Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1967 – 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 1967 hits which I hope you will enjoy.  William.

News Event:  February 3rd “Purple Haze” recorded by Jimi Hendrix

Lulu –  To Sir with love

“To Sir with love” was the best-selling single of 1967 in the US, making Lulu the second British female artist to top the US charts since Petula Clark’s “Downtown” in 1965. The song did not chart in the UK because it appeared on the B-side of “ Let’s Pretend.” It was featured in the 2019 Netflix film, “ El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.

News Event: February 14th “Respect” single recorded by Aretha Franklin (Billboard Song of the Year 1967)

Bobby Gentry  –  Ode to Billie Jo  

“Ode to Billie Jo” hit #1 three weeks after being released in the US and quickly became an international best seller, winning 3 Grammy awards including Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female; and Best New Artist. The song made the Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the “100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time” and Pitchfork’s “200 Best Songs of the 1960s.”

News Event: March 2nd 9th Grammy Awards: “Strangers in the Night” by Frank Sinatra wins best record, “Michele” by The Beatles best song

Now time for my first top chart picks from 1967 and as a teenager I was watching Top of the Pops and listening to pirate radio to hear all the hits.

Engelbert Humperdinck – Please Release Me

Early in 1967, Engelbert Humperdinck was asked to stand in for Dickie Valentine, who was ill, on Sunday Night at the London Palladium,. He sang “Release Me” on the show. It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 2 March and stayed there for six weeks. Humperdinck’s recording stayed in the charts for a record fifty-six consecutive weeks. TheENGELBERTChannel

News Event:  April 8th 12th Eurovision Song Contest: Sandie Shaw for United Kingdom wins singing “Puppet on a String” in Vienna.

And in celebration of that win.. Sandi Shaw – Puppet on a String

“Puppet on a String” was written by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. It was Sandi Shaw’s thirteenth UK single release. The song was a UK Singles Chart number one hit on 27 April 1967, staying at the top for a total of three weeks.

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 1967 Part Two. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.