Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1976 – Part One – Barry Manilow, Paul Simon, Queen, Chicago.

Each week William and I select two top hits from the charts in the US and UK 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. We are now in the 1970s.

Welcome to our show and we are excited to share decades of music with you in 2021. Here is my first selection of top 1976 hits which I hope you will enjoy. William.

News Event:  January 16th “Donny & Marie” [Osmond] musical variety show premieres on ABC TV

Barry Manilow – I Write the Songs

“I Write the Songs,” written by Bruce Johnston, was one of Barry Manilow’s biggest hits. It peaked at #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Adult Contemporary charts. Billboard ranked it as the #13 song of 1976. In the UK the song peaked at #11 and in Canada #3. It won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and was nominated for Record of the year in 1977.

News Event: January 17th “I Write the Songs” by Barry Manilow hits #1

Paul Simon – 50 Ways to leave your lover

“50 Ways to leave your lover,” penned by Paul Simon (a humorous approach to his divorce from his first wife), is from the best-selling album “Still Crazy After All These Years” and is Simon’s sole #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a Top 20 hit around the world.

News Event: February 28th 18th Grammy Awards: “Love Will Keep Us Together” Record of the Year, Natalie Cole 1st African American to win Best New Artist

Now time for my first picks from 1976 and I hope you will enjoy my selection

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band’s 1975 album A Night at the Opera. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and had sold more than a million copies by the end of January 1976. It also topped the charts in countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the Netherlands, and sold over six million copies sold worldwide.

News Event: April 3rd 21st Eurovision Song Contest: Brotherhood of Man for United Kingdom wins singing “Save Your Kisses for Me” in The Hague

Chicago – If You Leave Me Now

“If You Leave Me Now” is a song by the American rock group Chicago, from their album Chicago X. It was written and sung by bass player Peter Cetera and released as a single on July 31, 1976.The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 on October 23, 1976, and stayed there for two weeks, making it the first number one hit for the group as well as hitting number one on the Easy Listening charts “If You Leave Me Now” was also Chicago’s biggest hit internationally. In the UK it maintained the number one position for three weeks. It was one of five “non-disco” songs to make it to number one in the US in a nine-month period of 1976.

Additional sources: On This Day – Music – Hits of the 70s: Playback FM – 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

Next week 1976 Part Two. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.