Tune Tuesday

Today We wish Juice Newton a Happy 73rd Birthday. She is one of those artists/songwriters who was very big in the 80’s and sort of disappeared. The truth is, she’s always been around, we just don’t hear her stuff thanks to a variety of things. One of those things is the mindset of corporate radio.

I have featured uptempo stuff from Juice before, but I wanted to feature her voice today. Her ballads really showcase her singing voice and one of my favorites is The Sweetest Thing. This song was written for Juice Newton by her music partner Otha Young (Robert O. Young) for her 1975 debut album Juice Newton and Silver Spur. She re-recorded it in 1981 for her groundbreaking album Juice.

Country singer Jamie O’Neal covered the song for her album of cover songs. She told songfacts.com:

“I think there’s songs, like ‘The Sweetest Thing,’ that’ll live on forever, and when you hear it, it takes you right back to where you were when that was a big hit for Juice Newton … I think that song stands the test of time and that’s what makes it a classic to me is the fact that everybody knows it. Not just in one little area of music, but across the board, everybody knows that song.”

The song was a Top 10 hit on three different Billboard charts: #1 on Adult Contemporary, #1 on Country and #7 on the Hot 100.

Happy Birthday, Juice!

Tune Tuesday

He began his career playing serious roles, but wound up being a comedy legend. Leslie Nielsen was born today in 1926. Most folks who are familiar with him know him going serious to funny. It was the opposite for me, as I first saw him in Airplane!, Police Squad, and the Naked Gun films first.

When I saw him in those early roles, I was blown away. He was a great actor! His performance in Forbidden Planet was amazing! Then I saw him pop up on TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and even Columbo! Each time I saw him I was more and more impressed with him. He was also good as the captain in the movie The Poseidon Adventure. He could be funny, serious, mean, nasty, romantic and more!

In Airplane! he was hilarious. His deadpan delivery is exactly what the directors wanted and it worked. It worked so well, they had him play Lt. Frank Drebin in a short lived show called Police Squad.

The show only lasted 6 episodes, but it laid the groundwork for the Naked Gun films, which featured him again as Drebin.

In his honor today, here is the Theme from Police Squad (and Naked Gun).

Happy Birthday, Leslie!

Tune Tuesday

Charles Edwin Hatcher was born on this day in 1942. You and I know him better as Edwin Starr. He was born in Nashville, moved to Cleveland and eventually to Detroit.

In 1957, he formed the Doo Woo group, the Future Tones. Soon after, he was called to serve in the US Army. He spent most of his time in Europe. When he was discharged, he decided that he wanted his career to be in music.

He joined up with Bill Doggett’s group. Bill was known for his hit Honky Tonk Part 2. Starr’s stage name was suggested to him by Doggett’s manager, as he didn’t think Charles Hatcher would catch on.

In 1965, Edwin made his solo debut with his first single for Ric-Tic Records. The James Bond series was quite popular at the time. Starr’s first single was a play on that entitled Agent Double-O-Soul.

Songfacts says that instead of being a spy, Edwin is “a sophisticated cat that brings soul music to the masses. He doesn’t have to go undercover!” I think that is a perfect description!

When I first started in radio back in 1988, it was at an oldies station. My dad gave me a list of songs that he asked me to look for. Most of them were songs he grew up loving. Many were also big hits by local artists in Detroit. Agent Double-O-Soul was on that list.

Thanks to that list, I was introduced to songs that I was unfamiliar with. Those songs have since become some of my favorites.

When Ric-Tic Records went out of business, they sold Starr’s contract to their much larger rival, Motown. His first few singles there flopped. But in 1969 he scored with “Twenty-Five Miles” and in 1970 he had a #1 hit with”War.” He ended up leaving Motown in the mid-’70s. In 1983 he moved to the UK, where he performed until 2003, when he died of a heart attack at 61.

Tune Tuesday – Fame

It was on this day in 1982 that the TV adaptation of Fame first aired on NBC. The TV series was based on the 1980 hit movie, which started Irene Cara as Coco Hernandez.

