In Jim Croce’s brief career — he died at age 30 in a 1973 Louisiana plane crash — he released five Top 10 singles, the first of which was one of the best story songs of modern times. “You Don’…

Sammy Davis Jr. didn’t like the lyrics. “It’s horrible. It’s white bread; it’s cute-ums,’’ Davis said. He couldn’t imagine singing lyrics that included such cloying phrases as “groovy lemon pies.”

  • Updated

By the early 1970s, Motown’s teenage brother group The Jackson 5 was regularly burning up the Billboard singles and album charts. Lead singer Michael Jackson later recalled, “It was (Motown fo…

We’ve all been through this before. You hear a new tune on the radio, and it grabs you by the collar, demanding your attention. Soon, it’s burrowing deeply inside your brain to reside there forever.

The first time the world heard of Brooklyn-born Robert John was in 1958, when he was 12 years old. Back then, the singing youngster was going by his real name: Bobby Pedrick Jr.

At a London party in 1760, a Belgian violinist made a surprise entrance on a new invention called roller skates as he played his music. In doing so, he smashed into a mirror worth $1,000 and d…

Remember Cat Stevens? He came to prominence here in the early 1970s as a singer-songwriter responsible for such ethereal ballads as “Peace Train,” “Wild World,” “Moon Shadow” and “Morning Has …

One has to wonder. Somewhere in England in 1971, was there a woman in her mid-40s — and possibly wearing a Mona Lisa smile — who heard “Maggie May” and realized that she might have been the in…

Dave Marsh is a well-respected rock-music critic and historian. He’s normally quite sparing in his praise, but Marsh could barely contain his enthusiasm when he reviewed a Marvin Gaye single a…

It was in 1958 when 20-year-old Paul Revere (born Paul Revere Dick) met fellow Idahoan 16-year-old Mark Lindsay. Revere ran a drive-in restaurant west of Boise. One day, he began chatting with…

His songs might have lacked the depth and social commentary of his fellow ex-Beatles, but Ringo Starr fans usually could count on having fun when hearing what he offered to the world. Such is …

Humor writer Dave Barry once invited the readers of his weekly syndicated newspaper column to vote for the worst pop song of all time. When more than 10,000 letters piled up on his Miami offic…

It was a magical moment for Elton John and Bernie Taupin when they fully realized the potential that had blossomed in their professional partnership. As Taupin once explained, “ ‘Your Song’ wa…

In early 1971, United Kingdom musician Dave Edmunds’s high-decibel guitar licks, nasal lead vocals and floor-stomping beat made his version of “I Hear You Knocking” a prime example of “pub roc…

  • Updated

Tony Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitas in 1944 in Hells Kitchen, New York to a Puerto Rican mother and a Greek father. By age 15, Tony had formed a doo-wop group called the F…

  • Updated

C’mon, admit it. The cheerful, shuffling Top 5 single of "In the Summertime" brought a smile to your face and got your fingers drumming back in the summer of 1970. Mungo Jerry’s irresistible a…

  • Updated

Melanie (her full name is Melanie Anne Safka) began her performing career as a folk singer in such hip Big Apple coffeehouses as the Café Wha? Later, at the Brill Building — the New York music…

  • Updated

In 1970,  "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" raised many an eyebrow. The drug scene was relatively new to middle-class American youth and nobody could recall such a tune wafting out of radio speaker…

  • Updated

"Let It Be" offered a heads-up message for Beatle fans worldwide. The group was breaking up and nothing could stop its eventual demise. 

  • Updated

"Rainy Night in Georgia" was a comeback hit for singer Brook Benton. Born Benjamin Franklin Peay in South Carolina in 1931, Benton cut his gospel chops in the local Methodist church, where his…

  • Updated

The Archies’ "Sugar, Sugar" was the best-selling single of 1969, yet the singing group was never photographed together, never gave an interview, never appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show," never…

In Jim Croce’s brief career — he died at age 30 in a 1973 Louisiana plane crash — he released five Top 10 singles, the first of which was one of the best story songs of modern times. “You Don’…

Sammy Davis Jr. didn’t like the lyrics. “It’s horrible. It’s white bread; it’s cute-ums,’’ Davis said. He couldn’t imagine singing lyrics that included such cloying phrases as “groovy lemon pies.”

  • Updated

By the early 1970s, Motown’s teenage brother group The Jackson 5 was regularly burning up the Billboard singles and album charts. Lead singer Michael Jackson later recalled, “It was (Motown fo…

We’ve all been through this before. You hear a new tune on the radio, and it grabs you by the collar, demanding your attention. Soon, it’s burrowing deeply inside your brain to reside there forever.

The first time the world heard of Brooklyn-born Robert John was in 1958, when he was 12 years old. Back then, the singing youngster was going by his real name: Bobby Pedrick Jr.

At a London party in 1760, a Belgian violinist made a surprise entrance on a new invention called roller skates as he played his music. In doing so, he smashed into a mirror worth $1,000 and d…

Remember Cat Stevens? He came to prominence here in the early 1970s as a singer-songwriter responsible for such ethereal ballads as “Peace Train,” “Wild World,” “Moon Shadow” and “Morning Has …

One has to wonder. Somewhere in England in 1971, was there a woman in her mid-40s — and possibly wearing a Mona Lisa smile — who heard “Maggie May” and realized that she might have been the in…

Dave Marsh is a well-respected rock-music critic and historian. He’s normally quite sparing in his praise, but Marsh could barely contain his enthusiasm when he reviewed a Marvin Gaye single a…

It was in 1958 when 20-year-old Paul Revere (born Paul Revere Dick) met fellow Idahoan 16-year-old Mark Lindsay. Revere ran a drive-in restaurant west of Boise. One day, he began chatting with…

His songs might have lacked the depth and social commentary of his fellow ex-Beatles, but Ringo Starr fans usually could count on having fun when hearing what he offered to the world. Such is …

Humor writer Dave Barry once invited the readers of his weekly syndicated newspaper column to vote for the worst pop song of all time. When more than 10,000 letters piled up on his Miami offic…

It was a magical moment for Elton John and Bernie Taupin when they fully realized the potential that had blossomed in their professional partnership. As Taupin once explained, “ ‘Your Song’ wa…

In early 1971, United Kingdom musician Dave Edmunds’s high-decibel guitar licks, nasal lead vocals and floor-stomping beat made his version of “I Hear You Knocking” a prime example of “pub roc…

  • Updated

Tony Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitas in 1944 in Hells Kitchen, New York to a Puerto Rican mother and a Greek father. By age 15, Tony had formed a doo-wop group called the F…

  • Updated

C’mon, admit it. The cheerful, shuffling Top 5 single of "In the Summertime" brought a smile to your face and got your fingers drumming back in the summer of 1970. Mungo Jerry’s irresistible a…

  • Updated

Melanie (her full name is Melanie Anne Safka) began her performing career as a folk singer in such hip Big Apple coffeehouses as the Café Wha? Later, at the Brill Building — the New York music…

  • Updated

In 1970,  "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" raised many an eyebrow. The drug scene was relatively new to middle-class American youth and nobody could recall such a tune wafting out of radio speaker…

  • Updated

"Let It Be" offered a heads-up message for Beatle fans worldwide. The group was breaking up and nothing could stop its eventual demise. 

  • Updated

"Rainy Night in Georgia" was a comeback hit for singer Brook Benton. Born Benjamin Franklin Peay in South Carolina in 1931, Benton cut his gospel chops in the local Methodist church, where his…

  • Updated

The Archies’ "Sugar, Sugar" was the best-selling single of 1969, yet the singing group was never photographed together, never gave an interview, never appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show," never…