached #6 on the Billboard chart with "Navy Blue".

James Brown placed 99 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop chart. 44 of them made the Top 40, but none ever reached number one.

When a snippy journalist complained that AC/DC had made ten records that all sounded alike, Angus Young was insulted. “He’s a liar,” he quipped. “We have made eleven albums that all sound the same.”