Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1978 – Part Two – Bonnie Tyler, George Benson, Eagles, Bruce Springsteen

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 second selection of top 1978 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

News Event: June 16th Film “Grease” opens, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on the 1971 musical

Bonnie Tyler – It’s a Heartache

“It’s a Heartache” was one of the first recordings Bonnie Tyler made after surgery to remove nodules from her vocal cords, which left her with a husky voice, reminiscent of Rod Stewart. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time with sales of over six million copies, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, and numerous European countries, and reaching #3 in the US and #4 in the UK.

News Event: June 21st Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical “Evita”, starring Elaine Page, premieres at the Prince Edward Theatre, London

George Benson – On Broadway

“On Broadway,” written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Well, was originally recorded by the Drifters in 1963. George Benson’s cover of this standard, from the album “Weekend in L.A.,” hit #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the soul chart, winning Benson a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance .

News Event: October 9th 12th Country Music Association Award: Dolly Parton, Crystal Gayle, and Don Williams win

Now time for my second picks from 1978 and I hope you will enjoy my selection too.

Eagles – One of These Nights

“One of These Nights” is the fourth studio album by the Eagles, released in 1975. In July that year, the record became the Eagles’ first number one album on Billboard’s album chart, yielding three Top 10 singles: “One of These Nights”, “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Take It to the Limit” . “One of These Nights” is the last Eagles album to feature guitarist Bernie Leadon, who left the band after the One of These Nights tour and was replaced by Joe Walsh The Eagles – Topic

News Event: December 2nd Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” hits #1

Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

“Born to Run” is a song by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, and the title song of his album Born to Run. “Born to Run” was Springsteen’s first worldwide single release, although it achieved little initial success outside of the United States. Within the U.S. it received extensive airplay on progressive or album-oriented rock radio stations and the single was Springsteen’s first top 40 hit, reaching number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song ranked number 21 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the highest entry for a song by Springsteen, and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Bruce Springsteen

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 1979 Part One. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.