The Top 500 One-Hit Wonders of the Rock Era Revisited: #210-201

As we zero in on The Top 200*, enjoy these 10 One-Hit Wonders*!

Two talented session musicians teamed up to form this group:

#210:  Tarney Spencer Band--"No Time To Lose" 

Alan Tarney and Trevor Spencer met while playing in two Australian groups: Johnny Broome and the Handels and the Vectormen. In 1969, both emigrated to the U.K along with Kevin peek and Terry Britten. The four formed the band Quartet and released two singles on Decca Records.

In 1973, Tarney and Spencer backed Cliff Richard in the Eurovision Song Contest and became session musicians for artists such as Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Bonnie Tyler, the New Seekers, John Farrar and Hank Marvin.  Spencer joined the Shadows from 1973-1977, while Tarney appeared on albums by Cliff Richard and the Shadows from 1970-1979.

Tarney and Spencer formed a duo in 1975 and released their debut album in 1975.  Their first single "I'm Your Man Rock And Roll" was a minor U.K. hit and Tarney and Spencer appeared on the television show Top of the Pops.  

In 1978, the Tarney/Spencer Band signed a recording contract with A&M Records.  The single "Takin' Me Back" was Top 10 in South Africa.  Then the duo released Three's a Crowd and the album received airplay from AOR stations in the United States, while the single "It's Really You" reached #86.

But it was in 1979 that the Tarney/Spencer Band recorded their top song, "No Time To Lose".  It was featured on the album Run For Your Life and reached #84.  I can tell you firsthand because I was there at the time--A&M didn't promote them properly as they had other "priorities".  A&M cut their 10-album contract short and released them, and shortly after this time, the duo broke up.

Two years later, MTV (which used to stand for Music Television for all you young people!) began, and "No Time To Lose" began to get played.  This led A&M to reissue the song and it fared slightly better, hitting #74 in 1981.

Tarney began producing and was largely responsible for Cliff Richard's resurgence in the United States with "We Don't Talk Anymore" and he also produced A-Ha for three albums, as well as Leo Sayer, Squeeze, the Dream Academy and Charlie Dore.

This group from Great Britain landed a #1 song in 1974:

#209:  Paper Lace--"The Night Chicago Died"  

This group first formed in 1967 as Music Box, but changed to Paper Lace, choosing their name from lace products created from a special grade of high quality paper manufactured in their hometown of Nottingham, England.  The band originally consisted of Dave Manders (guitar and lead vocals), Philip Wright (drums and lead vocals), Mike Harper (lead vocals), Mick Baughan on lead and rhythm guitar, lead guitarist Roy White and bassist Cliff Fish.  The group played small clubs, but their career didn't take off until a win on the television show Opportunity Knocks.

The win drew the attention of songwriters/producers Mitch Murray and Peter Callender, who signed Paper Lace to a contract.  "Billy Don't Be A Hero" was #1 in the U.K., but Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods had the hit in the United States with that song, relegating Paper Lace to #96.  

The follow-up in 1974, however, was a worldwide smash.  From the instant the single "The Night Chicago Died" was released, it shot up to #1 and sold over three million copies.

Paper Lace released two albums but quickly faded from the public mind as they could not produce another popular song.

This artist got his big break when his song about the 1981 Brixton riots caught on:

#208:  Eddy Grant--"Electric Avenue" 

Born in Guyana, Eddy Grant and his parents emigrated to London, U.K. when he was young.  Eddy went to the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park.  He was the lead guitarist and songwriter for the Equals when they recorded the #1 U.K. hit "Baby, Come Back".

Grant reached #1 in the U.K. with "I Don't Wanna' Dance", but the song was ignored in most countries.  It was "Electric Avenue" that hit #2 in both the U.K. and the U.S. and sold over one million copies.  "Electric Avenue" was #2 in the United States for five weeks in 1983.

Grant had a minor hit with the title song from the movie Romancing the Stone, which reached #26.  "Gimme Hope Jo'anna" was a #7 song in the U.K. and a few other European countries but again Grant could not command a worldwide audience. 

Grant has released 14 albums and 14 singles in his career.  

Eddy set up his own recording company, Ice Records and has produced Sting, Mick Jagger and Elvis Costello.

An artist with an amazing voice graces our special next:

#207:  Eddie Holman--"Hey There Lonely Girl" 

Holman learned the piano and guitar at an early age. At first, he mostly only sang at church. But in 1956, at the age of ten, Eddie appeared on Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York and "wowed" the audience with his great voice. 

