The Top Hits of 1963 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sugar Shack

The Fireballs were a late 1950s New Mexico based band who were contemporaries of Buddy Holly and often spent time together at Norman Petty's recording studio in Clovis, N.M. Their first recordings were pure instrumentals and three of them "Torquay", "Bulldog" and "Quite A Party" were moderate top 40 hits. Petty introduced Jimmy Gilmer to the band in early 1963 and, as Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs, they recorded this smash hit. It rode atop the charts for five weeks during its 15 week run in the Hot 100, good enough for 1382 points and top spot for year-end rankings.

Subsequent recordings didn't have quite the same success although they did have a Number Nine hit in 1968 with "Bottle Of Wine". Gilmer was still with the group then but curiously, the song is attributed just to The Fireballs. That was their last hurrah. They disbanded a short time later when their final releases barely eked into the Hot 100.

Answer: He's So Fine

"He's So Fine" also had a 15 week run on the charts, four of them at Number One, to earn 1174 points. The song was written by Ronnie Mack who passed away of Hodgkins Disease at the age of 25 not long after the song became a hit. When George Harrison recorded "My Sweet Lord" in 1970, the managers of Mack's estate thought the melody was derivative of "He's So Fine" and launched a lawsuit pleading plagiarism. In court, Harrison admitted that there seemed to be similarities between the two songs but claimed the resemblance was purely unintentional, perhaps subconscious. In 1975, Harrison was found guilty of the charge, not criminally so, but in judgement was ordered to pay $587,000.00 in damages.

When the judgement was rendered, The Chiffons were residing in England and performing there. They had only five top 40 hits in the U.S. by the late 1960s but their brand of sweet R&B remained somewhat popular overseas, hence the move. In delicious irony, just before they broke up in 1976, they recorded their rendition of "My Sweet Lord"! Not to be outdone, years later Harrison secured the publishing rights to "He's So Fine".

During the 1980s, the original lead singer, Judy Craig, resurrected The Chiffons and with several personnel changes over the years, they continue to perform on the "oldies" circuit into the new millennium.

Answer: St. Dominic

The song, of course, was "Dominique". St. Dominic (1170-1221) was a wealthy Spaniard from a fervently religious family. In his 20s, he dedicated his life to spreading the word of God to the pagan masses still populating Europe and used all his wealth to found the Dominican Order for priests to carry on his noble ambitions.

The Singing Nun (nee Jeanine Deckers) had been at the Fishermont Convent in Belgium for four years when she recorded this and several other songs. The records were intended to be gifts to the patrons of the convent but when an executive of the record company heard them, he convinced the Mother Superior of the convent that they were a marketable commodity.... and indeed they were!

Deckers herself was a troubled soul. She had no aspirations to stardom and felt uncomfortable in the inevitable spotlight that shone on her when the recording became such a hit. She reluctantly made concert appearances and did so only to assure the financial security of the convent. The personal conflict between her vows and the demands of stardom was so severe that she quit performing in 1965, then reversed course in 1966, resumed her musical career and left the convent. In 1975, she entered into a lesbian relationship with Annie Pecher and together they opened a school for autistic children. Ten years later, the Belgian government was harassing her for payment of $60,000.00 back taxes from her recording successes but of course, all those proceeds went to her Order. Frustrated, broke and depressed, Deckers and Pecher committed suicide with a cocktail of booze and narcotics. A sad story to be sure.

Answer: Blue Velvet

Bobby Vinton cashed a lot of "long green" in 1963 with his "blue" songs. During the summer, he charted with "Blue On Blue" which peaked at Number Three and finished the year ranked at number 49. He followed that up with "Blue Velvet" and it was Number One for three weeks during its 15-week tenure among the Hot 100, garnering 1098 points in the process. Sticking with the "blue" theme, he recorded an album also entitled "Blue Velvet" and every song on it had "Blue" in the title. Perhaps thankfully, he never pulled a Picasso and entered a "pink" period.

