Showing posts with label andrews sisters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label andrews sisters. Show all posts

Friday, April 8, 2022

The Top 100 Groups/Duos of All Time

Groups/Duos:

Top 100 All-Time

Based on chart figures, sales data, airplay, awards, and appearances on best-of lists (and not just rock groups from the last 50 years, mind you), here are the top 100 groups and duos according to Dave’s Music Database:

See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories.


The Beatles

1. The Beatles
2. The Rollng Stones
3. U2
4. Led Zeppelin
5. Pink Floyd
6. The Beach Boys
7. The Who
8. Queen
9. R.E.M.
10. Eagles


The Rolling Stones

11. The Bee Gees
12. Fleetwood Mac
13. The Andrews Sisters
14. Aerosmith
15. The Temptations
16. Peerless Quartet/Columbia Male Quartet
17. Yes
18. Simon & Garfunkel
19. Pearl Jam
20. The Doors


The Beach Boys

21. The Police
22. Nirvana
23. American Quartet
24. The Supremes
25. The Kinks
26. Haydn Quartet
27. Van Halen
28. AC/DC
29. Guns N’ Roses
30. Journey


U2

31. Rush
32. Genesis
33. Radiohead
34. Styx
35. Tears for Fears
36. Velvet Underground
37. Metallica
38. Bon Jovi
39. Creedence Clearwater Revival
40. Black Sabbath


Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page

41. Green Day
42. The Clash
43. Chicago
44. Crosby, Stills & Nash
45. Foreigner
46. Daryl Hall & John Oates
47. Lynyrd Skynyrd
48. Alabama
49. Deep Purple
50. The Byrds


Queen

51. Abba
52. ZZ Top
53. Dire Straits
54. Marillion
55. The Band
56. Kiss
57. Maroon 5
58. Oasis
59. Red Hot Chili Peppers
60. Allman Brothers Band


The Who

61. Cream
62. Sly & the Family Stone
63. The Jackson 5/The Jacksons
64. The Moody Blues
65. The Everly Brothers
66. Blondie
67. The Ink Spots
68. The Mills Brothers
69. Def Leppard
70. The Miracles


The Bee Gees

71. Talking Heads
72. Electric Light Orchestra
73. Simple Minds
74. INXS
75. Grateful Dead
76. The Drifters
77. The Cure
78. Eurythmics
79. Glee Cast
80. Carpenters


Pink Floyd

81. Steely Dan
82. Beastie Boys
83. Four Tops
84. Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship
85. Jethro Tull
86. Duran Duran
87. Ramones
88. Blur
89. Sex Pistols
90. Earth, Wind & Fire


R.E.M.

91. Squeeze
92. Boston
93. Coldplay
94. Public Enemy
95. The Monkees
96. The Cars
97. Pretenders
98. Indigo Girls
99. The Animals
100. Boyz II Men


Eagles

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First posted 9/10/2011; last updated 4/8/2022.

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Monday, April 19, 2021

Big Band: Top 100 Songs

Big Band:

Top 100 Songs

Big Band, or Swing music, was especially popular in the 1930s and ‘40s. They were generally jazz-oriented orchestras led by such dominant names as Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller. In fact, more than 20 of these songs also appear on the DMDB’s Top 100 Jazz Songs list.

This list was created by aggregating 21 lists focused on big band songs.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941)
2. Benny Goodman “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” (1938)
3. Glenn Miller “In the Mood” (1939)
4. Glenn Miller “A String of Pearls” (1942)
5. Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke & the Four Modernaires “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (1941)
6. Artie Shaw “Begin the Beguine” (1938)
7. Artie Shaw “Stardust” (1941)
8. Glenn Miller “Tuxedo Junction” (1940)
9. The Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen’s Orchestra “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (1941)
10. Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra “I’ll Never Smile Again” (1940)

11. Glenn Miller “Moonlight Serenade” (1939)
12. Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929)
13. Benny Goodman “Stompin’ at the Savoy” (1936)
14. Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly “Tangerine” (1942)
15. Tommy Dorsey “Opus One” (1945)
16. Les Brown’s Orchestra with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” (1945)
17. Count Basie “One O’Clock Jump” (1937)
18. Woody Herman “At the Woodchoppers’ Ball” (1939)
19. Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1930)
20. Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife” (1959)

21. Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944)
22. Duke Ellington with Ivie Anderson “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” (1932)
23. Rosemary Clooney “Tenderly” (1952)
24. Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher (The Ho Do Ho Song)” (1931)
25. Duke Ellington “Perdido” (1942)
26. Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Night and Day” (1932)
27. Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul” (1940)
28. Glenn Miller “Pennsylvania 6-5000” (1940)
29. Billie Holiday with Camarata’s Orchestra “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (1945)
30. Woody Herman “Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)” (1941)

31. Tommy Dorsey “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” (1936)
32. Glen Gray “Sunrise Serenade” (1939)
33. Charlie Barnet “Skyliner” (1944)
34. Lionel Hampton “Flying Home” (1940)
35. Benny Goodman “Moonglow” (1934)
36. Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell “Green Eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes)” (1941)
37. Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke & Marion Hutton “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” (1942)
38. Charlie Barnet “Cherokee (Indian Love Song)” (1939)
39. Duke Ellington “Caravan” (1937)
40. Harry James “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)” (1941)

41. Bing Crosby “White Christmas” (1942)
42. Judy Garland “Over the Rainbow” (1939)
43. Billie Holiday “Summertime” (1936)
44. The Andrews Sisters “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (Means That You're Grand)” (1938)
45. Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (1938)
46. Bunny Berigan “I Can’t Get Started” (1938)
47. Marion Harris “The Man I Love” (1928)
48. Paul Whiteman “Oh, Lady Be Good” (1925)
49. Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo“ (1931)
50. Count Basie “April in Paris” (1956)

51. Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” (1941)
52. Cab Calloway “Hep! Hep! The Jumpin’ Jive” (1939)
53. Harry James with Frank Sinatra “All or Nothing at All” (1939)
54. Walter Huston “September Song” (1939)
55. Duke Ellington “Satin Doll” (1953)
56. Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee “Why Don’t You Do Right?” (1943)
57. Glenn Miller with Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke, & the Modernaires “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else But Me” (1942)
58. Tommy Dorsey with the Pied Pipers “Let’s Get Away from It All” (1941)
59. Duke Ellington “Solitude” (1934)
60. Paul Whiteman “Song of India” (1921)

61. Benny Goodman “Don’t Be That Way” (1938)
62. Count Basie “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” (1938)
63. Tommy Dorsey with Jo Stafford & Sy Oliver “Yes Indeed!” (1941)
64. Teddy Wilson “Sweet Lorraine” (1935)
65. Johnny Mercer with Jo Stafford & the Pied Pipers “Candy” (1945)
66. Glenn Miller “Skylark” (1942)
67. Ethel Waters “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (1933)
68. Tommy Dorsey with Jack Leonard “All the Things You Are” (1939)
69. The Andrews Sisters “Rum and Coca-Cola” (1945)
70. Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “Deep Purple” (1939)

71. Artie Shaw “Frenesi” (1940)
72. Jelly Roll Morton “King Porter Stomp” (1923)
73. Dick Haymes with Victor Young’s Orchestra “It Might As Well Be Spring” (1945)
74. Nat “King” Cole with Frank DeVol’s Orchestra “Nature Boy” (1948)
75. Hal Kemp with Bob Allen “Where or When” (1937)
76. Ella Fitzgerald & the Delta Rhythm Boys “It’s Only a Paper Moon” (1945)
77. Roger Wolfe Kahn “Sometimes I’m Happy” (1927)
78. Dooley Wilson “As Time Goes By” (1942)
79. Nat “King” Cole “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (1944)
80. Artie Shaw “Dancing in the Dark” (1941)

81. Nat “King” Cole “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” (1946)
82. Johnny Mercer & the Pied Pipers “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” (1945)
83. Judy Garland with Georgie Stoll’s Orchestra “The Trolley Song” (1944)
84. Tommy Dorsey with Jack Leonard “Marie” (1937)
85. Glenn Miller with Ray Eberle “Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear to Tread” (1940)
86. Benny Goodman with Martha Tilton “And the Angels Sing” (1939)
87. Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Cheek to Cheek” (1935)
88. Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields “I’m in the Mood for Love” (1935)
89. Earl Burtnett with Harry Richman “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (1930)
90. Paul Whitman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924)

91. Kate Smith “The Last Time I Saw Paris” (1940)
92. Duke Ellington “Sophisticated Lady” (1933)
93. Perry Como with Russel Case’s Orchestra “If I Loved You” (1945)
94. The Ink Spots “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (1943)
95. Horace Heidt with Larry Cotton, Donna Wood, & Don Juans “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire’ (1941)
96. Harry James with Helen Forrest “I’ve Heard That Song Before” (1943)
97. Benny Goodman with Helen Forrest “Taking a Chance on Love” (1940)
98. Louis Jordan “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” (1946)
99. Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra “Oh, Look at Me Now” (1941)
100. Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” (1946)

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First posted 4/18/2021; last updated 4/19/2021.

