This is one of our favorite music specials because it features many songs you may love but haven't heard in a while. That's where we come in!
We go back 54 years for this next One-Hit Wonder:
#260: Free Movement--"I've Found Someone of My Own"
The Free Movement formed in 1970 in Los Angeles with Godoy Colbert, Josephine Brown, Cheryl Conley, Jennifer Gates, Adrian Jefferson and Claude Jefferson.
The group released the single "I've Found Someone Of My Own" on Decca Records in 1971, which reached #5. They signed with Columbia the following year for an album but could only reach #50 with "The Harder I Try (The Bluer I Get)".
#259: Los Lobos--"La Bamba"
Vocalist/guitarist David Hidalgo and drummer Louie Perez met at Garfield High School in Los Angeles and began writing songs. They borrowed reel-to-reel recorders from a friend and created multi-track recordings of music spanning from parodies to jazz. The two later invited fellow students Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano to join the group in 1973.
The band originally was known as Los Lobos del Este (de Los Angeles) but soon shortened it to Los Lobos. began playing traditional Mexican music, which attracted fans. They performed at hundreds of weddings and dances between 1974 and 1980. But soon, they added rock songs to their repertoire.
Los Lobos opened for Public Image Ltd. in 1980 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and in 1983, the group released the EP ...And a Time to Dance. The group also captured a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Performance with the song "Anselma". Proceeds from the sale allowed Los Lobos to purchase a van and tour the entire United States.
In 1984, the group recorded its debut album How Will the Wolf Surivive? They also recorded the song "One Time, One Night" for the movie Colors. In 1987, Los Lobos released the album By the Light of the Moon and recorded Ritchie Valens covers for the "La Bamba" Soundtrack. The title song was released as a single and hit #1.
In 1988, the band released the album La Pistola y El Corazon, with original and traditional Mexican songs, which won them a second Grammy for Best Mexican-American Performance. By this time, Los Lobos was touring throughout the world, openings for such acts as U2, Bob Dylan and the Greateful Dead.
In 1995, Los Lobos released the album Papa's Dream on Music. They also scored music for the movie Desperado. One song from the movie, "Mariachi Suite", won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
In 1996, the group released the album Colossal Head but was dropped from Warner Brothers Records. Los Lobos released 15 albums and 17 singles in their career but could never match the success of "La Bamba".
Tony Burrows has had a hand in several artists in the Rock Era and this one makes our list:
#258: White Plains--"My Baby Loves Lovin''
This British group evolved from the group the Flower Pot Men with Tony Burrows on lead vocals and Pete Nelson, Robin Shaw and Neil Landon. They had recorded a single on Deram Records but when that didn't chart the group changed their name to White Plains.
The band recorded "My Baby Loves Lovin'" and released the single in 1970. It reached #4 in Canada and #13 in the United States. White Plains reached #13 in the U.K. with "When You Are A King" and #35 in Canada with "Lovin' You Baby" but neither approached the overall success of "My Baby Loves Lovin'".
The second time around was good for this next act:
#257: BB Mak--"Back Here"
Mark Barry (vocals), Christian Burns (acoustic guitar and vocals) and electric guitarist Stephen McNally formed BB Mak. In 1999, they released "Back Here" with little fanfare. But after their debut album Sooner or Later was released in 2000, the single was re-released with much better results. This time, it hit #5 in the U.K. and #13 in the United States.
BB Mak's next single "Still On Your Side" reached #8 in the U.K. but only #54 in the United States. Nevertheless, the group sold out concerts and performed live in Times Square on New Year's Eve. The group's third single "Ghost of You and Me" was a Top 10 hit on the segmented Adult Contemporary chart.
After that, the best BB Mak could do was #56 with "Out of My Heart (Into Your Head)" and they broke up in 2003.
Here's one of several artists who used a stint in Linda Ronstadt's backing band as a stepping stone towards success:
#256: Karla Bonoff--"Personally"
Karla Bonoff's main strength is her songwriting. Her compositions have been recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt (most notably the great "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me"), Bonnie Raitt, Wynonna Judd and Lynn Anderson.
Bonoff began her career singing background vocals for Ronstadt before releasing her self-titled debut album in 1977. In 1982, her album Wild Heart of the Young contained the one song she was successful with as a recording artist. "Personally" reached #19 in the United States, but was a smash (#3) on the Adult Contemporary chart.
On the strength of "Personally", Bonoff was able to land a song on the monumental "Footloose" Soundtrack. She released four albums and three other singles, but nothing approached the success of her one hit.
This artist wasn't chosen to sing lead for Blue Oyster Cult, but she went on to score a big hit of her own:
#255: Patti Smith Group--"Because The Night"
Smith grew up in Chicago before her family moved to New Jersey. She graduated from Deptford Township High School in 1964 and began working at a local factory.
In 1967, Smith left Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) and moved to New York City. In 1969, she began busking and doing performance art in Paris, France. After returning to the Big Apple, Smith appeared in the play Femme Fatale. As a member of the St. Mark's Poetry Project, she spent the early part of the 70's painting, writing and performing. In 1971, she gave a one-night only performance of Cowboy Mouth, a play she co-wrote with Sam Shepard. She also wrote several poems about her relationship with Shepard.
Smith was considered for the lead singer position in Blue Oyster Cult and contributed the lyrics to several of the group's songs including "Debbie Denise", "Baby Ice Dog", "Fire of Unknown Origin" and "Shooting Shark". Smith also contributed articles in Rolling Stone and Cream magazines.
