Members DRW50 Posted October 20, 2012 Members Share Posted October 20, 2012 Vera Lynn had a beautiful voice, very distinctive. Great use of vibrato. She would have been even better without those background singers who drowned her out. The finish is powerful. The song is a little dated even for this time but she makes it work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members quartermainefan Posted October 20, 2012 Members Share Posted October 20, 2012 This is a beautiful Vera Lynn song. <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/q4JQ_lMSEvE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Max Posted October 21, 2012 Members Share Posted October 21, 2012 I'd never guess a 92 year-old could top the British album chart! I mentioned this before, but Petula Clark was the first British female solo artist of the rock era to top the American pop singles chart (with "Downtown" in 1965). However, Vera Lynn pulled off this feat with 1952's "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphanguy74 Posted October 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted October 23, 2012 Next is Rosemary Clooney with "This Ole House" which was number one for one week, from November 26 - December 3, 1954. This was one more of Rosemary's amazing string of hits in the 50's, reaching number one in the US also. 19544 was a stellar year for Rosemary in the United States, with 3 top tens, 2 of which were number one, the other number one being "Hey There", and "Mambo Italiano" going to number 10. "Mambo Italiano would be a bigger hit in the UK than in the US, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members quartermainefan Posted October 23, 2012 Members Share Posted October 23, 2012 Rosemary Clooney had such a nice voice. I think you will eventually list her again with "Mambo Italiano" (a great catchy tune) but I think this may be two of her nicest recordings and one at least I think predate your list <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lm6-s3SR2Ck" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This first one has such a perfect opening, really sets the whole song up perfectly. And this is a great recording and obviously she sang better than Bob Hope (who could hold a tune but wasn't really a singer) <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kqakbRI_SxI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted October 23, 2012 Members Share Posted October 23, 2012 That's a gorgeous song. Some of my older relatives used to sing this all the time, always with a smile on their face. Was this the hit version? I could swear I heard a very different version of this. Bette Midler covered this on her very nice tribute album 4-5 years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3KC_npe9zM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted October 23, 2012 Members Share Posted October 23, 2012 I like this a lot too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYurXpdzUU8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphanguy74 Posted October 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted October 29, 2012 Next is "Let's Have Another Party" by Winifred Atwell, which was number one for 5 weeks, from December 3, 1954 - January 6, 1955. Winifred Atwell (February 27, 1914 - February 28, 1983) was a pianist who enjoyed great popularity in Britain in the 1950s with a series of boogie woogie and ragtime hits. Atwell was born in Tunapuna in Trinidad and Tobago. Her family owned a pharmacy, and she trained as a druggist, and was expected to join the family business, Winifred, however played the piano since a young age, and achieved considerable popularity locally. She left Trinidad in the early 40’s, she travelled to the United States to study with Alexander Borovsky and in 1946 moved to London, where she had gained a place at the Royal Academy of Music. To support her studies, she played rags at London clubs and theatres particularly the London Palladium and Prince of Wales Theatre. She gained huge popularity in the UK with her Honky Tonk style of playing that people closest to her disliked, but this became her ticket to unrivalled success. She earned only a few pounds a week initially, but suddenly it shot up to over $50,000. By 1950 her popularity had spread nationally and internationally, she signed a record contract with Decca in 1951, millions of copies of her sheet music were sold she also went on to record her best-known “hits”, such as Let’s Have a Ding-Dong, Poor People of Paris (which reached number one in the charts), Britannia Rag and Black and White Rag. This last piece became famous again in the 1970s as the signature tune of the Pot Black snooker programme on BBC television. Winifred often returned to her Trinidad, and on one occasion she bought a house in St. Augustine a home she adored and later renamed Winvilla which was later turned into the Pan Pipers Music School by one of her students Miss Louise McIntosh. In 1971 she and her husband the former British comedian and her manager Lew Levisohn settled in Sydney. Her career there spanned about 25 years. In 1983 following a fire that destroyed her Narrabeen apartment, she suffered a heart attack and died while staying with friends in Seaforth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphanguy74 Posted November 15, 2012 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2012 Next is "Finger Of Suspicion", by Dickie Valentine, which was number one for 1 week, January 7 - January 13, 1955. He had three other top 10 singles that year, but never saw the degree of success again that he had in 1955. He died in a car accident in May of 1971 at the age of 41. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz_F1OVKk1Y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members quartermainefan Posted November 15, 2012 Members Share Posted November 15, 2012 I never heard that song before but I sort of like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphanguy74 Posted November 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted November 25, 2012 Next we have another #1 by Rosemary Clooney, "Mambo Italiano", which was number one for 3 non-consecutive weeks, January 14 -January 20, 1955, and again from February 4 - February 17, 1955. Although the song only reached #10 in the United States, it fared much better in the UK. It was written by Bob Merrill in 1954, and written on a deadline, so he just scribbled the lyrics on a napkin in an italian restaurant he was in, and then called the recording studio pianist on a pay phone, and relayed the lyrics, rhythm, and melody to him over the phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted December 3, 2012 Members Share Posted December 3, 2012 That's one of those songs you can hear now and then without really connecting it with any particular artist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted December 6, 2012 Members Share Posted December 6, 2012 I guess I'm steering off topic a bit, but I wonder if 2000 was the year with the most artists that had more than one #1 single in a given calendar year. So many on this video list of #1 singles from that year are repeat offenders of the pole position. http://youtu.be/DR1FJoz8HVY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted December 6, 2012 Members Share Posted December 6, 2012 2000 was a good year! So many great songs: Gabrielle, Sonique (love that one!), The Corrs, Spiller feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Steps, LeAnn Rimes....... I noticed one error though, All Saints first #1 of the year was "Pure Shores" not "Pure Shoes"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted December 6, 2012 Members Share Posted December 6, 2012 LOL, Pure Shores would have been the #1 single of that year too had it not been for the Bob The Builder 's Can We Fix It. I love that song though (Pure Shores), one of William Orbit's best productions, though that and Black Coffee later that year were essentially an extension of the work he did with Madonna on the Ray of Light album. Yeah, in retrospect, 2000 was not that bad a year for popular music. I resented a lot at the time, but looking back, things got much worse in the years that followed. The late 90's/early 00's were probably the height of my mass UK pop-culture consumption too - so this era holds a special place in my heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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