PART 2 1956-1963 (part 1 below)
Lonnie Donegan was one
of the first rock-oriented acts to score Stateside; he and fellow newcomer
Elvis Presley were simultaneously in the Top 10 in 1956. British vocalists also
only managed one Top 10 single in both 1957 and 1958. Interestingly, the former,
‘Rainbow’, which made a pot of gold for the first transatlantically successful
Liverpool singer/songwriter Russ Hamilton, was the overlooked b-side of his
No.2 hit ‘We Will Make Love’ in his homeland. The
In 1961 three British
vocal singles reached the US Top 20, two of which (Hayley Mills and Lonnie
Donegan) could be categorised as novelties. The following year, two of
Statistically speaking,
in the first nine years of rock music (1955-1963) of the 1187 singles that
reached the US Top 20 only 1.25% originated in
Anyone under 45 will
find it hard to imagine a time when British singles had little or no chance of
charting in the
Among the British
records that fell by the wayside in
US TOP 20 ENTRIES 56-63
07/04/56
8 ROCK
12/08/57
7 RAINBOW-Russ Hamilton
31/03/58
2 HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD (IN HIS HANDS)-Laurie London
HOT 100
(launched August 1958)
12/01/59 10
02/02/59 13 THE CHILDREN'S MARCHING SONG
(NICK NACK PADDY WACK)-Cyril Stapleton
16/02/59
5 PETITE FLEUR (LITTLE FLOWER)-Chris Barber Jazz Band
31/07/61 18 MY KIND OF GIRL-Matt
Monro
28/08/61
5 DOES YOUR CHEWING GUM LOSE ITS FLAVOR (ON THE BEDPOST OVER
NIGHT)-Lonnie Donegan
02/10/61
8 LET'S GET TOGETHER-Hayley Mills
24/02/62
2 MIDNIGHT IN
14/04/62
1 STRANGER ON THE SHORE-Acker Bilk
22/09/62 20 SILVER THREADS AND GOLDEN
NEEDLES-Springfields
29/09/62
5 I REMEMBER YOU-Frank Ifield
24/11/62
1 TELSTAR-Tornados
30/11/63
3 YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A BABY TO CRY-Caravelles
PART 1
In the Victorian days, British entertainers were
held in high esteem Stateside, in fact many Americans considered that
performers from “The Old Country” had more “class” than their own home-grown
talent. Even then, it was not unusual for British singers, tempted by the big
money, to take the long voyage across the
In the 1890s, the first decade of recorded music,
no artist outsold
However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Brit hits
in the first half of the century. Between the wars sophisticated British
orchestras like those of Ray Noble, Ambrose, Henry Hall, and the up-and-coming
Mantovani, had successful singles.
The first official US Best Selling Singles chart
was launched in July 1940, but it was not until London born, L.A. resident Ray
Noble clicked with a couple of Top 10 entries in 1947 that any British act made
a mark – and then they both featured US vocalist Buddy Clark. 1948 was a good
year for UK acts with Top 20 entries by Gracie Fields, Primo Scala, Vera Lynn
and Dick James (yes – The Beatles and Elton John’s music publisher). However,
before you get the impression that this was an early “British Invasion”, it
should be pointed out that in 1948 a US musicians union strike meant that no
recordings could be made in the
Just months before the NME launched the first
All the British entries in the US Top 20 between
the launch of the UK chart (Nov 14 1952) to the first Beatles chart entry (Jan
18, 1964) are included in the list below, which shows that, apart from Dame
Vera and Hull’s big voiced David Whitfield (assisted by Mantovani), the only
other big UK hits in America in the pre rock’n’roll years were from
instrumental acts: Frank Chacksfield; Eddie Calvert and Frank Weir - the latter
with a record that failed to chart in his homeland. That would change, albeit
not completely, when rock’n’roll first arrived.
Eddie Calvert recieves his gold disc for 'Oh, Mein Papa'
Date
Peak Title Act
15/02/47
2 LINDA-Ray Noble & His Orchestra With Buddy
06/12/47
3 I'LL DANCE AT YOUR WEDDING-Ray Noble & His Orchestra With Buddy
Clark
31/01/48
4 NOW IS THE HOUR-Gracie Fields
22/05/48 14 YOU CAN'T BE TRUE DEAR-Vera
Lynn
03/07/48 19 YOU CAN'T BE TRUE DEAR-Dick
James
14/08/48
6 UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES-Primo Scala
28/01/50 16 WEDDING SAMBA-Edmundo Ros
01/12/51 10 CHARMAINE-Mantovani And His
Orchestra
21/06/52
1 AUF WIEDERSEH'N SWEETHEART-Vera Lynn
25/10/52
9 YOURS-Vera Lynn
23/05/53 13 THE MOULIN ROUGE THEME (WHERE
IS YOUR HEART)-Mantovani And His Orchestra
30/05/53
6 (TERRY'S THEME FROM) "LIMELIGHT"-Frank Chacksfield And His
Orchestra
05/09/53
2 EBB TIDE-Frank Chacksfield And His Orchestra
05/12/53
9 OH, MEIN PAPA-Eddie Calvert
01/05/54
4 THE HAPPY WANDERER-Frank Weir With His Saxophone, Chorus And Orchestra
18/09/54 10 CARA MIA-David Whitfield With
Mantovani His Orchestra & Chorus