Answer: Hey Paula

The song actually was released on a different label in 1962 under the original name of "Jill & Ray". It was starting to attract attention when Liberty Records purchased the rights to the song for re-release on their Philips label. Executives at Liberty thought the notion of artists named Jill and Ray singing "Hey Paul, Hey Paula" ridiculous and insisted the pair change their names to Paul and Paula.

When this song became such a hit, record producers across the land rushed male-female duets into the fray to cash in on the concept. Thus was spawned the pairing of Jerry Butler and Betty Everett who charted with "Let It Be Me" and the multiple Marvin Gaye couplings with Mary Wells, Tammi Terrell and Kim Weston.

Paul and Paula followed up with the sequels "Young Lovers" and "First Quarrel" which charted Number Six and Number 27 respectively before the franchise ran out of steam. "Hey Paula" charted for 15 weeks, three of them at Number One, earning 1090 points.

Answer: Go Away Little Girl

Steve Lawrence has been in the entertainment business for over 50 years getting his start in 1952 after winning an "Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts" competition. One of his first recordings "Poinciana" charted that year but seemingly, producing records for the singles market never seemed to be a priority to him.

He focused on TV performances most notably as a regular on Steve Allen's shows during the 1950s. After marrying Eydie Gorme in 1957, their careers were inextricably linked thereafter. They performed on many Broadway productions together, made frequent guest appearances on variety programs, recorded several successful albums and developed a very popular nightclub act.

Answer: Fingertips (Part 2)

This recording set a couple standards worth noting. Stevie Wonder was 13 years old when the song went Number One making him the youngest person ever to have a chart topper, a record that stands to this writing in 2005. It also was the first live recording to be a Number One hit, recorded at a Wonder performance at The Regal Theatre in Chicago. The song was Number One for two weeks in the midst of its 17 week run on the Billboard charts totaling 1061 points.

Little Stevie Wonder, as he was billed then, was prematurely born. Common to the condition, he suffered from retinopathy of prematurity and while in an incubator, he was given excessive oxygen that led to his blindness. A childhood musical prodigy, he could play the drums, harmonica and piano proficiently by the age of nine, was signed to a contract by the Motown label when he was twelve and delivered this song a year later. Although he hasn't had any recent success on the pop charts, he continues to record and perform and his recordings occasionally make an impact on the R&B charts. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989.

Answer: My Boyfriend's Back

The song was written by the team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer. Feldman relates that while visiting some old childhood haunts in Brooklyn, he witnessed an altercation between a young lady and a leather-jacketed hood. As he tells it, she was screaming at this fellow "My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble. You've been spreading lies about me all over school and when he gets a hold of you, you're gonna be sorry you were ever born." Feldman related the story to his colleagues and they immediately sat down and created this hit.

The Angels were an all-white female trio, somewhat a rarity among their girl-group peers. They continued to record prolifically during the early 1960s but managed only three more Hot Hundred chart entries, none particularly memorable. By the middle of the decade, they were reduced to back-up singers, most notably for Lou Christie on "Lightnin' Strikes". As of 2005, The Angels are still performing on the oldies circuit with two original members part of the touring trio.

Answer: Sukiyaki

Kyu Sakamoto recorded this lovely ballad that had everyone humming along during the summer of 1963. For all anyone knew, except for speakers of Japanese of course, it seemed to be a cheerful love song but to the contrary, it was anything but. A translation of part of the lyric reads:

"Sadness hides in the shadows of the stars
I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall"

There's no way of verifying the veracity of this story but a gal named Marsha Cunningham claims she was instrumental in making this a hit in North America. She was the daughter of an American pilot who was working for JAL at the time and while attending school there, she heard the song in a movie and bought the record immediately after. A year later, back in the States, she was playing the song in her school dormitory, a friend heard it, loved it, and took the record for her DJ father to play on his radio show in Pasco, Washington. When it became a local sensation, Capitol Records secured distribution rights for North America and with its national release, became a Number One smash. It was the first song in Japanese to hit Number One and the first foreign language song to achieve that status since "Volare" in 1958.

Kyu Sakamoto only had one other song chart at Number 58 on the Billboard charts but he remained a popular jazz and pop singer in his native Japan until his death in a plane crash in 1985.