Soon, Holman performed at theaters on Broadway and Carnegie Hall.  He learned the technical aspects of music at the Victoria School of Music in Harlem before Holman and his family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  After graduating from high school, Eddie graduated from Cheyney State University with a degree in music.  

Holman recorded his first song "This Can't Be True" in 1965.  He sang with the groups the Delfonics and the Stylistics before releasing "Hey There Lonely Girl" in 1970.  The song reached #2 in the United States and #4 in the U.K. and sold over one million copies.

Eddy became an ordained Baptist minister and uses his singing to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ.  Holman started his own record label, Agape Records, and the Schoochiebug Music Publishing company. 

This group generated one of the surprise #1 songs of the time, then more surprisingly, didn't have a follow-up:

#206:  Dexy's Midnight Runners--"Come On Eileen"   

Kevin Rowland (vocals and guitar), who at the time was going by the pseudonym Carlo Rolan, and Kevin Archer (vocals and guitar) founded Dexy's Midnight Runners in Birmingham, England in 1978.  That pair was joined by Jim Paterson (trombone), Geoff Blythe (saxophone), Steve Spooner (alto sax), keyboardist Pete Saunders, bassist Pete Williams and Bobby Ward on drums.

Dexy's Midnight Runners recorded the single "Dance Stance" in 1979.  The song reached the Top 40 in their native U.K., and the follow-up single, "Geno" hit #1 in Britain.  The latter featured new members Andy Leek on keyboards and Andy Growcott on drums.  Neither single was able to enjoy worldwide success, however.

The group released their debut album, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, in 1980.  Shortly afterwards, most of the members quit the band, upset with personality problems with Rowland, including his imposed press embargo on the group.  Patterson stayed with Rowland and the group added Billy Adams (guitar and banjo), Seb Shelton on drums, keyboardist Micky Billingham, Brian Maurice on alto sax, Paul Speare on tenor saxophone and bassist Steve Wynne.

The group released the single "Show Me" in 1981, which reached #16 in the U.K.  Rowland soon took the group in another direction.  He recruited fiddle players Helen O'Hara, Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff and bassist Giorgio Kilkenny.

With this lineup, Dexy's Midnight Runners recorded the album Too-Rye-Ay in 1982 with the band dressed in dungarees, scarves and leather waistcoats.  The first single from the album, The Celtic Soul Brothers, reached #45, but the follow-up, "Come On Eileen", hit #1 in the U.K. and finally gave the group a hit in the United States, where it topped the charts and became the #1-selling single of the year.

The group released "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)", their remake of the Van Morrison tune, that hit #5 in the U.K., but their worldwide success was gone.  The brass section (Paterson, Speare and Maurice) left to form the TKO Horns, which recorded with Howard Jones and Elvis Costello.  Billingham left the group to join General Public.

Dexy's Midnight Runners continued to tour until 1983.  Then, after a two-year break, the group returned with the album Don't Stand Me Down.  But the magic was gone and soon the band broke up.   

Curtis Mayfield helped this group get off the ground:

#205:  the Five Stairsteps--"O-o-h Child"                     

This group from Chicago, Illinois was called the "First Family of Soul".  They were a teenage five-member brothers and sister group consisting of lead singer Clarence Jr., Alohe, James, Dennis and Kenneth.  The older members of the quintet attended Harlan High School.  

The father, Clarence Sr., played bass guitar, co-wrote songs and managed the Five Stairsteps, so named because they resembled steps when they were lined up by age.  After winning a talent contest at the Regal Theater, the group received several recording offers.  The group signed with Curtis Mayfield's Windy City label and their first single "You Waited Too Long" was a minor R&B hit.

 Buddah Records picked up national distribution for the group's second album Family Portrait.  In 1970, the Five Stairsteps released "O-o-h Child", which hit #8 and sold over one million copies.  The group had a few other minor hit songs and found some success on the R&B chart, but they had set a standard with "O-o-h Child" that couldn't be matched. 

After the group broke up, Keni recorded as a solo artist on George Harrison's Dark Horse Records and his bass playing can be heard on everyone from the Four Tops to Diana Ross, Sly & the Family Stone, Dusty Springfield, Natalie Cole, Billy Preston, Gladys Knight, Bill Withers and the Emotions.

We feature a pair of brothers next:

#204:  Santo & Johnny--"Sleep Walk" 

Brothers Santo & Johnny Farina hail from Brooklyn, New York.  The pair began taking steel guitar lessons.  When Santo was a teenager, he had a local music store modify an acoustic guitar so he could play it like a steel guitar.

When he was a teenager, Santo performed in amateur shows and was writing songs.  He formed an instrumental trio with a guitarist and drummer.  The group performed at local dances and parties.  When Johnny was 12, he began playing with Santo.  The brothers soon formed a duo and recorded a demo they sent to local New York City record companies.

