|
List Of Number-one Singles From The 1950s (UK)
The UK singles chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Record charts in the UK began life in 1952 when Percy Dickins from NME, ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') imitated an idea started in American ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and began compiling a hit parade. Prior to this, a song's popularity was measured by the sales of sheet music. Initially, Dickins telephoned a sample of around 20 shops asking for a list of the 10 best-selling songs. These results were then aggregated to give a Top 12 chart published in ''NME'' on 14 November 1952. The number-one single was "Here in My Heart" by Al Martino. According to The Official Charts Company and Guinness World Records, Guinness' ''British Hit Singles & Albums'', the ''NME'' is considered the official UK singles chart, British singles chart before 10 March 1960. However, until 15 February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau chart was established, there was no universally accepted chart. Other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of " That's My Desire" in 2005. Often billed as "America's Number One Song Stylist", his other nicknames include "Mr. Rhythm", "Old Leather Lungs", and "Mr. Steel Tonsils". His hits included "That's My Desire", " That Lucky Old Sun", " Mule Train", " Jezebel", " High Noon", " I Believe", " Hey Joe!", " The Kid's Last Fight", " Cool Water", " Rawhide", and " You Gave Me a Mountain". He sang well known theme songs for many Western film soundtracks, including '' 3:10 To Yuma'', '' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'', and '' Blazing Saddles'', although his recordings were not charted as country and western. Laine sang an eclectic variety of song styles and genres, stretching from big band crooning to pop, western-themed songs, gospel, rock, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elvis Presley Promoting Jailhouse Rock
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexually provocative performance style, combined with a mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi; his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was 13. He began his music career in 1954 at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on guitar and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary's Boy Child
"Mary's Boy Child", also known as "Mary's Little Boy Child", is a 1956 Christmas song written by Jester Hairston. It is widely performed as a Christmas carol. History The song had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The friend asked him to write a song for a birthday party.''Boney M'', John Shearlaw and David Brown, Hamlin Paperbacks, 1979 , page 105 Hairston wrote the song with a calypso rhythm because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians. The song's original title was "He Pone and Chocolate Tea", pone being a type of corn bread. It was never recorded in this form. Some time later Walter Schumann, at the time conducting Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for his choir. Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from his old song and wrote new lyrics for it. Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the choir and sought permission to record it. It was recorded in 1956 and released as a single th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte's career breakthrough album ''Calypso (album), Calypso'' (1956) was the first million-selling LP album, LP by a single artist. Belafonte was best known for his recordings of "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)", "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)", "Jamaica Farewell", and "Mary's Boy Child". He recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk music, folk, gospel music, gospel, show tunes, and Great American Songbook, American standards. He also starred in films such as ''Carmen Jones (film), Carmen Jones'' (1954), ''Island in the Sun (film), Island in the Sun'' (1957), ''Odds Against Tomorrow'' (1959), ''Buck and the Preacher'' (1972), and ''Uptown Saturday Night'' (1974). He made his final feature film appearance in Spike Lee's ''Bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana (Paul Anka Song)
"Diana" is a song written and first performed by Paul Anka, who recorded it in May 1957 at Don Costa’s studio in New York City. Anka stated in his autobiography that the song was inspired by a girl named Diana Ayoub (13 March 1939 – 1 December 2022), whom he had met at his church and community events, and had developed a crush on. Recording Session musicians on the record included George Barnes playing lead guitar, Bucky Pizzarelli playing the "Calypso" riff on guitar, Irving Wexler on piano, Jerry Bruno on bass, and Panama Francis on drums. The song was recorded in May 1957 at RCA Victor Studios in New York. Backup singers included Artie Ripp. Release Paul Anka's original 1957 recording reached number 1 (for two weeks) on the ''Billboard'' "R&B Best Sellers In Stores" chart, (although it climbed no higher than number 2 on ''Billboard''′s composite "Top 100" chart) and has reportedly sold over nine million copies. "Diana" also hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter and actor. His songs include " Diana", “ You Are My Destiny", “Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wrote the theme for ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''; one of Tom Jones' biggest hits, " She's a Lady"; and the English lyrics to Claude François and Jacques Revaux's music for Frank Sinatra's signature song " My Way", which has been recorded by many, including Elvis Presley. He co-wrote three songs with Michael Jackson: " This Is It" (originally titled "I Never Heard") " Love Never Felt So Good", and " Don't Matter to Me", which became posthumous hits for Jackson in 2009, 2014, and 2018, respectively. Early life Paul Albert Anka was born in Ottawa, Ontario, to Camelia (née Tannis) and Andrew Emile "Andy" Anka Sr., who owned a restaurant called the Locanda. According to Anka's autobiography, ''My Way'', both of his parents we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Around The Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1954 for American Decca. It was a number one single for two months and did well on the United Kingdom charts; the recording also reentered the UK Singles Chart in the 1960s and 1970s. It was the first rock and roll record to top the pop charts in both the US and UKBill Haley had American chart success with " Crazy Man, Crazy" in 1953, and in 1954, " Shake, Rattle and Roll" sung by Big Joe Turner reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. Haley's recording became an anthem for rebellious 1950s youth, particularly after it was included in the 1955 film ''Blackboard Jungle''. It was number 1 on the pop charts for two months and went to number 3 on the R&B chart. The recording is widely considered to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continuing until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group recorded nine Top 20 singles, one of which was number one and three that were Top Ten. The single "Rock Around the Clock" was the best-selling rock single in the history of the genre and maintained that position for several years. Band leader Bill Haley had previously been a Western swing performer; after recording a rockabilly version of Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm's "Rocket 88", one of the first rock and roll recordings, Haley changed his band's musical direction to rock music. They went on to record hit versions of "Crazy Man, Crazy", "Shake, Rattle & Roll", the aforementioned "Rock Around the Clock", "Dim, Dim the Lights", "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie", "Razzle-Dazzle", "See You Later, Alligator", "When the Saints Go Marching In, The Saints ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Believe (Frankie Laine Song)
"I Believe" is a popular song written by Ervin Drake, Irvin Abraham (as "Irvin Graham"), Jack Mendelsohn (as "Jimmy Shirl") and Al Stillman in 1952. The most popular version was recorded by Italian-American singer Frankie Laine, and spent eighteen weeks at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. Background "I Believe" was commissioned and introduced by Jane Froman on her television show, and became the first hit song ever introduced on television. Froman, troubled by the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, asked Drake, Graham, Shirl and Stillman to compose a song that would offer hope and faith to the populace. They completed the song in the fall of 1952. Froman's commercial recording reached No. 11 in the ''Billboard'' charts during a 10-week stay. "I Believe" has been recorded by many others, and has become both a popular and religious standard. Frankie Laine recording Frankie Laine's original version was recorded for Columbia Records on 8 January 1953 at Radio Recorders in H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