The movie is about students at Fiorello LaGuardia High, also known as the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. It’s a real school whose alumni include Robert De Niro, Jennifer Aniston, Liza Minnelli and Nicki Minaj.

Irene Cara had a top five hit in the US with “Fame,” while it went to number one in the UK. Did you know another familiar voice is on the track? That familiar voice contributed quite a bit to the song.

From Song facts:

A very distinctive feature of this song is the background vocals that trail out the word “remember” after the line “baby, remember my name.” It was Luther Vandross who came up with that part and sang it with backup singers Vivian Cherry and Vicki Sue Robinson. Vandross was not yet a solo star, but was in demand as a backup vocalist. He was the contractor on this session, meaning he was in charge of the backup vocals.

Songwriter Dean Pitchford explained in his Songfacts interview: “He came in, listened down to the track. We got to the end of the chorus and he said, ‘Back it up, back it up! Check this out.’ And Irene Cara sang, ‘Baby remember my name,’ and he went, ‘Remember, remember, remember…’ and we all went, ‘Oh! That’s terrific!’ Luther Vandross is the one who not only came up with ‘remember, remember, remember…’ but he also stacked the voices on top of, ‘I’m going to learn how to fly high.’ He did that. He made a couple of other contributions around the edges, but the ‘remember’ was the major one.”

Here is the movie version:

The TV series starred many of the films stars, including Debbie Allen. For television Erica Gimple played Coco and also sang the theme song in the first four seasons.

In Seasons 5 and 6, Gimple left the show. The theme was then performed by Loretta Chandler, who played Dusty.

Usually, there is a big difference in cover versions, but honestly, to me there is very little difference between these versions. What do you think?

Tune Tuesday

Donna Adrian Gaines was born today in 1948. You probably know her better by her stage name – Donna Summer. She was affectionately called the “Queen of Disco.”

She gained success in 1976 with Love To Love You, Baby. In 1978 she acted in the film, Thank God, It’s Friday where she sang, “Last Dance.” She had her first #1 song with MacArthur Park and 5 hits in 1979. Among them were Hot Stuff, Bad Girls, and No More Tears (with Barbra Streisand.

Her label (Casablanca) wanted her to record nothing but Disco. She wanted to do other types of songs. They wouldn’t budge and she parted ways with the label in 1980.

In 1983, she released the album, She Works Hard For The Money. The title track would go to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and hit #1 on the R&B chart.

With many Summer songs to pick from, I chose She Works Hard For the Money because there’s a great story behind it. From Songfacts.com:

This song was based on a true-to-life experience. After the Grammy Awards in 1983, Donna Summer was at an afterparty at Chasen’s restaurant, a Hollywood hotspot (it closed in 1995). She went to the bathroom and saw the attendant, Onetta Johnson, taking a nap with a small TV on. Summer startled her from her nap, and Onetta told Donna she worked two jobs and was really tired. Summer thought to herself, “Wow, she really works hard for her money.“

Knowing she had the makings of a hit, she grabbed some toilet paper and started writing her ideas. Later that night while at home thinking about Onetta, Summer wrote the song in about 20 minutes. The song became a tribute to hard-working women everywhere.

Onetta Johnson, the bathroom attendant from Chasen’s, appears on the back cover of the album. The first line of the song says her name: “Onetta there in the corner stands…”

Donna died of lung cancer on May 17, 2012. She was 63. She had an apartment near Ground Zero the day of the 9/11 attacks. She had quit smoking long before and many say the cancer was from the fumes in the area after the attacks.

Happy Heavenly birthday, Donna Summer.

Tune Tuesday

Today, I want to recognize the birthday of a man who is synonymous with holiday music and my childhood. He stood on the podium and conducted many of the holiday songs that played on the radio and over the mall PA systems every year.

