Artists Whose First Hit Was Their Biggest--Part 29

Enjoy these 10 more artists who sprinted out of the gate to land a big first hit, the best they would ever record:

Music Explosion

"Little Bit O' Soul"

We've heard from Ohio before in our feature and here's another group.  The Music Explosion enjoyed one of the biggest hits of 1967, this Gold record that went to #2 for two weeks.  But the group would not hit the Top 40 again.

Alannah Myles

"Black Velvet"

The phenomenon of scoring your biggest career hit with your first one knows no boundaries.  Here's Canada's Allannah Myles, who enjoyed this monster #1 hit in 1990.  Her follow-up stalled at #36 and she never charted after that.

Natural Selection

"Do Anything"

This group introduced themselves to us with this #2 smash from 1991.  They hit #28 the next year but were never heard from again.

Nazareth

"Love Hurts"

Here's a Scottish group who first hit with the Roy Orbison song "Love Hurts" in 1976, which peaked at #8.  But their next-best effort was only #87.

Nelson

"(Can't Live Without Your) Love And Affection"

The identical twin sons of the great Ricky Nelson, Gunnar and Matthew, formed this group and rose to #1 in 1990 with this song.  They were able to get as high as #6 with "After The Rain", but were never able to match their first big hit.

Sandy Nelson

"Teen Beat"

This drummer from Santa Monica, California became a prominent studio musician, playing on "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by the Teddy Bears, "Alley Oop" by the Hollywood Argyles and "A Thousand Stars" by Kathy Young, to name a few.  In 1959, Sandy scored a great instrumental that reached #4.  He came close to that with the #7 hit "Let There Be Drums" and enjoyed a total of nine career hits.

Nena

"99 Luftballons"

Here's one of the mysteries that make up One-Hit Wonders.  In 1984, with bombs pointed at them from all directions, this German act made a plea for peace with this incredible song that sold over one million copies and reached #2.  With all of the talent displayed within the song, most people expected to hear more from them.  But Nena never charted again.

Robbie Nevil

"C'est La Vie"

This L.A. singer-songwriter rose to #2 in 1986 with this song.  He scored six other hits, including the #10 "Wot's It To Ya" and the #14 "Dominoes", but was unable to match the strength of his first big hit.

Newbeats

"Bread And Butter'

This trio enjoyed this #2 smash in 1964.  Although they got as high as #12 with six other hits, nothing could compare to their first.  Lead singer Larry Henley went on to co-write "Wind Beneath My Wings" for Bette Midler.

Randy Newman

"Short People"

This talented songwriter scored a big hit in 1978 with his satire of the problems faced by short people, which reached #2 for three weeks.  Glenn Frey and Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles and J.D. Souther sang backing vocals on the song.  Newman may have never been able to come close to that, but he has gone on to win three Grammy Awards (among 16 nominations for his soundtrack work in the movies Monsters, Inc., Seabiscuit, The Natural, Cars, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2 and many others), two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.