Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1966 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 1966 hits which I hope you will enjoy.  William.

News Event: January 14th David Bowie releases his 1st single “Can’t Help Thinking About Me”

The Mamas and Papas  –  California Dreaming  

“California Dreaming” ranks at #89 on the Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It hit #1 in the US, and #23 in the UK in 1966 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

News Event:  March 3rd Canadian-American rock band “Buffalo Springfield” forms (Stephen Stills, Neil Young)

The Supremes – You can’t hurry love

“You can’t hurry love” topped the US Pop singles chart, the UK top 5, and the Australian top 10 singles chart. It is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s permanent collection of 500 Songs that shaped Rock and Roll.

News Event: March 15th 8th Grammy Awards: Taste of Honey, Tom Jones, Frank Sintra & Barbra Streisand

Now time for my first top chart picks from 1966 and as a teenager I was watching Top of the Pops and listening to pirate radio to hear all the hits.

Frank Sinatra – Strangers in the Night

“Strangers in the Night” is a song composed by Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. The song was made famous in 1966 by Frank Sinatra, although it was initially given to Melina Mercouri, who thought that a man’s vocals would better suit the melody and therefore declined to sing it.

Reaching #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Easy Listening chart, it was the title song for Sinatra’s 1966 album Strangers in the Night, which became his most commercially successful album. The song also reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.

Sinatra’s recording won him the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

News Event: June 10th Janis Joplin’s 1st live concert (Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco)

The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon

“Sunny Afternoon” is a song by the Kinks, written by chief songwriter Ray Davies. The track later featured on the Face to Face album as well as being the title track for their 1967 compilation album. Released as a single on 3 June 1966, it went to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart on 7 July 19

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 1966 Part Two. we hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.