The Top 500 One-Hit Wonders of the Rock Era Revisited: #490-481

We've barely begun in our salute to the great One-Hit Wonders of the Rock Era...

This talented group gave us one of the last of the great surfing instrumentals:

#490:  Pyramids--"Penetration"

Lead guitarist Skip Mercier, rhythm guitarist Willie Glover, bassist Steve Leonard, drummer Ron McMullen and saxophonist Steve Leonard formed this group in Long Beach, California in 1961.  They released "Penetration" in 1964, which peaked at #18; in fact, it was the last major instrumental surfing song.  

In July, the group appeared in the movie Bikini Beach, walking onstage with Beatle wigs, which were then lifted to reveal their shaved heads. 

But that was the last we heard of the Pyramids.  They released just one album and five singles in their career. 

A great Jazz musician checks in next:

  

 489:  Lee Ritenour--"Is It You"

Even though he only hit the Top 20 once, check out the catalog of Jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour.  He played guitar for the Mamas & the Papas when he was just 16.  He's also played for many other artists, including Tony Bennett and Lena Horne.  Lee was also brought in to play on "Run Like Hell" for Pink Floyd.  Eric Tagg sings lead on this #15 hit from 1982.

This talented act was able to score a hit in the 1980's:

#488:  Balance--"Breaking Away"

This group formed in New York City when lead singer Peppy Castro, formerly of Blues Magoos ("We Ain't Got Nothing Yet") joined guitarist Bob Kulick, arranger and keyboardist Doug Katsaros, drummer Chuck Burgi and bassist Dennis Feldman.

In 1981, Balance released their debut album that included "Breaking Away".  The song reached #22 and the band toured in support of the album.  But the follow-up single, "Falling in Love", only reached #58 and the group was unable to chart again.

Castro, Katsaros, Burgi and Feldman reunited briefly when they backed up Michael Bolton on his 1985 album Everybody's Crazy.

This British duo landed a big hit in 1963:

   

#487:  Caravelles--"You Don't Have to Be A Baby To Cry"

This British duo of Lois Wilkinson and Andrea Simpson named themselves after the French airliner.  "You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry" was first recorded by Moon Mullican, then Tennessee Ernie Ford put it on the flip side of the single "Sixteen Tons".  

The Caravelles recorded it in 1963 and it hit #3 in the United States and #6 in the U.K.  But the duo were unable to sustain their success, and Wilkinson left for a solo career.  Simpson kept the group going into the 1990's with a series of replacements.  The Caravelles released a total of 10 singles in their career.  

This artist contained some great musicians that gave us this garage rock favorite:

  
#486:  Crazy Elephant--"Gimme Gimme Good Loving"

Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions formed this studio group in the 1960's. Robert Spencer, former lead singer of the Cadillacs, was featured, while Kevin Godley, future member of 10cc, also handled lead vocals. 

In 1969, Crazy Elephant recorded "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'" with bassist Gary Gaynor, Kenny Cohen (flute, saxophone), who later performed with the Eagles, Rod Stewart, Santana and B.B. King, drummer Bob Avery, keyboardist Larry Laufer and vocalist Hal King.  The single reached #12 in both the United States and the U.K.

But several follow-up singles failed to chart and the project dried up.

The one big song of this artist became a huge hit for the Dave Clark Five:

  
#485:  Chris Kenner--"I Like It Like That"

This artist from Kenner, Louisiana sang gospel music in his church choir, before moving to New Orleans in his teenage years.  He recorded a few songs for Baton Records in 1955 without success.  In 1957, Kenner recorded "Sick and Tired" for Imperial Records, a song Fats Domino later turned into a hit.

When Kenner began working with pianist and arranger Allen Toussaint, his fortunes improved.  Kenner signed with Instant Records and recorded "I Like It Like That", a #2 song in 1961 that sold over one million copies.  The song was famously recorded in 1965 by the Dave Clark Five.  Kenner also recorded "Something You Got", which wasn't a hit for him, but was covered by artists such as Ramsey Lewis, Fairport Convention and Bruce Springsteen. 

In 1962, Kenner recorded "Land Of A Thousand Dances", which Wilson Pickett turned into a big hit.  Kenner continued to record, released an album in 1966.  In 1968, Kenner was convicted of statutory rape of a minor and spent three years in prison.  Eight years later, he died of a heart attack at age 46.