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Sunday, November 9, 2008

Vocal Group Hall of Fame

Vocal Group Hall of Fame:

1998-2008

The Vocal Group Hall of Fame was conceived by Tony Butala, a member of the group The Lettermen. In 1998, he and a financial partner opened The Vocal Hall of Fame & Museum Company in his hometown of Sharon, Pennyslvania. That year, the first class was inducted and that was continued through 2008. According to the website, the 10th anniversary (and last) induction ceremony was held November 6-9, 2008, at the Chevrolet Center in Youngstown, Ohio.

Only groups and duos are eligible. Inductees must have at least a ten-year history in the music business, have had a significant hit record or composition, and have a minimum of three-party harmony. There are also categories for each year’s slate of inductees incluing ‘40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and duos. Here are the inductees during that time with their years of induction in parentheses:

See other Hall of Fames.

A

B

C

  • The Cadillacs (2004)
  • The Chantels (2002)
  • The Charioteers (2003)
  • The Chiffons (2005)
  • The Chi-Lites (2005)
  • The Chordettes (2001)
  • The Chords (2007)
  • The Clovers (2002)
  • The Coasters (1999)
  • The Commodores (2003)
  • The Crests (2004)
  • Crosby, Stills & Nash (1998)
  • The Crystals (2005)
D

  • Danny & The Juniors (2003)
  • The Dells (2004)
  • The Del Vikings (2005)
  • Deep River Boys (2006)
  • The Diamonds (2004)
  • Dion & The Belmonts (2000)
  • Dixie Hummingbirds (2000)
  • The Dominoes (2006)
  • The Doobie Brothers (2004)
  • The Drifters (1998)
  • The Duprees (2006)
E-F

  • Eagles (2001)
  • Earth Wind & Fire (2003)
  • The Everly Brothers (2004)
  • 5th Dimension (2002)
  • The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi (1998)
  • The Five Keys (2002)
  • The Five Red Caps (2007)
  • The Five Satins (2003)
  • The Flamingos (2000)
  • Fleetwood Mac (2005)
  • The Fleetwoods (2006)
  • The Four Aces (2001)
  • The Four Freshmen (2001)
  • The Four Knights (2002)
  • The Four Lads (2003)
  • The Four Preps (2007)
  • The Four Seasons (1999)
  • The Four Tops (1999)
  • The Four Tunes (2004)
G-H-I

  • The Golden Gate Quartet (1998)
  • Haydn Quartet (2006)
  • The Harptones (2002)
  • The Hi-Lo’s (2006)
  • The Hilltoppers (2005)
  • The Hoboken Four (2007)
  • The Hollies (2006)
  • The Impressions (2003)
  • Ink Spots (1999)
  • The Isley Brothers (2003)
J-K

L

M

N-O

  • The Neville Brothers (2005)
  • The Oak Ridge Boys (2001)
  • The O’Jays (2004)
  • The Orioles (1998)
  • Tony Orlando and Dawn (2007)
P-Q

R

S

  • The Shangri-las (2006)
  • The Shirelles (2002)
  • Simon & Garfunkel (2006)
  • The Skylarks (2000)
  • The Skyliners (2002)
  • Sly & the Family Stone (2007)
  • Sons of the Pioneers (2005)
  • The Soul Stirrers (2000)
  • The Spaniels (2005)
  • The Spinners (1999)
  • The Stylistics (2004)
  • The Supremes (1998)
  • The Swan Silvertones (2002)
T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

  • The Temptations (1999)
  • Three Dog Night (2000)
  • The Tokens (2004)
  • The Traveling Wilburys (2007)
  • The Tymes (2005)
  • The Vogues (2001)
  • The Weavers (2001)
  • The Whispers (2003)
  • Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs/The Gladiolas (2007)

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First posted 11/9/2008; last updated 3/29/2023.
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Saturday, September 15, 2007

On This Day in Music (1857): “Jingle Bells” first performed in public

Jingle Bells

John S. Pierpont (words and music)

Writer(s): John S. Pierpont (see lyrics here)

Published: 1857

First Performed: September 15, 1857

First Charted: October 26, 1935 (Benny Goodman)

Peak (different versions): 5 PM, 15 GA, 40 HR, 11 AC, 49 CW, 5 UK (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 6.0 world (Bing Crosby)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 655.67 video, -- streaming

Awards (Pierpont):

Click on award for more details.

