1958: Sheb Wooley hit the top of the Billboard chart with a novelty song called "The Purple People Eater". When he first sang the tune for MGM executives, Sheb said he was scraping "the bottom of the barrel", but the brass loved the song and wanted to release it. Three weeks after it hit store shelves it was the number one record in the US and would start a merchandising craze that included hats, T-shirts and even ice cream.
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1963: The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" peaks at #3 on the Billboard Pop chart. The effort is the brain child of Phil Spector, who uses a multi-track recording system to build the song layer upon layer to achieve a result that will become known as a "wall of sound". Backing musicians include Glen Campbell on guitar, Hal Blain on drums, Leon Russell on piano and Nino Tempo on sax.
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1980: Rocky Burnette's "Tired of Toeing the Line" peaks at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rocky bills himself as The Son Of Rock and Roll as his father, Johnny Burnette had scored a 1960 number one hit with "You're Sixteen". The feat of father and child both scoring a Top Ten hit has also been accomplished by Ozzie and Rick Nelson, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, Nat and Natalie Cole as well as Pat and Debbie Boone.
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1964: The Dixie Cups became the first American group to top the Billboard chart in 1964 when "Chapel of Love" went to number one. Up until then, the year had been dominated by The Beatles and US solo performers. The song reached #22 in the UK.
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1989: The Doobie Brothers reformed their original hit making line-up and hit the concert trail to promote the newly released, "Cycles" album. The first single from the album, "The Doctor", made it into the US Top 10, while the follow-up, "Need a Little Taste of Love" reached number 45. Other members of the group performed live vocals on songs previously sung by Michael McDonald, who wasn't invited to re-join the group.
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