I'm gonna post this again...I posted it in the "Have any Beatle photo's I haven't seen ?" thread... This is just a copy of a photo...but my ole friend, Bruce Channel gave this to me as it was handy...and he didn't have an actual photo within arms reach... He and Delbert McClinton with The 'Pete Best' Beatles when Bruce was touring England, with The Beatles on the bill, riding on his number one hit, "Hey Baby". From this meeting...Delbert gave John Lennon some harmonica lessons, and what he learned, he used on the upcoming Love Me Do ! Of course Bruce is third from the right, then Delbert next to John. On one of the occasions I'd see Bruce perform....His old bandmate Delbert, Lynn Anderson and Stevie Winwood guested with, at the time his band, The Mersey Sakes c. 1988...and played 'Hey Baby'....not sure when or if there'd been a previous time Delbert joined him to play it other than back in the early 60s...but what a treat ! There was only a small crowd in The Cockeyed Camel in Bellview, Tennessee, when this occured. Only Bruce's band was advertised, but these others 'just showed up' ! History !
Sure ! I haven't talked to Bruce in 20 years...I hope he's healthy and still rockin' ! That was one of his favorite terms....." We're rockin' "
Wow, haven't heard "Hey Baby" in years - barely remember it. Seems like it's a largely-forgotten hit compared to most of the others that have cropped up in this thread...
I just heard "Hey Baby" on my local Oldies station literally yesterday while driving to work. Its a great song!
My thoughts exactly - as she got older, she got better. An even better example of that from the same show (also to be found on Youtube) is "Please Love Me Forever" by Cathy Jean and the Roommates. I don't even really like the original of that very much, but the version from here is beautiful. I don't really know much of anything about "Hey! Baby" except the rather significant footnote it plays in Beatles history, which has already been covered here.
As a small bit of trivia, the one Beatle who hadn't yet joined the group (Ringo) when this pic was taken would go on to record a cover version of Bruce's "Hey! Baby" in the 70's and chart with it. Not anywhere near as forgotten as the next #1 song which will come up, which I love. I won't spoil the surprise, but let's just say that the artist's late 50's hits are more remembered than their last two #1 songs.
There wasn't anything I wanted to see on TV last night so I tuned in the PBS fundraising program dealing with music of the 1950s. I don't usually watch these programs, although some of the few I have seen provided some excellent contemporary performances by the original artists. When I switched over to the LPB station, it was in the middle of the really great Billy Williams tune, "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter." When the cameras provided close-up shots of the performer I was a bit surprised to see that the artist was NOT the esteemed Mr. Williams. It was of no matter to me that the fellow gave viewers a really fine performance but I was interested in finding out who this singer is. He performed another song that I've already forgotten, then Pat Boone appeared as some sort of MC. I was shocked at how young he looked here, especially in view of the fact that I had seen him a few times looking much older in one of those financial advertisements that one sees on the cable news networks. I wondered how the look of Mr. Boone was achieved here, but I lost interest in the program when I heard how much of a contribution the organizers of this program wanted for six CDs of pretty commonly available 1950s music. As it concerns the artist in the next #1 song, I can't recall whether she has ever appeared on any of these PBS fundraisers, but I would be surprised if she would be able to do so, based on the tragedies she faced in the years following her greatest popularity.
You touch on a subject of great interest to me. My recollection is that she did appear on one of those shows, but her performance did not make the DVD or cd releases! No one here has ever confirmed my recollection though
Next we have the great Connie Francis, with "Don't Break The Heart That Loves You", which was #1 from March 31 - April 6, 1962.
It's certainly worth mentioning that this song ALSO went to number 1 on the country charts in 1978 for Margo smith.
I've never heard this song before. It's . . . kind of a mess, and I'm assuming got to where it did on the charts thanks to Connie's popularity (it's a good performance).
