Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1979 Part One – Donna Summer, The Doobie Brothers, Gloria Gaynor, Rod Stewart

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 1979 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

News Event: January 12th 6th American Music Awards: Barry Manilow, Linda Ronstadt win

Donna Summer – Hot Stuff

“Hot Stuff” is from the album “Bad Girls.” It was the second of four songs by Donna Summer to reach #1 in the US, and spent 14 weeks in the top ten while topping the charts in many countries around the world.“Hot Stuff” won Summer the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and ranks at #104 on Rolling Stone’s list of The Greatest Songs of All Time.

News Event: February 7th Pink Floyd premiere their live version of “The Wall” in Los Angeles

The Doobie Brothers – What a Fool Believes

“What a Fool Believes,” written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, garnered two Grammy Awards for The Doobie Brothers: Song of the Year and Record of the Year. It peaked at #1 in the US and Canada and became a Top 40 hit throughout Europe and Australia.

News Event: February 10th “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” by Rod Stewart peaks at #1

Now time for my first picks from 1979 and I hope you will enjoy my selection too.

Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive

“I Will Survive” is a song first performed by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978. It was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. A top-selling song, it is a popular disco anthem, as well as being certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).  It received heavy airplay in 1979, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart on consecutive weeks.

News Event: April 24th US State of Georgia designates Ray Charles’ rendition of “Georgia On My Mind” (written by Hoagy Carmichael) as official state song

Rod Stewart Do You Think I’m Sexy

“Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” is a song by British singer Rod Stewart from his 1978 album Blondes Have More Fun. It was released as a single in November 1978. It spent one week atop of the UK Singles Chart in December 1978 and four weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100 in February 1979. Billboard ranked it number four on its Top Singles of 1979 year-end chart. It also topped the charts in Canada for four weeks and in Australia for two weeks.
Royalties from the song were donated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Stewart performed the song at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in January 1979 – Rod Stewart

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