Answer: I Will Follow Him

"I Will Follow Him" was another hit that actually had its genesis as a foreign language song. The song was entitled "Chariot" and was written by French composers Frank Pourcel and Paul Mauriat. Petula Clark had a big hit in France in 1961 with this torch song, sung in French a la Edith Piaf. As an aside, Pourcel had a 1959 Billboard Number Nine hit in 1959 with "Only You" and Mauriat had a huge Number One hit in 1968 with the instrumental "Love Is Blue". Norman Gimbel created new English lyrics including the memorable chorus of "did-ip, da did-ip, da did-ip" and Arthur Altman made some adaptations to the music prior to its release in North America.

At the age of 15, Peggy March was the youngest artist to have a Number One hit at the time, her record broken by Stevie Wonder later in the year as noted earlier in this quiz. However, she still holds that distinction for female artists as of 2005. Her follow-up releases didn't quite fare as well and she moved to Germany with her record producer husband in 1969 largely to capitalize on her popularity over there. She did return to the U.S. in 1981 and as of 2005, continues to perform regularly on both sides of the pond. According to her website, she last released a CD in 2001.

Answer: Rhythm Of The Rain

"Raining In My Heart" was a minor Number 85 song for Buddy Holly In 1959. "Raindrops" hit Number Two for Dee Clark in 1961. "Rainy Days And Mondays" was a Number Two hit in 1971 for The Carpenters.

The poor Cascades! For years, until the early 1970s, they plugged along trying to replicate the enormous success of this song. Of their four other songs that made an appearance on the Billboard charts thereafter, the best they could do was a Number 60 song later in 1963. I do know that they had considerably more success in Japan where, for some reason, they assumed cult status for the duration of their existence.

Answer: The End Of The World

Skeeter had a pleasant way of delivering songs, warm and simple. As such, she was able to chart several songs on the pop charts from 1960 to 1964 before she concentrated solely on the country market. This song peaked at Number Two with 17 weeks on the charts.

She originally started singing in the late 1940s in the country genre with a close friend, Betty Jack Davis, as the Davis Sisters. Tragically, Betty Jack was killed in a car accident in 1953 and Skeeter carried on as a solo act thereafter. From 1958 to 1976 she had a total of 41 songs crack the country charts. Clearly that was her realm. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 73 after a long battle with cancer.

Answer: Walk Like A Man

This was the third Number One hit for The Four Seasons... they would have two more - "Rag Doll" in 1964 and "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)" in 1975. Among the top American groups of the pre-Beatle era, two were clearly eminent and I remember the media of the day striving to develop some sort of competitive hype between the two - The Four Seasons and The Beach Boys.

The Four Seasons featured the modern "doo-wop" Philadelphia sound, The Beach Boys created the West coast "surf sound". I actually recall the notion that a "Battle of the Bands" was being considered to settle the issue but research suggests that this never came to pass.

It was all elementary anyway... in 1964 The Beatles emerged and convincingly eclipsed the achievements of both these groups!

Answer: I'm Leaving It Up To You

Dale Houston and Grace Broussard were both Louisiana natives who got together quite by chance to specifically record this hit. Houston was foundering along as a solo act when his manager thought that his voice might be better utilized as part of a male-female duet. A recording session was upcoming so the manager arranged a meeting between Houston and Broussard, they started rehearsing and liked what they heard. Among the songs they decided to record was this old standard originally recorded by a duet named Don and Dewey in the mid-1950s. It steadily rose up the charts and finally reached Number One on November 23, 1963. As it happened, they were performing in Dallas the day before and were among the throng that lined the city streets to greet President Kennedy. They noted that they were waving to him minutes before he was assassinated.

Dale and Grace would only have two significant hits, this one and "Stop And Think It Over" which peaked at Number Eight on the charts in early 1964. The union was short-lived and they broke up in 1965 rather than endure the personality conflicts that were irritating each party. They briefly reunited some twenty years later but with the new millennium, continue to perform independently.

With a 15 week run on the charts including two weeks at Number One, it earned 975 points.

Answer: Surfin' U.S.A.