Connie Francis is one of those '50s stars whose waning chart fortunes are often blamed on the British invasion, when in reality they'd already been running out of steam anyway. This song is a good example of that, not because it's a bad song but because it's not really a rock and roll song in any sense of the term. Neither were most of her records by this time (it's worth noting that her one last big hit after this, "Vacation", was an exception). I never was a big fan of "Don't Break the Heart that Loves You", but I did love Connie Francis in general back when I was first getting big into oldies in high school (late '80s). I spent the summer I was 14 at my grandparents' place, and I brought along a bunch of tapes I'd made from the oldies station back home. One of the songs in that collection was "Where the Boys Are," and I remember lying in my bed (which had been my dad's bed when he was a kid) and imagining how wonderful it would be to have someone that beautiful longing for me like that. That summer was also when I started reading every rock history book I could find, so it wasn't long before I learned Connie Francis was raped in 1974. I'm pretty sure the moment I read that was when I went straight from "feminists just don't like men" to "hey, they do have a point". Maybe not the best way to learn that lesson, but it sure got through to me. And yes, I know the movie Where the Boys Are has a rape in it. I didn't learn that until years later, though.
Never heard of this one before! Connie had an affinity for country music songs, so it's a bit surprising she didn't do better there.
Love this song by Connie and IMO it's one of her best, even moreso than staples of hers like "Who's Sorry Now" and "Where The Boys Are". The fact that it's been so overlooked and forgotten has always been a mystery to me. It's probably one of the most forgotten #1 songs in the Rock Era, but I still love hearing it. It still gets play on my stereo and iPod pretty frequently.
I suppose it depends on what you call "Rock And Roll", but I would say she never really had very many "Rock And Roll" hits. She was always seemed to be more of a Pop artist to me. I wouldn't necessarily call "Who's Sorry Now", "My Happiness", "Among My Souvenirs", "Where The Boys Are" and others like them "Rock", but again that's just an opinion.
I like Connie but I agree it wasn't the Beatles that did her career in - it was the chasing of the parents with all the standards and theme/foreign language albums. While it was the covering of an oldie suggested by her father that gave her a hit - "Who's Sorry Now" - it was the continuing reliance on those old songs ("Heartaches", "Together," "My Happiness" etc.) that eventually bored the teens and left her with their parents as her only fanbase. She was playing the Copa not doing teen shows. Those songs also contribute in my opinion as to why she's been snubbed by the R&RHOF all these years even though she was the first big female singer of the Rock Era.
Connie Francis could rock when she had the opportunity. This one made #16 in 1963...only #16, which proves that fickle fans were already tiring of her a good eight months before the British Invasion. Her final chart entry, "Blue Winter," another slow entry, went to #24 in 1964, and that was it. Lesley Gore, a newer face with the same teen following, managed to hang in there through most of 1965, with a final comeback hit ("California Nights") courtesy of a film appearance in 1967. Had the Beatles never desired a hand to hold, Connie's popularity most probably would have waned similarly.
Never heard that one before, a good 'un! Lesley Gore survived a long time based on the remarkably great YOU DON'T OWN ME.
They are all great and I'm not discounting them at all I am basing that on the Hot 100 charts themselves. Connie had the most consistent ongoing success for a female solo artist in America until Petula Clark broke thru in 1965 with 15 top 40 singles in a row and Aretha wiped the floor with everybody from 1967 on... Connie also didn't take all her hits from the R&B side like Pat Boone and so many others did....
I don't agree with that. Dusty Springfield had a huge chunk of her career built on power ballads, and yet she is in the R&R HOF. Catering to teen fans always comes to the same outcome... teens are fickle and you get left behind. The idea of catering to an older audience was to increase your longevity, such as what Sinatra did... he was basically a teen idol that appealed to a older demo later on. I also feel that her voice is so beautiful that the rock and roll songs don't really show her voice to best advantage. "Breakin in A Brand New Broken Heart" is I think the most sublime of her hits.
