''Hits of the 50's'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

. Produced by

Hugo & Luigi Hugo & Luigi were an American record producing team, made up of songwriters and producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, who shared an office in New York's Brill Building. Besides their working relationship, they were cousins. Background First ...

, the album was released in August 1960 by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

. ''Hits of the 50's'' consists of Cooke's versions of songs originally sung by such artists as

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" an ...

, and

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

. The album was

remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

in 2011 as a part of ''The RCA Albums Collection''.

Background

''Hits of the 50's'' was recorded only two weeks following the sessions that produced ''Cooke's Tour'' in March 1960, over a month prior to the release of that album. The bulk of the album was recorded on March 23, 1960, with the remaining numbers—"The Great Pretender", "You, You, You", "The Wayward Wind", "Cry", and "Venus"—being recorded the following day. Many of the same musicians who recorded on ''Cooke's Tour'' returned for ''Hits of the 50's''.

Track listing

All songs arranged and conducted by

Glen Osser Abraham Arthur "Glenn" Osser (August 28, 1914 – April 29, 2014) was an American musician, musical arranger, orchestra leader, and songwriter. His birthname was Abraham (Abe), but much of his work was under the name Glenn; he can be found with re ...

Side one

# "

Hey There "Hey There" is a show tune from the musical play ''The Pajama Game,'' written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It was published in 1954. It was introduced by John Raitt in the original production. In the show, Sid sings it to a recording device ...

" (

Richard Adler Richard Adler (August 3, 1921 – June 21, 2012) was an American lyricist, writer, composer and producer of several Broadway shows. Life and career Adler was born in New York City, the son of Elsa Adrienne (née Richard) and Clarence Adler. His ...

, Jerry Ross) – 2:32 # "

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...

" (

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Living ...

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans t ...

) – 2:34 # " Too Young" (

Sidney Lippman Sidney Lippman (March 1, 1914 – March 11, 2003) was a composer and songwriter. He wrote the music for Nat King Cole's 1951 No. 1 hit "Too Young". "Too Young (popular song), Too Young's" words were written by Sylvia Dee, a lyricist and longtim ...

Sylvia Dee Sylvia Dee (born Josephine Moore, October 22, 1914 – June 12, 1967) was an American lyricist and novelist best known for writing the lyrics to " Too Young", a hit for Nat King Cole, " The End of the World", a hit for Skeeter Davis and "Bring Me ...

) – 2:08 # "

The Great Pretender "The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single in November 1955. The words and music were written by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successfu ...

" (

Buck Ram Samuel "Buck" Ram (November 21, 1907 – January 1, 1991) was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger. He was one of BMI's top five songwriters/air play in its first 50 years, alongside Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Ji ...

) – 3:02 # " You, You, You" (Olias Lotar,

Robert Mellin Israel Melnikoff (September 22, 1902 – July 10, 1994), known professionally as Robert Mellin, was a Russian Empire-born American composer and lyricist and music publisher. Born in Kyiv and raised in Chicago, where his first job was music plugg ...

) – 2:45 # "

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 Rodri ...

" (

Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', '' S ...

Hy Zaret Hy Zaret (born Hyman Harry Zaritsky, August 21, 1907 – July 2, 2007) was an American Tin Pan Alley lyricist and composer who wrote the lyrics of the 1955 hit " Unchained Melody," one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. Person ...

) – 3:24

Side two

# "

The Wayward Wind "The Wayward Wind" is a country song written by Stanley Lebowsky (music) and Herb Newman (lyrics). Members of the Western Writers of America chose the song as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. Background The “Wayward Wind” of the ...

" (

Stanley Lebowsky Stanley Lebowsky (; November 26, 1926 – October 19, 1986) was a Hollywood and Broadway composer, lyricist, conductor and music director who conducted more than a dozen Broadway musicals including ''Chicago'', ''Half a Sixpence'', '' Irma La Douce ...

, Herbert Newman) – 3:10 # " Secret Love" (

Sammy Fain Sammy Fain (born Samuel E. Feinberg; June 17, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatre. ...

Paul Francis Webster Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award. Life and career Webster was born in New York City, United St ...

) – 2:46 # "

The Song from Moulin Rouge "It's April Again" (also known as "The Song from Moulin Rouge" and "Where Is Your Heart") is a popular song that first appeared in the 1952 film ''Moulin Rouge''. It became a No. 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart when recorded by Mantovani. The music ...

" (

Georges Auric Georges Auric (; 15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault, France. He was considered one of ''Les Six'', a group of artists informally associated with Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. Before he turned 20 he ...

, William Engvick) – 2:30 # "

I'm Walking Behind You "I'm Walking Behind You" is a popular song which was written by Billy Reid and published in 1953. The recording by American singer Eddie Fisher was a No. 1 hit in both the US and UK Singles charts, but it had previously been recorded by Reid's f ...

" ( Billy Reid) – 2:45 # "

Cry Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secreto ...

" (

Churchill Kohlman Churchill Kohlman (January 28, 1906 – May 25, 1983) was an American songwriter who wrote Johnnie Ray's 1951 hit, "Cry" while working in a Pittsburgh dry cleaning factory as the night watchman. Royalties from "Cry" were the subject of a bitter ...

) – 2:13 # "

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

" (Ed Marshall, Peter DeAngelis) – 2:53

Personnel

All credits adapted from ''The RCA Albums Collection'' (2011) liner notes. *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Al Casamenti, Barry Galbraith, Charles Macey, Clifton White, Arthur Ryerson – guitar *

Lloyd Trotman Lloyd Nelson Trotman (May 25, 1923 – October 3, 2007), born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, was an American jazz bassist, who backed numerous jazz, dixieland, R&B, and rock and roll artists in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He resided ...

– bass guitar *Bunny Shawker – drums *George Gaber – percussion *Andy Ackers – piano *James Buffington, Anthony Miranda –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

*Julius Baker, Jerome Weiner – flute *

Eddie Costa Edwin James Costa (August 14, 1930 – July 28, 1962) was an American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer and arranger. In 1957, he was chosen as ''DownBeat'' jazz critics' new star on piano and vibes – the first time that one artist won two ...

–

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

*Gloria Agostini, Laura Newell – harp *

Glenn Osser Abraham Arthur "Glenn" Osser (August 28, 1914 – April 29, 2014) was an American musician, musical arranger, orchestra leader, and songwriter. His birthname was Abraham (Abe), but much of his work was under the name Glenn; he can be found with re ...

– arrangement, conducting *Bob Simpson – recording engineer

Notes

External links

Songs of Sam Cooke: Main Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hits of the 50's 1960 albums Sam Cooke albums RCA Victor albums Albums produced by Hugo & Luigi Albums arranged by Glenn Osser Albums conducted by Glenn Osser