Chronologically, "Surfin'" was the first Beach Boys song to break onto the Hot 100 at Number 75 in 1962. "Surfin' Safari" was their first top 40 hit at Number 14 later that year. Then came "Surfin' U.S.A." followed by their biggest charting hit ever, "I Get Around", a Number One hit in 1964.

The melody is very reminiscent of Chuck Berry's big 1958 hit "Sweet Little 16" and the similarities were not lost on Berry. The Beach Boys admitted that they lifted the melody line directly from Berry's song as a tribute to him but they hadn't sought permission from him first. Rather than deal with a lawsuit, The Beach Boys agreed to list Berry as the song's composer and, as such, he received the bulk of the royalties.

Answer: It's My Party

A recap of the hits from 1963 would not be complete without reference to this Lesley Gore recording. She followed that up with three more consecutive top five hits; "Judy's Turn To Cry", "She's A Fool" and "You Don't Own Me". All these hits were aided by the able production work of Quincy Jones and when he went on to other projects in the mid-1960s, Gore's star shone less brightly.

She last charted in 1967 then turned to songwriting for several years before taking a hiatus from the business altogether. 2005 sees her back on the cabaret/casino circuit and she also just recently released a new CD.

Answer: Since I Fell For You

When Welch broke onto the scene with this recording, he was labeled as the next Johnny Mathis and he did indeed sound like him. Stardom beckoned but a series of unfortunate events derailed his career. Right after this hit, he was drafted into the service and that limited his ability to tour and stay in the spotlight.

Then, upon discharge, Cadence, his record label, folded and he never found another one that was as supportive and able to provide him with the material that suited his talents. He would only have seven more recordings enter the Hot 100 and most of them hovered in the lower echelons of the chart.

As of 2005, he still performs and recently released a new CD.

Answer: Denise

The group's other "hit" charted at Number 97 later in the year. The group consisted of two pairs of brothers from Queens and the song was produced by the same team that served The Tokens. In 2005 and now a trio, one original member of the group remains and they maintain an active concert schedule primarily in the New York/New Jersey area.

Answer: Granada

Here's a sample of junior's plaints:

"Now I don't want this should scare ya
But my bunkmate has malaria
You remember Jeffrey Hardy
They're about to organize a searching party"

Sherman started in show business as a comedy writer for Jackie Gleason and Joe E. Lewis among others. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he served as a creator/producer of the TV show "What's My Line" and then as writer/producer of "The Steve Allen Show" but it was his string of Number One comedy albums in 1962-3 that brought him his greatest success. His last album was released in 1966 and he spent the rest of his career as a stand-up comic until his death at the age of 48 in 1973.

Answer: Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport

Rolf Harris has had quite an eclectic career!

He was born in Perth, Australia in 1930. He was attracted to music at an early age but exhibited many talents as a youth. He was the Junior Australian Backstroke Champion in 1946, no small feat in a country where almost everyone seems to grow up as a water baby. He did win a music talent contest in the late 1940s but put any musical ambitions on hold to pursue art studies in England in the early 1950s. He was talented enough to have an exhibition of his paintings at the Royal Academy of Art in London in 1956. Meanwhile, he was also establishing himself as an entertainer, primarily performing at the Down Under Club to Australian ex-pats. He returned to Australia at the end of the decade and began his 40+ year career as a TV personality. In 2005, and now 75 years of age, he continues his TV work, makes live concert appearances and is actively engaged in charity work, particularly for animals and the handicapped.

North Americans, at least Canadians, were first exposed to Harris with "Six White Boomers", released over the holiday season in 1961. Although not a charting success, it still gets significant airplay here every Christmas. "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" was the number 77 ranked hit of 1963.

Unfortunately, the Rolf Harris story doesn't end well. In 2013 he was charged with 12 counts of indecent assault with incidents that occurred in the 1980s. He was found guilty of all charges in 2014 and was sentenced to 5 years, 7 months imprisonment. He was released in 2017 after serving slightly more than three years. Honours such as his CBE, honorary University Doctorates and many others were ultimately revoked in his disgrace. He died in 2023.