By 1974, Smith was performing, initially with guitarist Lenny Kaye and later with a full band that included Kaye, Ivan Kral on guitar and bass, drummer Jay Dee Daugherty and Richard Sohl on piano. The band recorded the single "Hey Joe" in 1974.
The Patti Smith Group signed a recording contract with Arista Records and recorded their debut album Horses in 1975. The group toured the United States and Europe before recording the album Radio Ethiopia. While touring in support of the album in 1977, Smith accidentally danced off a high stage in Tampa, Florida, and fell 15 feet into a concrete pit, breaking several neck vertebrae.
After intensive physical therapy, she resumed her work, recording the album Easter in 1978. The single "Because the Night", co-written with Bruce Springsteen, reached #13. The follow-up album, Wave, was less successful.
For much of the 1980's, Smith was in semi-retirement from music, concentrating on her family with Fred "Sonic Smith, former guitar player for MC5. In 1988, Smith released the album Dream of Life but in 1994, Fred Smith died of a heart attack. Friends urged her to go back on the road, and she toured briefly with Bob Dylan in 1995.
In 2005, Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. In 2007, she became one of the hundreds to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Smith has released 11 albums and 23 singles in her career with just one song that was a worldwide success.
This hard-working songwriter/producer landed one of the biggest disco hits in the mid-70's:
#254: Van McCoy--"The Hustle"
McCoy learned to play piano at an early age and sang with the Metropolitan Baptist Church choir as a teenager. He began writing songs at the age of 12. Van and his older brother Norman Jr. formed a duo called the Starlighters with two high school friends.
The group went on tour and recorded three singles for End Records in 1959. McCoy also sang with a group called the Marylanders. In 1961, McCoy met Kendra Spotswood, and the two sang and recorded music for the next five years.
McCoy studied psychology at Howard University but dropped out after two years to form his own recording company, Rockin' Records. He released his first solo single "Hey Mr. DJ" in 1959. Florence Greenberg, owner of Scepter Records, was impressed and hired McCoy as a staff writer.
Immediately, McCoy began achieving success, writing songs for artists such as the Shirelles, managing the labels Vando and Share and co-owning the Maxx label in the mid-1960s, recording artists such as Gladys Knight & the Pips and the Ad Libs.
McCoy's career was in full swing when he worked for producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and then signed with the April-Blackwood publishing company connected with Columbia Records. McCoy wrote for Knight & the Pips, Jackie Wilson, Ruby and the Romantics, Barbara Lewis and Betty Everett. McCoy also was responsible for discovering Peaches & Herb, arranging and co-producing their first hit.
In 1966, McCoy recorded the solo album Night-time Is a Lonely Time. McCoy wrote or produced for the Presidents, Faith, Hope & Charity and David Ruffin ("Walk Away from Love" and arranged several hits for the Stylistics.
But McCoy didn't give up on a solo career. He appeared on the television shows The Tonight Show, The Mike Douglas Show and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert. In 1975, Van released the mostly instrumental album Disco Baby. Unexpectedly, the single "The Hustle" written about the dance of the same name rose to #1 in the United States, was #3 in the U.K. and won a Grammy Award.
But future efforts gave him 12 albums and 18 singles, but no praise from the public. Nevertheless, McCoy's "The Hustle" is still played over 30 years since his death of a heart attack at age 39 in 1979. He has over 700 songs to his credit.
This duo's great sound propels them into the top 300:
#253: Proclaimers--"I'm Gonna' Be (500 Miles)"
Brothers Craig and Charlie Reid grew up in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty, Scotland. They graduated from Bell Baxter High School, and after several punk rock bands, the two formed the Proclaimers in 1983.
They developed a following in Scotland, and a fan sent a demo of their music to the group to the group the Housemartins, which led to the Proclaimers opening on a 1986 tour of the U.K. This exposure helped the duo hit #3 in the U.K. with "Letter from America", although it didn't break anywhere else.
But a single from the Proclaimers' second album, Sunshine on Leith, became a huge worldwide hit. "I'm Gonna' Be (500 Miles)" reached #3 in the United States, #7 in Ireland and #11 in the U.K.
The group has released nine albums and 15 singles and remarkably, have never achieved further success.
A song in 1994 gave this artist her universal hit:
#252: Des'ree--"You Gotta' Be"
Des'ree was introduced to reggae, calypso and jazz by her parents, and she began pursuing a career at age 13. Her first single "Feel So High" was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and other European countries.
But it was "You Gotta' Be" in 1994 that spread across the globe. It was a #5 song in the United States and was a hit in the U.K. three separate times. Her album I Ain't Movin' sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide as a result and helped Des'ree open for Seal on his American tour in 1995.
Her single "Life" in 1998 was a big hit in Europe, and won her the BRIT Award for British Female Solo Artist, but the song was not successful elsewhere.
"You Gotta' Be" remains far and away her best overall work, winning her a World Music Award and now racking up five million airplays in the United States alone.
This act achieved one of the great soul songs of all-time but were never able to score a follow-up:
#251: Floaters--"Float On"
James Mitchell, who had previously been successful with the Detroit Emeralds, formed this group with brother Paul, Larry Cunningham, Charles Clark and Ralph Mitchell.
James Mitchell wrote "Float On", whose lyrics spotlighted each member of the group, who introduced themselves with their name, astrological sign and ideal romantic partner. "Float On" was released on ABC Records in 1977 and reached #1 in the U.K. and #2 in the United States and sold over one million copies.
Future efforts disappointed, with "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" their next-best song, which reached #28 on the segmented R&B chart.
We have now hit the halfway point, but the good thing about 500 artists is that there are another 250 to go. Join us tomorrow for the next installment of the special on Inside The Rock Era.
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