Two-Hit Wonders - 1950s. Trivia Quiz

Answer: Perez Prado

In the mid-to-late 1950s when Latin music suddenly found favor with North American audiences, Perez Prado was THE man! Unfortunately, North American audiences are pretty fickle when it comes to music and by the end of the decade, he was all but forgotten except in Latin enclaves and ghettoes where that music continued to be popular. However, during the "classical" Rock and Roll era from 1955 to 1989, only one song out-charted the 10 weeks that "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" stayed at Number One. It was Elvis Presley's double sided monster "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog" which topped the charts for 11 weeks.

Born in Cuba, he moved to Mexico City to pursue musical opportunities. Essentially, he remained there for the rest of his life recording and touring throughout Latin America well into the 1980s. He died of a stroke in 1989 at the age of 72. Ten years later when there was a resurgence of Latin music on the Hot 100, he might have been amused when one of his compositions, "Mambo No. 5", was revived by Lou Bega and became a top ten hit peaking at Number Three.

For those of you unfamiliar with Prado and his musical style, here's a sampling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA6VBp4VT_A

Answer: Kansas City

"Kansas City" was just one of many hits written by the prolific team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. What were some of their others? "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock" and "Don't", all recorded by Elvis, virtually every big hit recorded by the Coasters such as, "Searchin'", "Yakety Yak" and "Poison Ivy", "Love Potion Number Nine" by the Clovers and so on.

At the time Harrison recorded this song on the Fury label, he was still technically under contract with the Savoy label although they had done nothing on his behalf for several years. Naturally, Savoy wanted their pound of flesh and Harrison's career was put on hiatus for several years while suits and counter suits were dealt with in the courts. He did continue to tour in the interim and when he was able to resume his recording career, momentum was lost and he basically had to start all over again.

Harrison had written "Let's Stick Together" in 1962 but his later recording of the song was a dud. Reworking the lyric and musical structure of the song somewhat and now renamed "Let's Work Together", Harrison finally had another hit in 1970 and he wasn't alone. Canned Heat covered the song a few months later and their version peaked at Number 26. He continued touring for many years thereafter as part of a band and as a solo act until ill health forced his retirement in the late 1980s or early 1990s. He died following a stroke in 1994 at the age of 65.

Answer: The Wayward Wind

Gogi Grant was born Audrey Arinsberg in Philadelphia in 1924 and moved to L.A. with her parents 12 years later. She started her recording career in 1952 as Audrey Grant but took on the name "Gogi" at the suggestion of the A&R director of RCA records who used to favor a local restaurant with that name.

Her recording of "Suddenly There's a Valley" captured the public's attention and following the enormous success of "The Wayward Wind", she was selected as the Most Popular Female vocalist for 1956 by Billboard.

She branched out into the movies in 1957 and continued to record for several years but with little success, her highest charting single peaking at an unremarkable Number 69. She essentially retired in 1967 although she has made some stage and TV appearances in the new millennium, most recently at the age of 86 in 2010 as the headliner for The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies.

Answer: Tonight You Belong To Me

"Tonight You Belong To Me" was written in the mid-1920s by Billy Rose and Lee David and was recorded by many artists back then. The biggest hit was performed by Gene Austin who rode it all the way to Number One in 1927.

Patience and Prudence were the daughters of a professional musician named Mark McIntyre who, during the 1940s, frequently served as the piano accompanist to Frank Sinatra. By the mid-1950s, he led an orchestra, wrote songs and arranged music for other recording acts. During the summer of 1955, his daughters learned this song at summer camp and would sing it for fun when they got back home. Overhearing them one day, McIntyre created an arrangement that he thought would be perfect for a cabaret singer he occasionally worked with, Lisa Kirk. He recorded a demo with his daughters to approach Kirk with the concept. Somehow, that demo found its way to Ross Bagdasarian (David Seville who sung "The Witch Doctor" and who created The Chipmunks) and he passed it on to an executive of London Records. He loved it and shortly thereafter, the kids were in the studio themselves recording it. Serendipity only goes so far and following "I'm Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now", they only had one other recording make an appearance on the Hot 100 at a dismal Number 73. Several subsequent recording sessions with various labels proved fruitless. Apparently, they abandoned the music business shortly thereafter.

Answer: Connie Stevens

Connie Stevens was born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia in Brooklyn in 1938. Her parents were professional musicians and following their divorce, she moved to L.A. with her father. Coming from a musical family, her first foray into the entertainment industry was as a singer at the age of 15. She was part of a quartet with a trio of male singers who later gained fame as The Lettermen. By the mid-1950s she was taking bit parts in B-movies which eventually led to her role in Hawaiian Eye that made her a TV star, Cricket Blake, a photographer and part-time singer at the Hawaiian Village Hotel where the private detectives hung out. She often helped them to foil would be bad guys from doing their dastardly deeds.

Meanwhile, it was commonplace at the time for recording labels to capitalize on the fame of young TV actors through recording contracts. Among those who became recording "stars" as well were Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen from The Donna Reed Show, Johnny Crawford from The Rifleman, and Patty Duke, the star of her own TV series. At least Stevens could actually sing!

Although her recording career petered out in the early 1960s following her two big hits, she continued as an actress in movies and on TV until the late 1970s when she started scaling back her involvement in the entertainment industry to pursue business interests and support various charitable causes.

Answer: When

If "Forget Me Not" is not remembered today, what about their next release, the Number 42 "It's Only the Beginning" or their last Hot 100 entry, the Number 97 "Sweet Sugar Lips"? Only the most fervent of Kalin Twin aficionados would know those recordings.

