1958: A band called The Champs release "Tequila", an instrumental that will hit number one in mid-March. The group included sax player Jim Seals and drummer Dash Crofts, who would go on to score several hits in the seventies, including "Summer Breeze" as Seals And Crofts.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1984: Despite being banned by Radio 1 and the BBC for its suggestive lyrics, "Relax" by the British dance group Frankie Goes to Hollywood climbs to the top of the UK singles chart. The objectionable words were "Relax, don't do it, when you want to sock it to it, Relax, don't do it, when you want to come". Many other UK commercial radio stations continued to play the record and it stayed at the top for five straight weeks and remained on the chart for a then record forty-two consecutive weeks. Later in the year, the ban would be lifted.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1968: Otis Redding's "Sittin' On The Dock of the Bay" is released, six weeks after he was killed in a plane crash. It will become the first posthumous number-one single in US chart history. Otis had intended to return to the studio at a later date to add lyrics in place of the whistling that is heard during the closing bars.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1980: Three years after signing with Warner Brothers Records, 21 year old Prince makes his US television debut on American Bandstand where he performs his R&B chart topping hit, "I Wanna Be Your Lover".
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1975: "Please Mr. Postman" became a US number one for the second time when The Carpenters took it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The Marvelettes version led the hit parade in January, 1961. Although the Beatles also recorded a popular version of the song, it didn't make the American Top 40.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!