Awards (Crosby):

About the Song:

“Jingle Bells” isn’t just a holiday favorite, but “one of the most recognizable songs in the English language.” VU “The repetition and tempo make it appealing to kids, it’s easy to remember…it’s easy to parody.” VU It was the first song to be broadcast from space on December 16, 1965, when Gemini 6 astronauts Wally Schirra Jr. and Thomas P. Stafford playfully teased ground control that they saw a UFO being piloted by somewhere wearing a red suit. They then played “Jingle Bells” on harmonica, backed by miniature sleigh bells. CNN

The now-perennial holiday classic originally had no relation to Christmas (there’s no mention of the holiday in the lyrics), only being associated with the holiday in the 1860s and ‘70s. VU It was written by composer James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857. There is some controversy as to where the song originated, but Professor Kyna Hamill, director of Boston University’s Core Curriculum, says it is most likely he wrote it in the summer of 1857 while living temporarily in a rooming house in downtown Boston. HC

Pierpont was born in Boston in 1822 and ran away from boarding school at age 14 to join the crew of a whaling ship, spending almost ten years at sea. HC He was “a controversial, disreputable figure” UD who left his wife and kids in 1849 to move to California during the Gold Rush. HC After striking out, he returned to a career as a music teacher, church organist, and songwriter RB writing in many genres including “ballads, light opera, and polkas.” RB He left his family again in 1853 to go to Savannah, Georgia, to be the organist at a church where his brother was the pastor. HC When his first wife died in 1856, he left his two children with their grandfather and returned to Savannah where he married the daughter of the mayor HC and had several more children. He fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, writing songs in support of the soldiers fighting to defend slavery. UD He died in 1893 without making any significant money from “Jingle Bells.” UD He was, however, inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

The song was originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh” and was “a slightly racy romance song about an unchaperoned ride.” UD It was written at a time when sleigh songs were all the rage. Hamill wrote an article in 2017 saying that such songs were a synonym for youth much like fast cars are today; sleighs were a place young people could sneak off together in private. RB The song consisted not just of the familiar opening verse and chorus typically sung today, but three more verses about a youthful courtship ritual in which a young couple are in a fast-moving sleigh which overturns and lands them in the snow. RB The “jingle bells” on the horses’ harnesses were used to alter other riders to their presence to avoid collisions. TD

Pierpont wrote it to conform to the conventions of minstrel shows of the time in hopes of having financial success with it. RB A playbill from the Ordway minstrel hall in Boston suggests “One Horse Open Sleigh” was first publicly performed on September 15, 1857 by Johnny Pell in blackface. Minstrel shows were a “racist form of entertainment demeaning to blacks” RB but the lyrics themselves were not racist. RB Historian Christopher Klein asserts that the song was first performed at a Thanksgiving church service. CNN

The first recording of “Jingle Bells” appears to be an instrumental recording made on an Edison wax cylinder in 1889 by a banjo player named Will Lyle. TD That would give it the distinction of being the first Christmas song ever recorded, but all of Lyle’s versions have long been lost. TD There is, however, a surviving recording on wax cylinder in 1898 in which the vocal harmony group the Edison Male Quartett recorded it as part of a Christmas medley titled “Sleigh Ride Party.” TD

There have been chart versions of the song by Benny Goodman (#18 PM, 1935), Glenn Miller (#5 PM, 1941), Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (#19 PM, 1943), Primo Scala (#24 PM, 1949), Les Paul (#10 PM, 1952), PM and Perry Como (#74 BB, 1957). It has also been recorded by Louis Armstrong, the Barenaked Ladies, Count Basie, The Beatles, Andrea Bocelli and the Muppets, Booker T. & the MG’s, Dave Brubeck, Michael Bublé, Jimmy Buffett, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Green, Etta James, Peggy Lee, Brad Paisley, Smokey Robinson, Frank Sinatra, Gwen Stefani, George Strait, Barbra Streisand, and James Taylor.