Today would be the 130th birthday of Arthur Fiedler, the man who made the Boston Pops Orchestra known throughout the country. He took the helm of the BPO in 1930 (He was the 19th conductor) and held that position for 50 years.

Believe it or not, under the direction of Fiedler, they say the Boston Pops Orchestra recorded more than any other orchestra in the world! They recorded most of their material for RCA Victor and had sales of over $50 million!

The first recording was done in Boston Symphony Hall in 1935. Recordings included the first complete recording of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, the music of Leroy Anderson, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Bach, and even the Beatles!

Fiedler and the Pops recorded three Christmas albums. Today, you can probably find all three in one CD collection. As I said earlier, many of those songs are familiar to people just because they played in stores during the holidays. The ones that stick out to me are:

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer

…and Sleigh Ride

Those are just three songs that are instantly recognizable as Fiedler and the Pops for me. Sleigh Ride was a piece composed by Leroy Anderson. It is another Anderson piece I want to spotlight today.

As a senior in high school, I had the opportunity to play A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson. The version we played was arranged for band instead of orchestra. It was a thrill for me, as I had loved the song long before we played it.

We had one of the Boston Pops Christmas albums and I would listen to it with headphones on. (Now, I will embarrass myself) I used to “conduct” A Christmas Festival with a stick in my room. That piece really stuck out to me.

I found out that in 1950 Arthur Fiedler asked Leroy Anderson to write a special concert piece for a Christmas recording he and the Pops were doing. Anderson chose eight popular Christmas Carols and Jingle Bells and created an amazing Christmas overture.

See if you can name them all…

Happy birthday, Arthur Fiedler!!

Tune Tuesday – Happy 50th Anniversary

Today marks the 50th anniversary of (in my humble opinion) the greatest Christmas special of all time. On December 10, 1974 ABC aired The Year Without a Santa Claus for the first time. The plot focused on a fear of every child – Christmas being cancelled and Santa Claus taking the night off.

In 2019, I wrote a piece for The Happy Holidays Blogathon on the special. It goes into much more detail than I will in this blog. It remains one of my most read blogs to date. You can read that piece here:

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)

I don’t think anyone would disagree with me when I say that the characters who truly make this special are The Miser Brothers. The Snow Miser and Heat Miser are instantly recognizable to kids who were raised in the mid-70’s and early 80’s. These two also top the list of my favorite characters:

My Top 20 Favorite Christmas Characters

Their songs are the high points of the musical score. It only makes sense that I post those two songs for Tune Tuesday. Here is the great Dick Shawn as Snow Miser and George S. Irving as Heat Miser! After the video, read on for more 50th anniversary info.

My friend, Rick Goldschmidt, is the official Rankin/Bass Productions historian/biographer and has authored many books on their specials. This year, in celebration of the 50th anniversary, he has put out a book on The Year Without a Santa Claus (and the Night Before Christmas). It can be bought here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MISERBROS

You can learn more about him at his blog: https://enchantedworldofrankinbass.blogspot.com/

He was nice enough to even sign my copy!

The Year Without a Santa Claus is something I will watch every year. I will sing along with the Miser Brothers, cry at Blue Christmas, and (spoiler) rejoice that Santa decides to NOT take the day off.

Tune Tuesday – Blue Christmas

56 years ago today, NBC aired Elvis Presley’s 1968 Comeback Special. This was HUGE! Elvis hadn’t appeared live in about seven years because he was busy doing movies. Naturally, it topped the ratings!

The special was originally going to be a Christmas special. The special’s director didn’t think that would peak the interests of young people at the time. Instead, the special included a sit-down session that showcased Elvis in an informal setting, surrounded by fans and a small band.

The special was recorded in June of 1968, and despite it not being a Christmas special, it did include one of his biggest Christmas songs – Blue Christmas. Now I could easily play the Elvis version of the song that was a hit, or the new arrangement with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, or even the full 1968 Comeback version for you, but I decided not to.

