Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1962 – Part One

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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.

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 my first selection of  top 1962 hits which I hope you will enjoy.  William.

News Event : January 13th Chubby Checker’s song “The Twist”, credited with starting the Twist dance craze, goes to #1 in the charts two years after first reaching number one spot

The Four Seasons  –  Sherry

‘Sherry’  hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and remained there for five consecutive weeks, and made it to #1 on the R&B charts for one week. It peaked at #8 in the UK. The song appears on the soundtrack album of the films ‘Stealing Home’ (1988) and ‘The Help’ (2011).

New Event: January 26th Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” to be impure and bans it from all Catholic schools

Neil Sedaka  –  Happy birthday sweet sixteen

‘Happy birthday sweet sixteen’ written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, #9 on Cashbox and #3 on the UK Singles chart.

News Event: February 11th Beatles record “Please, Please Me”

Now time for my picks from 1962 and these are tracks that dominated my teenage years and reinforced my love of music.

Acker Bilk – Strangers on the Shore

“Acker” Bilk MBE is an English clarinettist who was born on the 28th January in 1929. He is famous for his style which includes the trademark goatee, a bowler hat and a striped waistcoat. His clarinet style is breathy with notes on the lower-register and is vibrato-rich.

Stranger on the Shore reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the US in 1961.
It was the theme tune for the BBC TV drama also called ‘Stranger on the Shore’. onemediamusic

News Media: March 18th 7th Eurovision Song Contest: Isabelle Aubret for France wins singing “Un premier amour” in Luxembourg

Cliff Richard – The Young Ones

“The Young Ones” is a single by Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The song, written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, is the title song to the 1961 film The Young Ones and its soundtrack album.

With advance orders of over 500,000, it was released in January 1962 on the Columbia (EMI) label and went straight to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, the first British single to do so. It held that position for six weeks and spent 20 weeks in the chart. It has sold 1.06 million copies in the UK, and 2.6m worldwide

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 1962 Part Two.. we hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.

71 thoughts on “Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1962 – Part One”

  2. Stranger on the Shore is very evocative, probably the most famous tune written for clarinet, alongside Mozart’s clarinet concerto! Takes me back to our little house in Farnborough where I spent junior school years. I remember that BBC drama, wasn’t it about a French girl coming to liive in England? We only had one channel on our tv as ITV didn’t work, or at least that’s what Mum and Dad said!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you very much. Glad to know that Stranger on the Shore brought back such fond memories. And, I adore Mozart’s clarinet concerto, too. All the best.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks Janet.. in our house the ITV channel was regarded with a great deal of suspicion by my parents and BBC 1 and then BBC 2 were the only ones watched. My father loosened up a bit in the late 60s but he hated the adverts even then and would watch one segment and as soon as the ads come on he would turn back to BBC.. I watched 15 minutes of a lot of programmes lol.. xx

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Even though Cliff Richard was the UK’s Elvis, “The Young Ones” didn’t chart in the U.S. at all. In fact, none of his singles charted in the U.S. until 1963 (except “Living Doll” with The Drifters, which made it to #30 on the Billboard chart in 1959). He did, however, enjoy a mid-life resurgence in the U.S. with a couple of top ten singles in the 1970s.

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    • Thanks for that Ted and with your background in the music industry you must have seen the rise and fall of so many young stars .I think at the time from my memories of the 60s, America was still on our horizon as far as music was concerned.. we received films 6 – 12 months after their release and the only channel on television we had at at the time would broadcast variety shows where the headliners such as Sinatra were featured. Elvis was the first of the teenage icons that appealed directly to us teenagers. I am sure that was a factor in Cliff Richard and the Shadows doing so well in the early years. But also would have possibly worked against them in the USA. Our listening pleasure for pop songs was pirate radio and the music the main broadcasters wanted us to hear. We only had Top of the Pops from 1964 on BBC1 unlike the USA which had multiple radio and television stations in each state pumping out a great mix of music. Even now the US charts for UK solo artists is very difficult to get into. We lived in Texas 1985-1987 and it was a revelation even by then as to the breadth of the music genres and it was amazing. Thankfully today with modern technology the younger generation have access to music from classical to rap and I envy them.

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  7. I remember Neil Sedaka and ‘Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen’ but…it’s only now, decades later that some of the lyrics registered with a ‘what the…?’ ‘girl I’ve been waiting for’? As in, /before/ she turned sixteen and became legally ‘fair game’?

    I know we were a lot more innocent back in the 60’s, and I’m sure a multitude of sweet sixteens would have heard those lyrics with hope not horror, but to me, they suddenly feel really creepy. 😦

    Liked by 3 people

  9. What a wonderful start to my day. Love listening to them all.
    Stranger on the shore so soul full.
    But my all time favourite was always Cliff. (I blame him for my love of buses! LOL
    A summer holiday one day soon I hope and not a virtual one

    Liked by 2 people

      • I went to training rallies and slept on the Playbus so I did sort of have a holiday on a bus!
        I had always wanted to take the Playbus to spain , to a little village I would often visit.
        I may not have done so in reality but in fiction I did (The local headland is the island featured on the book cover of ‘Jay-Jay and his Island Adventure’.
        this led to me being asked to read it in the local schools and their library have copies of my books. I certainly need to get back there to give them the new books!
        Fingers crossed.
        The little village is called Moraira, mid way between Valencia and alicante. They brought the story alive for me as the original bus in the story went the the Shetland Isles (not as pretty) and was called Benji.
        It also led and inspired me with the Carnival Adventure!
        My bus wheels do keep turning taking me on a different journey

        Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, Sue. Glad you got your day off to a good start. Here’s hoping for a great summer holiday for you in real time. Hugs

      Liked by 2 people

  10. Maybe I’m a bit off-topic, but… “The Twist” re-reaching #1 two years after it first get there (and, I assume, two years after it was released?) and “Sherry” remaining #1 for five consecutive weeks… I think those achievements are amazing 😲

    Liked by 2 people

  13. Another treat, thank-you William and Sally. I love “Sherry”. Saw Jersey Boys a few years ago – what a wonderful musical – hit after hit after hit!

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  14. You caught me again Sal, never heard of the Young Ones, lol. And that Stranger song I’m familiar with the tune, never knew the title, and associate that type of music and its ilk with watching old movies from the 50s and early 60s. And William’s classics I’m familiar with – the music my husband loves and I must turn the channel to the 70s when we’re in the car together LOL. But I couldn’t believe that the Twist was considered impure and banned from all Catholic schools. Wow, we’ve come a long way lol. Hugs to you both ❤ xx

    Liked by 2 people

  16. “Sherry”!! I loved, loved that song! Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were very popular. The musical “Jersey Boys” was ‘their story’. Neil Sedaka was a favorite. I was not familiar with Cliff Richard, but enjoyed his song. And, The Twist!! If it was banned, then kids loved it all the more. Thanks for another great round of 60’s songs!

    Liked by 2 people

  17. OMG!! These are all so great. Cliff Richard is so young! And my knees still go weak every time I hear Acker Bilk. Remember dancing to this tune in the high school gym with your main squeeze. I was a huge fan of the Four Seasons and Neil Sadaka too. I listened to all of these twice today. Thanks so much!!

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