We’re talking about all those huge and memorable hits by artists that scored one giant Top Forty record that lasted for weeks, that was influential to other songs, and that stay with you long after you’ve turned old. These are what you might call Solid Gold Oldies, a mixture of all kinds of sounds from all types of genres. One example:
- Woo Hoo, Rock-a-Teens
Mickey and Sylvia, a duo otherwise known as McHouston Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderpool, were drawn together in the studio. They both played electric guitars. The song they recorded in late 1956 was written by rocker Bo Diddley, who used his wife’s name, Ethel Smith:
- Love Is Strange, Mickey and Sylvia
Two of rock ‘n’ roll’s top record producers and songwriters wrote a doo-wop ballad that came out at the end of 1957. Frank Slay and Bob Crewe, who later produced the Four Seasons, got together, formed their own label, and penned an odd song performed by a group from Philadelphia called The Rays:
- Silhouettes, The Rays
One of the most popular One Hit Wonders was performed by a female group who called themselves The Poni-Tails. The trio formed at a high school in Ohio, and eventually met up with arranger Don Costa, who ended up producing the turntable favorite Born Too Late. Toni Cistone, the lead vocalist, was joined by Patty McCabe and and Laverne Novak and appeared on American Bandstand. The guys who wrote the song went on to pen Good Timin‘ for Jimmy Jones and the theme from All in the Family.
Born Too Late, The Poni-Tails
One of the best ever Italian doo-wop groups only made one hit. They met on the streets of Staten Island, New York, and got their name from a Whiskey bottle: Shenleys, the Whiskey of Elegance. Calling themselves The Elegants and headed by lead singer Vito Picone, they managed to make Mozart’s Twinkle Twinkle Little Star into a number one hit in August of ’58. They never were heard from again.
Little Star, The Elegants
Another smash from 1958 was a song called Book of Love by The Monotones, a six-member group from Newark, New Jersey, some of whom were in the same choir as Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston. They got the idea for the song from a Pepsodent toothpaste commercial: “You’ll Wonder Where The Yellow Went When You Brush Your Teeth With Pepsodent.” Another story about the song has it that the pause in the record is caused by a baseball being thrown through a studio window:
The Silhouettes, who recorded the smash hit Get a Job in early 1958, probably got their name from the song Silhouettes by The Rays. Inittially Get A Job was supposed to be the B side, but its energy and bass singers romp full of sha-nas, dip-dips and boom-booms was too infectious to be ignored. It sold well over a million copies and charted number one in February of 1958. Smokey Robinson wrote a follow-up called Got a Job.
Get A Job, The Silhouettes
There were two versions of Little Bitty Pretty One, which appeared in November of 1957. One was by Bobby Day and the Satellites, the other by Thurston Harris. Both were from Los Angeles, and both used darn near the same session musicians. Harris had the hit. His former group was the Lamplighters, who scored several collectible records but disbanded, leaving some Lamplighters to rename themselves as The Sharps, backing up Duane Eddy, and later the Rivingtons, doing Papa Oom Mow Mow in the early sixties.
Little Bitty Pretty One, Thurston Harris
One of the most successful One Hit Wonder groups was The Impalas, one of the few integrated groups as well, with lead singer Joe Speedo Frazier backed by three White guys who had been trying to make it big singing on the streets in Brooklyn. DJ Alan Freed heard the group and steered them to MGM records, where they recorded a tune called Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home). Sorry sold a million copies and is one of the most requested songs from the rock ‘n’ roll era.
Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home), The Impalas
Another hit from 1959 was the bizarre sounding Sea of Love by Phil Philips, in reality John Philip Baptiste, a bell hop at a chateau in Lake Charles, Louisiana. A meter man overheard Philips playing his guitar and teamed him up with local record producer George Khoury. It took many tries, but Phil had finally perfected his song and the swamp tune reached number two in the nation.
Sea Of Love, Phil Philips
Clothing was a big deal for a teen in the fifties. White Bucks. Blue Suede Shoes. Short Shorts. Black Slacks. Some of the best songs about rock ‘n’ roll attire were aired in the fifties. One of my favorites was sung by Geraldine Ann Pasquale, who was not even a teenager (she was born in 1947) when she recorded Tan Shoes with Pink Shoe Laces. Her stage name would end up being Dodie Stevens. She didn’t like her name, or the song that made her famous. But when the head of Crystallette Records asked her to belt out the 1959 tune about a guy named Doolie, Dodie couldn’t resist. Crystallette was the first record label that was investigated during the payola hearings in 1959.
Tan Shoes with Pink Shoe Laces, Dodie Stevens
I’m kind of cheating with the next One Hit Wonder. The Royal Teens were a group from Ft. Lee, New Jersey who also had a hit regarding clothing called Short Shorts at the start of 1958. You couldn’t not hear it with an amusing girl vocal group backing male singers with a raucous sax also in the foreground. Their followup was a ballad but didn’t chart as high as this number at number three. Bob Gaudio, one of the fellas, went on to form the Four Seasons.
Short Shorts, The Royal Teens
If Short Shorts weren’t your thing, perhaps you preferred Black Slacks. Performed by The Sparkletones, they were (for a while in the fall of October) a pretty famous group out of South Carolina. All between the ages of 14 and 17, they really were a rockin’ band. They were also stalwart church-goers. In this song they introduced a lot of current slang words like cool breeze, crazy little mama, hep cat, cool daddio, and rarin’ to go. They even appeared on Ed Sullivan.
Black Slacks, The Sparkletones
There was one One Hit Wonder kind of ahead of its time because of the sound the band produced. I’ve Had It by The Bell Notes was a full-fledged rock ‘n’ roll record, complete with sax and piano in support of two guitars and huge drums. The song hit number six on the charts in March of 1959. The lead singer was Carl Bonura. The notes went on to tour with some other stars for awhile, made a few unsuccessful followups, then disappeared.
I’ve Had It, The Bell Notes
Many times producers went looking for a second song from One Hit Wonders to sustain their top ten starts. When that failed to happen, they remained One Hit Wonders, like these:
Susie Darlin’, Robin Luke
You Cheated, The Slades/The Shields
Buzz Buzz Buzz, The Hollywood Flames
Willie and the Hand Jive, Johnny Otis
Mr. Lee, The Bobbettes
Marianne, The Easy Riders