Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1977 – Part One – Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Carly Simon and Donna Summer

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.

William is now on a family break but will be back with us again in September, wishing him a wonderful summer.

Welcome to our show and we are excited to share decades of music with you in 2021. Here is my first selection of top 1977 hits which I hope you will enjoy and I will catch up with your comments on my return. William.

News Event: January 31st 4th American Music Awards: Olivia Newton-John & Elton John win

Fleetwood Mac – Dreams

“Dreams” is from the album “Rumours.” It reached the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the US and in Canada and sold over a million copies worldwide. In the UK it peaked at #24 and stayed in the top 40 for eight weeks.

News Event: March 23rd Elvis Presley begins his final concert tour

Eagles – Hotel California

“Hotel California” won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. According to the Eagles, the lyrics of the song describe their interpretation of the “high life” in Los Angeles. The song peaked at #1 in the US and many countries around the world. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #49 on its list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
It was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.” Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

News Event:  April 2nd Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album goes to No. 1 & stays atop charts for 31 weeks

Now time for my first picks from 1977 and I hope you will enjoy my selection from this interesting year in my life.

Carly Simon – Nobody Does It Better.

“Nobody Does It Better” is a power ballad composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. It was recorded by Carly Simon as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.  The song was released as a single from the film’s soundtrack album.

The song is Simon’s longest-charting hit, as well the most successful hit of hers that she did not write herself. Her earlier hit “You’re So Vain” spent three weeks at No. 1; however, its chart run was two months shorter than that of “Nobody Does It Better”. Carly Simon

News Event: May 2nd Revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical “The King & I”‘, with Yul Brynner reprising the role he created in 1951, opens at Uris Theater, NYC; runs for 695 performances

Donna Summer – I Feel Love

“I Feel Love” is a song by Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer’s fifth studio album, I Remember Yesterday (1977). “I Feel Love” was released May 1, 1977, as the B-side to the single “Can’t We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)”, which rose to #20 on the US R&B chart. Two months later, the sides were flipped and the single was reissued. “I Feel Love” was a number one hit in Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, number three in Germany and Italy, number six on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and also topped the charts in many other countries.

 

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 1977 Part Two. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.