Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1960 – Part Two

Welcome to The Breakfast Show and the top hits of the 1960s.

Each week William and I will select two top hits from the charts starting with 1960 for two weeks followed by 1961 etc..through to 1985. We will also include some of the notable events in those years for the up and coming stars who were centre stage at the time.

You can find previous shows: The Breakfast Show 1960 – 1985

Every four weeks at the weekend there will be a spin-off show where we will feature four guests sharing their memories of the music of a particular decade we are working on. An opportunity to share your work and your can find the details: The Breakfast Show 2021

Welcome to our show and we are excited to share decades of music with you in 2021. Here is the second of my top 1960 hits which I hope you will enjoy.  William.

Shirley Bassey – As Long As He Needs Me

Shirley Bassey’s recording of this song, ‘As Long As He Needs Me’, from the musical ‘Oliver‘ was one of the biggest sellers of 1960, staying on the UK charts for 30 weeks and peaking at #2 for 5 weeks.  Shirley Bassey Music and Vids

News Event: August 1st Aretha Franklins 1st recording session

Elvis Presley – It’s Now Or Never

In 1960 ‘It’s now or never’ (based on the Italian song ‘O Sole moi’) spent 5 weeks at #1 in the U.S. and eight weeks at #8 in the UK, selling over 20 million copies.

News Event: September 19th Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100

Now time for my picks from 1960 and these are tracks that dominated my teenage years and are still on my playlists today

News Event: Sep 29 “Tell Laura I Love Her” by Ricky Valance peaks at #1 in UK

The Drifters – Save The Last Dance For Me

“Save the Last Dance for Me” is a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, first recorded in 1960 by the Drifters, with Ben E. King on lead vocals – The Drifters’ version of the song, released a few months after Ben E. King left the group, would go on to spend three non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart, in addition to logging one week atop the U.S. R&B chart. In the UK The Drifters’ recording reached No. 2 in December 1960

News Event: December 1st Paul McCartney and Pete Best arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany for accusation of attempted arson.

Eddie Cochran – Three Steps to Heaven

“Three Steps To Heaven” was recorded in January 1960 and featured Buddy Holly’s Crickets on instruments. The song was written by Eddie Cochran and his brother Bob Cochran. The record became a posthumous UK number-one hit for Cochran following his death in a car accident in April 1960

News Event: December  21st Ornette Coleman records his influential album “Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation”, establishes the name for the Free Jazz sound

Additional sources: On This Day – Music – Hits of the 60s: Sixties City – Wikipedia

Your Hosts for The Breakfast Show

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

Sally Cronin is an author, blogger and broadcaster who enjoyed four years as part of the team on Onda Cero International’s English speaking morning show in Marbella and then for two years as a presenter on Expressfm the local radio station in Portsmouth. She co-presented two ‘Drive Time’ shows a week with Adrian Knight, hosted the live Thursday Afternoon Show and The Sunday Morning Show guests including musicians and authors. Following this she became Station Director for a local internet television station for two years, producing and presenting the daily news segment, outside broadcasts and co-presenting the Adrian and Sally chat show live on Friday evenings.

She and her husband David have now returned to Ireland where they live on the Wexford Coast where she blogs and continues to write books.

Books :Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – More reviews: Goodreads – blog: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Twitter: @sgc58 – Facebook: Sally Cronin – LinkedIn: Sally Cronin

Thank you very much for joining us today and we would love you to join us in the spin off shows where we share your memories of the 1960s and your favourite music.. please read how you can take part: The Breakfast Show 2021

 

Next week 1961 Part One.. we hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.