Gerry Granahan
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Gerry Granahan
Gerald Granahan (April 20, 1932 – January 10, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work in the 1950s and 1960s. Life and career Granahan was born in Pittston, Pennsylvania on April 20, 1932. He worked at WPTS as a radio announcer and disc jockey in his youth. His Elvis Presley-like voice got him a job recording demos of songs submitted to Presley. Granahan was offered a contract with Atlantic Records in 1957 as a rockabilly artist under the name Jerry Grant, but his first record release sank without a trace, and another release shortly after on Mark Records was also a flop. In 1958, Granahan teamed with publisher Tommy Volando on Sunbeam Records, and recorded the single "No Chemise Please". The song became a nationwide hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 23 on the ''Billboard'' " Top 100 Sides".
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Pittston, Pennsylvania
Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated between Scranton, Pennsylvania, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The city gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an active anthracite, anthracite coal mining city, drawing a large portion of its labor force from European immigrants. The population was 7,739 as of the 2010 United States census, 2010 census, making it the fourth largest city in Luzerne County. At its peak in 1920 United States Census, 1920, the population of Pittston was 18,497. The city consists of three sections: The Downtown (in the center of the city), the Oregon Section (in the southern end), and the railroad junction, Junction (in the northern end). Pittston City is at the heart of the Greater Pittston, Greater Pittston region (a 65.35 square mile region in Luzerne County). Greater Pittston has a total population of 48,020 (as of 2010). Pittston is nor ...
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Swan Records
Swan Records was a mid-20th century United States-based record label, founded in 1957 and based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It had a subsidiary label called Lawn Records. History Swan Records had enjoyed chart success with several U.S. artists but came into the spotlight after EMI, a prestigious British music company headquartered in London, leased the Beatles' recording of "She Loves You" backed with "I'll Get You" and, as catalogue number Swan 4152, it became an American number 1 hit on March 21, 1964. This followed the decision made by EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records not to exercise its option to release the Beatles singles in the U.S. Swan also assumed the rights to the German version of "She Loves You", "Sie Liebt Dich" which peaked at #97 in 1964. The success of the "She Loves You" single kept Swan going while other small record labels were snowed under by the British Invasion, but it finally closed filing bankruptcy in 1967. The company was initially bui ...
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Doo Wop
Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables (such as "doo-wop") is a common characteristic of these songs. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, doo-wop was "artistically and commercially viable" until the early 1960s, but continued to influence performers in other genres.Hoffmann, FRoots of Rock: Doo-Wop In ''Survey of American Popular Music'', modified for the web by Robert Birklin ...
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Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart rankings are based on radio airplay, sales, and streams. In its initial years, the chart listed 15 positions, but expanded to as many as 36 during the 1960s, particularly during years when over 700 singles made the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. From 1974 to 1985, the chart consisted of 10 positions; since 1992, the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart has listed 25 positions. Chart history The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart was first introduced in the June 1, 1959 issue of ''Billboard'', under the name "Bubbling Under the Hot 100". Containing a listing of 15 singles, the chart was described as "the new listing that predicts which new records will become chart climbers." Its first number-one single was "A Prayer and a Juke Box" by Lit ...
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Unchained Melody
"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the prison film '' Unchained'' (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack.Robert Rodriguez The 1950s' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels ''Brassey's'', p.90. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers in 1965. According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages. In 1955, three versions of the song (by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton) charted in the ''Billboard'' top 10 in the United States, and four versions (by Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young, and Liberace) appeared in the top 20 in the United Kingdom simultaneously, a record for any song. The song continued to chart in the 21st century, and it was the only s ...
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James Ray (singer)
James Ray (born James Jay Raymond, 1941 – May 1963) was an American R&B singer of the early 1960s best known for the hit single "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", which went to number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1962. He also recorded the original version of "Got My Mind Set on You", later a number-one hit for George Harrison. Biography Born in Washington, D.C., in 1941, an African-American, Ray attended McKinley High School.Mike Fenton, "James Ray – the lost soul man", ''Blues & Rhythm'', no.351, August 2020, pp.8–11 By 1959 he had relocated to New York City. He stood just 5' tall and first recorded as Little Jimmy Ray, releasing "Make Her Mine" on the Galliant label in 1959. It was unsuccessful and by 1961 he was destitute and living on a rooftop, though still performing in clubs. Songwriter Rudy Clark befriended him, and when Gerry Granahan of Caprice Records heard him rehearsing one of Clark's songs, sig ...
