Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1964 Part One

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 1964 hits which I hope you will enjoy.  William.

News Event: February 11th Beatles 1st live appearance in US; Washington, D.C. Coliseum

The Beatles  –  It’s been a hard day’s night

‘It’s been a hard day’s night’ topped the charts in both the US and the UK. Rolling Stone ranked it #307 on the magazine’s list of the ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’.  Q  magazine placed it at #5 on its list ‘The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever’ and it made it to #22 in Colin Larkin’s book ‘All Time Top 1000 Albums’.

News Event: March 21st 9th Eurovision Song Contest: Gigliola Cinquetti for Italy wins singing “Non ho l’eta” in Copenhagen

Mary Wells  –  My Guy

‘My guy’ was Mary Wells’ biggest hit. It peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, #1 on the Cashbox Hot 100, #5 on the UK Top Singles chart, #9 in Ireland, and #3 in Australia. It was also featured in the film ‘More American Graffiti’ (1979).

News Event:  June 3rd Rolling Stones begin 1st US tour (with Bobby Goldsboro & Bobby Vee)

Now time for my first picks from 1964 and these are tracks that were playing everywhere this year.

Roy Orbison – Oh Pretty Woman

“Oh, Pretty Woman” or “Pretty Woman” is a song recorded by Roy Orbison, written by Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in on August 29th, 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from September 26, 1964, the second single by Orbison to top the US charts. It was also Orbison’s third single to top the UK Singles Chart (for a total of three weeks).

“Oh, Pretty Woman” was later used for the title of the 1990 film Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and the 2018 Broadway musical Pretty Woman: The Musical. Roy Orbison 

News Event: June 5th Davie Jones & King Bees debut “I Can’t Help Thinking About Me”; group disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie

Cilla Black – Anyone Who Had A Heart

“Anyone Who Had a Heart” is a song written by Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) for Dionne Warwick in 1963. In January 1964, Warwick’s original recording hit the Top Ten in the United States, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa, Belgium and Australia.

In the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand, Warwick’s recording lost out to a cover version by Cilla Black. Black’s version was a UK number-one hit for three weeks in February/March 1964 and was also the fourth best-selling single of 1964 in the UK cillablackofficial

News Event: July 4th Beachboys’ “I Get Around” reaches #1

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 1964 PartTwo.. we hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.