The twins, Harold and Herbert, were born in Port Jervis, N.Y. in 1934 and when they broke into the music business in 1957, they were considered Everly Brother knockoffs. It's not exactly clear why their popularity waned so quickly but by the 1960s, they abandoned their soft rock motif for a more mature MOR style. That was obviously the wrong direction... by 1962 they left the entertainment industry altogether. Eventually they did re-unite in the early 1990s to join the oldies circuit. Harold was killed in a car accident in 2005 while Herbert succumbed to a heart attack less than a year later.

I was curious as to whether there were any other twin duos who had Top 40 hits on the Hot 100. The only ones that I could uncover during the 1955 to 1989 era were the Scottish brothers Charlie and Craig Reid who formed The Proclaimers. Their big hit in America was "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" which peaked at Number 21 in 1988. Over the years, they have continued to be very popular in their homeland and have a devoted following in Canada as well. In the early 1990s, Ricky Nelson's twin sons Gunnar and Matthew, recording under the name Nelson, had four charting hits including the Number One (Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection. Then, in the year 2000, twins named Evan & Jaron (Lowenstein) scored a Number 15 hit with "Crazy For This Girl". They had two subsequent releases which managed placements on the "Bubbling Under" Billboard chart. If any of you readers know of some that I've missed, I'd love to hear from you.

Answer: Ferlin Husky

Ferlin Husky was born in Missouri in 1925. After serving as a Merchant Marine in the war, he worked as a DJ and moonlighted as a performer when he was discovered by Tennessee Ernie Ford's manager in 1953. He had a steady stream of Country and Western hits starting in 1955 but the two noted in this quiz which crossed over to the Hot 100 chart would ultimately be his biggest hits by far in a recording career that would last until 1975.

His health started to decline with heart issues in 1977 and he briefly retired as a result. During the 1980s and 1990s, he performed regularly at the Grand Old Opry and in Branson, Missouri until 2000 when further heart problems curtailed his appearances to a great extent.

He finally succumbed to these health issues in 2011 at the age of 85.

Answer: Chantilly Lace

J(iles) P(erry) Richardson, A.K.A. The Big Bopper, was born in 1930 in Sabine Pass, Texas near the Louisiana border but grew up in nearby Beaumont. During high school he worked part time at a local radio station and upon graduation gradually worked his way into full time employment as a DJ.

After a two year stint performing compulsory military service from 1955 to 1957, he returned to the radio station and was promoted to station manager. In his spare time he dabbled in song writing and had the opportunity to record "Chantilly Lace" and "Big Bopper's Wedding" due to his friendship with the promotion director of Mercury Records.

When both became hits, he was invited to tour with Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and Dion and the Belmonts. We know the rest. Altogether, he only recorded about twenty tracks and if any of the others were ever released as singles, they never made Billboard appearances. Posthumously, however, two of his other compositions became debut hits for others; "White Lightning" for George Jones and "Running Bear" for Johnny Preston".

Answer: Fess Parker

Now, I wonder what would be the odds that two people would only have two charting songs in their careers and they both would record the exact same songs! Mind boggling odds to me!

Fess Parker was born near San Angelo, Texas in 1924. He served in WWII very briefly, being called up just before the Japanese surrendered, and afterward he studied acting on a GI Bill at USC. He acted in several movies playing bit parts in the early 1950s before landing the title role of Davy Crockett for the Disney TV miniseries. He also starred in the movie versions then starred as Daniel Boone on TV for six seasons until 1970. He retired from show business shortly thereafter and devoted his energies to the family run winery near Santa Barbara. He died in 2010 at the age of 85.

Bill Hayes was born in Harvey, Illinois in 1925. Following his graduation from DePauw University, he worked as a singer on Broadway and on various TV shows until 1970 when he landed the role of Doug Williams on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives. Although his character has been dropped from the show on a few occasions and even killed off, he has always been written back into the show and continues his role as of 2012. That's a pretty long stint!

Answer: The Rock Island Line

It's difficult to de-emphasize Lonnie Donegan's influence on the British artists that would later lead the musical invasion on America's shores. Virtually every British recording act of the 1960s would claim that Donegan's success encouraged them to become a musician too.

Donegan was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1930 and moved to London in 1933 when his classical violinist father sought steady work there. His earliest musical influences were American big band, swing, jazz and classical blues music. He began his professional career as a guitarist and banjo player playing in bands at the various jazz clubs that appeared on the scene in post WWII London. In the early 1950s, he formed a liaison with Chris Barber that would last off and on for decades. Barber led a big band dixieland style jazz outfit that Donegan played with and during the breaks that the big band would take, Donegan would take to the stage with a couple of others, generally a washboard percussionist and a stand-up bass player. They would perform the blues and roots folk music that he favored and the audience would lap it up. They called the music "skiffle". Eventually in 1956, they recorded some of it, including "Rock Island Line" and were astounded at the volume of records their music sold. Donegan and his skiffle band rode their success for about six years. Then the very youngsters they influenced, the individuals who populated bands like The Beatles, Gerry and The Pacemakers and The Searchers, overwhelmed them with their new style that evolved out of the skiffle sound. Starting in the mid-1960s, Donegan spent most of his time producing records for those young groups at Pye Records although he continued to tour and record the occasional LP himself to appease his old fans. Heart problems began to dog him in the 1970s and after numerous heart attacks over the years, he finally passed away in 2002.