This artist worked behind the scenes on some great albums of the 1960's before enjoying a big solo hit in 1972:

  

#484:  Hurricane Smith--"Oh, Babe What Would You Say"

This artist from Edmonton, England was a RAF glider pilot in World War II.  He began as a jazz musician, but when that didn't turn out, he joined EMI Records as an apprentice sound engineer in 1959.  Smith was the engineer on all of the EMI studio recordings by the Beatles until after the 1965 album Rubber Soul, when he was promoted to producer at EMI.  Smith recorded nearly 100 Beatles songs all told.

In 1967, Smith began working with a new group, Pink Floyd, producing their first four studio albums.  The following year, he produced one of the first rock concept albums, S.F. Sorrow by the Pretty Things. 

Still, Smith yearned to record songs himself.  In 1971, using the pseudonym of Hurricane Smith, he recorded "Don't Let It Die".  He had written the song originally in hopes that John Lennon would record it, but released the song himself as a single.  It reached #2 in the U.K. but the song didn't find a worldwide audience.

In 1972, Smith released "Oh Babe What Would You Say?", and this time, his success spread around the world.  It was #3 in the United States and #4 in the U.K.  Smith released his self-titled debut album, and another single, "Who Was It?" peaked at #23 in the U.K.

Further efforts were not successful, but he did tour for two years with a band and record a second album, Razzmahtazz Shall Inherit The Earth, in 1973.  

This group saw its end when it was ruled that its big hit copied one of their own songs:

  
#483:  Shep and the Limelites--"Daddy's Home"

James "Shep" Sheppard, Clarence Bassett and Charles Baskerville formed Shane Sheppard and the Limelites in Queens, New York in 1960, which quickly became Shep and the Limelites.

The group recorded "Daddy's Home", which Sheppard wrote, in 1961 for Hull Records.  The single hit #2 for the group in May.  Later releases did not approach the level of "Daddy's Home".  

Kahl Music, publisher of "A Thousand Miles Away" (written by Sheppard) sued Keel Music, publisher of "Daddy's Home" for copyright violation.  Keel Music lost the lawsuit, resulting in the end of both the Limelites and Hull Records in 1966.  Basset joined the Flamingos while Baskerville ended up being a member of the Drifters.  Sheppard re-formed the Limelites in the late 1960's but was murdered on January 24, 1970, found dead in his car on the Long Island Expressway. 

"Daddy's Home has been recorded by several artists since, including Cliff Richard and Jermaine Jackson.

This Icelandic group's debut album yielded their one and only big hit:

 

 #482.  Of Monsters and Men--"Little Talks"

From their 2011 album My Head is an Animal, Of Monsters and Men released the single "Little Talks".  Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir of the group says the song describes two loving people talking past each other and implies one is deceased, saying "maybe one person isn't really hearing the other one."  It was a big hit in Ireland (#1), New Zealand (#4) and Germany (#5) and its U.S. placing of #20 was one of the lowest in the world.

The group has released two more albums and scored several successes in both their native Iceland as well as the Rock chart, but none have spread beyond that segmented audience.

You may find yourself dancing to the music of this next artist:

  
#481:  Corona--"Rhythm Of The Night"

Francesco Bontempi and Olga Souza formed this group and Corona released their debut single "The Rhythm Of The Night" in Italy in 1993 on DWA Records.  The song reached #1 there for eight weeks, but success was confined to Italy.  Then, a remixed version of the song caught on in the U.K. in 1994, where it reached #2.  "The Rhythm Of The Night" then spread to Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, where it peaked at #3 in each of those countries. The song also hit #4 in Switzerland, #5 in France and #8 in Australia. 

"The Rhythm Of The Night" finally spread worldwide in 1995, two years after its initial release, as Corona took it to #11 in the United States.  This led to the release of the album of the same name.  "Baby Baby" was a #1 hit in Italy and #5 in the U.K., but only #57 in the U.S.  "Try Me Out" reached #2 in Italy and #6 in the U.K. but this time, no luck at all in other parts of the world.  "I Don't Wanna' Be A Star" (#2) gave Corona four Top 2 songs in Italy, was #22 in the U.K., and again did not chart in the United States.  

Corona released their second album, Walking On Music, in 1998.  The album didn't yield any successful singles and a third release, And Me U met with similar results.  Souza kept the group alive and released songs well into the new millennium, having some success in Italy, Spain and Brazil, her native country.

We've heard just 20 One-Hit Wonders*, and it's amazing how many great songs and talented artists there are who enjoyed just one big song.  Visit us tomorrow for the third installment!