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First posted 8/29/2023; last updated 12/20/2023.

 
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Wednesday, February 1, 1995

50 years ago: The Andrews Sisters “Rum and Coca Cola” hit #1

Rum and Coca Cola

The Andrews Sisters

Writer(s): Rupert Westmore Grant, Morey Amsterdam, Jeri Sullivan, Paul Baron (words), Lionel Belasco (music) (see lyrics here)

Released: December 1944

First Charted: January 6, 1945

Peak: 110 US, 18 BS, 110 JB, 2 GA, 110 SM, 4 HP, 3 RB, 18 AU (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 8.7 video, 13.65 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

In 1906, Lionel Belasco – a calypso singer from Trinidad – composed a slong called “L’Année Passée,” which was based on a folk song from nearby Martinque. SF During World War II, local calypso musician Rupert Westmore Grant (under the stage name Lord Invader) wrote lyrics for it about American servicemen drinking rum and Coca Cola and trying to convince local women to prostitute themselves. It was a big hit in Trinidad in 1943. SF

While on vacation in Trinidad that year, Morey Amsterdam, who later starred on The Dick Van Dyke Show, heard the song. He assumed it was a folk song in the public domain and tapped Jeri Sullivan and Paul Baron to “clean up and sanitize some of the more unsavory lyrics” SM for American audiences. Sullivan then introduced the song at a New York City nightclub. TY2

In 1944, the Andrews Sisters recorded “Rum and Coca Cola” in “hammy Trinidadian accents” SF with Vic Schoen’s orchestra. It was considered “the first American Calypso hit.” SF The Minneapolis-based trio, comprised of Patty, Maxene, and Laverne, were “the most popular female vocal group of the entire pre-1955 era.” PM They charted 123 times, including 23 with Bing Crosby, from 1938 to 1951. They went all the way to #1 seven different times.

Their biggest hit was “Rum and Coca Cola.” Abe Lyman and Vaughn Monroe each charted with the song in 1945 as well. Both peaked at #8. PM Variety magazine ranked it the #5 song of the year. TY2 In the United States, it was the biggest-selling song of the year and the third biggest of the decade. SF It was banned in the UK, not because of references to alcohol or prostitution, but Coca Cola. That was considered free advertising and not allowed.

Belasco and Grant sued for copyright infringement. Both won. Grant was awarded $150,000 in compensation although Amsterdam was able to retain copyright on the song. SF Amsterdam claimed he’d never heard the original although the music and chorus were virtually identical and the lyrics were similar. WK

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First posted 8/12/2023.

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Friday, December 16, 1994

50 years ago: Bing Crosby “Don’t Fence Me In” hit #1

Don’t Fence Me In

Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters

Writer(s): Cole Porter, Robert Fletcher (see lyrics here)

First Charted: November 25, 1944

Peak: 18 US, 14 GA, 18 HP, 9 RB, 112 AU (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

This song about “a footloose and fancy-free kind of person who refuses to settle down” TY1 was considered uncharacteristic for songwriter Cole Porter. Not only does it lack the “sophistication of most of his lyrics” TY1 but it does not “seem especially clever or debonair.” TY1 Porter even called it his least favorite of his compositions. WK

Then again, the song wasn’t entirely his. Robert Fletcher, a Montana engineer with the Department of Highways, wrote a poem, which would seem to be “Open Range” from his 1934 book Coral Dust, and Porter bought the rights for $250. WK Porter used some of the phrases to fashion “Don’t Fence Me In”. TY1

The song was written in 1934 for the never-released film Adios Argentina. The song resurfaced when Roy Rogers and the Andrews Sisters performed it in the film Hollywood Canteen. TY1 Rogers performed the song again in the 1945 film Don’t Fence Me In and it was also featured in 1946’s Night and Day, a tribute to Cole Porter’s life and his music. TY1 Kate Smith introduced the song to many new listeners on her October 8, 1944, radio broadcast. WK

Meanwhile, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded a version of the song in a mere thirty minutes on July 25, 1944. WK They released the song as a single. All told, the pairing made for 23 chart appearances, hitting #2 on five occasions. This was the bigger of their two songs which hit #1. The other, “A Hot Time in the Town of Berlin”, had charted only a couple of months earlier and topped the charts for six weeks. PM “Fence” and 1943’s “Pistol Packin’ Mama” were also million sellers. PM

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First posted 11/25/2011; last updated 3/31/2023.

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