In 1958, Mike Dee & the Mello Tones (Santo, Johnny and their uncle Mike Dee on drums) recorded an instrumental called "Deep Sleep". 

A music publishing company contacted the brothers and signed them to a songwriter's contract.  Santo & Johnny then signed a recording contract with Canadian-American Records.  "Deep Sleep" became "Sleep Walk", which Santo & Johnny turned into one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era*, a #1 song for two weeks in 1959 that sold over one million copies.

After touring Europe, Mexico and Australia, Santo & Johnny signed an Italian recording contract.  The duo had some European hits, including the theme to the movie The Godfather, which went to #1 in Italy.  But Santo & Johnny could never manage another worldwide hit after "Sleep Walk".

Johnny is the president of Aniraf Records. Santo & Johnny were inducted into The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2002.

Our next artist gave a great singing performance featured on her big hit:

#203: Dionne Farris--

"I Know"  

Farris sang on three songs with the group Arrested Development before beginning a solo career.  In 1995, the single "I Know" reached #4 and was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.  Her song "Hopeless" was included on the "Love Jones" Soundtrack.

Farris released three albums and six singles in her career.

This artist not only found fame in his adopted country but worldwide with his big hit:

#202:  John Paul Young--"Love Is In The Air"  

Born in Scotland, Young and his family emigrated to Australia in 1962 when John was 11.  After school, Young began an apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker.  John formed his first band in 1967 with schoolmates.

Elm Tree recorded a single (a cover of Marmalade's "Rainbow") on Du Monde Records in 1970.  The following year, the group entered the New South Wales Battle of the Sounds and reached the Sydney finals.  After one Elm Tree performance in Newcastle, producer and manager Simon Napier-Bell signed Young to a solo contract with Albert Productions, the same firm that produced the group the Easybeats.  

Young recorded his first solo single, "Pasadena", co-written by George Young and Harry Vanda of the Easybeats.  The song was released under the name John Young; later releases used John Paul Young.  "Pasadena" reached #16 in Australia.  

Young hired manager Dal Miles, who helped John Paul land a role in the Melbourne production of The Jesus Christ Revolution.  This in turn led to a role in the Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which Young starred in for two years, as the production broke attendance records.

After these roles, Young returned with Albert Productions, and Vanda & Young resumed writing songs for him.  "Yesterday's Hero" gave Young a Top 10 hit in Australia.  From 1974-1987, Young was the guest host on the Australian Broadcasting Company television series Countdown.  It is this exposure credited in making Young a teen pop success in Australia.

Young went on a national tour in 1975 to promote his debut album Hero.  He enjoyed a series of hits in Australia including "Love Game", "I Hate The Music" and "I Wanna' Do It With You".  "I Hate The Music" was also a hit in Sweden and the latter two were hits in South Africa.  But still, worldwide success eluded him.

That success would finally come in 1978, when Young released "Love Is In The Air".  The song was #2 in Norway, South Africa and Sweden, #3 in Austria, Australia and Germany, #5 in Switzerland and the U.K. and #7 in the United States.  

Beyond "Love Is In The Air", Young enjoyed other Top 10 songs in Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa.  He released nine albums and 20 singles in his career.  In 2000, he performed at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.  But he would never again release a song as universally popular.

This next artist with the super voice gave us a standard:

#201:  Julie London--"Cry Me A River"

London and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 14.  She began singing under her birth name of Gayle Peck in her teens.  Shortly afterwards, she began appearing in movies, and graduated from the Hollywood Professional School in 1945.  Julie enjoyed a singing career in the 1950's and an acting career of more than 35 years. 

In 1954, London met Jazz composer and musician Bobby Troup at a club on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles.  London embarked on a singing career in 1955 that spanned 32 albums.  Her first live performance was at the 881 Club and London made her first recordings on Bethlehem Records.

"Cry Me A River" was written by her high school classmate, Arthur Hamilton, and was produced by her husband.  The song reached #9 and sold over a million copies.  Despite this being her only charting single, Billboard Magazine named her the most popular female vocalist of 1955, 1956 and 1957.   

London also starred in over 20 movies and was a pinup girl prized by GI's during World War II.  One of her greatest roles was in Man of the West in 1958 starring Gary Cooper.  London starred in several variety series and dramatic shows on television, including The Big Valley and Adam-12, but her most prominent role was as nurse Dixie McCall in the show Emergency!

London was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Lots of great songs in there.  Join us tomorrow as we move into the Top 200*!