What I want to play for you is the 1968 Comeback version with a twist. What would it have sounded like if a special guest joined Elvis in a duet of his famous hit? Well, Martina McBride (thanks to a green screen and modern technology) does just that. Check this out:

I LOVE THIS!

Just for fun, here is a behind the scenes video of how it was done…

Prior to this cut, an Elvis Christmas Duets album was released. Martina sings this with him on that album, but it is the “hit version” arrangement. Here is that, just because:

Tune Tuesday – A Pixar Classic

Robert Goulet was born on this day in 1933. He was one of those entertainers who seemed to do everything. He was cast as Sir Lancelot in the 1960 production of Camelot, which costarred Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. It was in that role that he sang If Ever I Would Leave You, which became his signature song. (In 1993, he would star in the revival of Camelot as King Arthur.)

In 1962, he began a recording career on Columbia Records. In his lifetime, he would record over 60 best selling albums!

Not everyone was a fan of Goulet. In 1974, he appeared on the Mike Douglas Show. Elvis Presley was watching that show from his suite at the Las Vegas International Hotel. He was so annoyed and irritated by Goulet’s performance that he shot the television set!!

He had his share of television roles, too. In 1966, he starred in Blue Light, as a journalist. He also starred in the Emmy winning show, Brigadoon. He has memorable guest starring roles on The Lucy Show, Alice, Mission: Impossible, Love Boat and Fantasy Island.

His movie roles include 1980’s Atlantic City, Beetlejuice, Scrooged, and the first sequel in the Naked Gun series. Goulet played a fantastic villain in Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear named Quentin Hapsburg.

Because it is Robert Goulet, I have to share how he “ends up” in that movie. It is one of my favorite scenes…

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the Toy Story movies. My kids loved them. In Toy Story 2, Robert Goulet did not have a character with speaking lines in the film. However, he did provide the singing voice for Wheezy, the Penguin.

You’ve Got a Friend In Me will forever be connected with the Toy Story films. Personally, the Randy Newman version is just “ok.” The version that I absolutely love is the “Wheezy Version” that plays at the finale of Toy Story 2! Goulet’s swingin’ take on the song is just plain fun! The swinging arrangement is something that could have easily been a Sinatra chart!

Happy Birthday to Robert Goulet!

Tune Tuesday – Must Be Doin’ Something Right

Happy 51st Birthday to country singer Billy Currington! Billy was one of those artists who got lots of airplay when I was working in country radio. He hit the scene in 2003 with the serious debut single, “Walk a Little Straighter, Daddy.” The song was written about his alcoholic stepfather, and the chorus of the song was something he wrote when he was 12 years old.

He has released seven studio albums, and had eleven number one songs. He’s had some fun songs like “Pretty Good at Drinking Beer,” “People are Crazy,” and “Drinkin’ Town with a Football Problem.” Then there are the sultry songs like “Don’t,” and great loves songs like, “Must Be Doin’ Something Right.”

“Must Be Doin’ Something Right” was a song that struck a chord when it hit my desk in 2005. The first line is “A woman is a mystery a man just can’t understand.” If that didn’t hit home for all men who have ever been in a relationship, I don’t know what will!

It took me a very long time and a lot of relationships to get where I am today. Believe me, all I wanted to do was “get it right!” I always felt bad whenever I did something to upset my gal. I hated to disappoint her. I always wanted things to go perfectly, but they rarely did. With every break up, I couldn’t help but wonder what I did that led to it.

I could relate to exactly what Billy is singing in this song, and when he gets to the chorus, I rejoiced for him. He say, “I must be doin’ something right …” and explains why. As a guy, I was like, “Atta boy! Keep it up!!”

It is a great love song. Yet, even though things are going great, he still (like most guys) has no idea what he is doing to deserve this happiness. “Don’t know what I did to earn a love like this, but, baby, I must be doin’ somethin’ right!”

I had the chance to meet Billy a couple times and he is one of the nicest guys. He’s real down to earth and one of those guys you’d like to just hang out and watch football with.

Happy Birthday, Billy!