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The Angels (American Group)
The Angels were an American girl group that originated from New Jersey, best known for their 1963 No. 1 hit single " My Boyfriend's Back". History The group originated in New Jersey as the Starlets which consisted of sisters Barbara "Bibs" and Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut, Bernadette Carroll, and Lynda Malzone. They had minor local hits and wound up doing back-up work in the studio. When Malzone left, Linda Jansen became the new lead singer. Their manager, Tom DeCillis, turned his focus to Bernadette Carroll and dropped the rest of the group. Carroll would find solo success in 1964 with her Laurie Records single "Party Girl". After a failed attempt at a record deal with producer Gerry Granahan, the Allbut sisters turned their focus to education: Phyllis was in teacher's college at the time and Barbara was accepted into the Juilliard School for her abilities as a musical arranger. Soon Granahan, who had previously rejected the group, saw hit potential in the song they had performed ...
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Girl Group
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of whom were influenced by doo-wop and which flourished in the late 1950s and early 1960s between the decline of early rock and roll and start of the British Invasion. All-female bands, in which members also play instruments, are usually considered a separate phenomenon. These groups are sometimes called "girl bands" to differentiate, although this terminology is not universally followed. With the advent of the music industry and radio broadcasting, a number of girl groups emerged, such as the Andrews Sisters. The late 1950s saw the emergence of all-female singing groups as a major force, with 750 distinct girl groups releasing songs that reached US and UK music charts from 1960 to 1966. The Supremes alone held 12 number-one singles on the ...
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Hutch Davie
Robert Bunyan Davie III (August 4, 1930 – April 7, 2020), professionally known as Hutch Davie, or Bob "Hutch" Davie, and sometimes credited as Bun Davie, Budd McCoy, Clint Harmon or Chuck Harmon, was an American orchestra leader, arranger, pianist, and composer of popular music. He composed the song "Green Door", and led the orchestra which backed Jim Lowe on the best-selling version of the song in 1956. Early life and education Davie was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of Bunyan Davie Jr. and Louise McCoy. He was a musical prodigy and taught himself to play the piano by the age of four. He had perfect pitch and expressed his distaste for music that was not in tune while still too young to articulate what was wrong with it. At the age of five he started attending the Birmingham Conservatory of Music. After high school, he attended Louisiana State University but refused to comply with a sports requirement and dropped out after a year. Career He moved to New York C ...
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Gone Records
Gone Records was a record label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, along with music publishing arm Real Gone Music, that was active in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Among the artists that recorded for the label were Bill Haley & His Comets, Ral Donner, Jo-Ann Campbell, Eddie Platt, Johnny Rivers, and The Four Seasons. It was acquired by Morris Levy and incorporated into Roulette Records in 1962. See also * List of record labels File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg File:Bingola1011b.jpg Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ... References Defunct record labels of the United States Rock and roll record labels {{Authority control ...
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Leave Me Alone (Let Me Cry)
"Leave Me Alone (Let Me Cry)" is a song released in 1958 by Dicky Doo & the Don'ts, a recording alias of Gerry Granahan. The song's melody is based on the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The song spent nine weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching No. 44, while reaching No. 47 on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100, and No. 29 on Canada's CHUM Hit Parade.CHUM Hit Parade
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CHUM Chum may refer to: Broadcasting * CHUM Limited, a defunct Canadian media company * CHUM Radio, now Bell Media Radio, a Canadian radio broadcasting company * CHUM (AM), a Toronto radio station * CHUM-FM, a Toronto radio station * CHUM Chart, a C ...
, November 17, 1958. Retrieved February 11, 2018.


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A-side And B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay and hopefully become a hit record. The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides. Use of this language has largely declined in the 21st century as the music industry has transitioned away from analog recordings towards digital formats without physical sides, such as CDs, downloads and streaming. Nevertheless, some artists and labels continue to employ the terms ''A-side'' and ''B-side'' metaphorically to describe the type of content a particular release features, with ''B-side'' sometimes representing a "bonus" track or other material. The ...
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