Gene Vincent recorded "Be-Bop-A Lula" at Owen Bradley’s
studio in Nashville, TN. The song was released in June 1956
and immediately sold well. It was successful on three singles
charts: it peaked at No. 7 on the US Billboard pop music chart,
No. 8 on the R&B chart, and also made the top ten on the C&W
Best Seller chart peaking at No. 5.
 

The instrumental track for this song was recorded first at Gold Star Studios
and took 21 takes. The vocals were recorded next over two sessions at
Columbia with the first session taking place on March 10, which also saw
vocal work on "I’m Waiting for the Day", "God Only Knows" and "I Just
Wasn’t Made for These Times". The final session was around a month
later on April 11.

The released single entered the Billboard chart on July 30 and remained
there for 11 weeks, peaking at number 8 in September 1966. It also peaked
at number 7 on the Cashbox chart and #5 in Record World.

.

"Crimson and Clover" entered the U.S. charts on December 14, where
it stayed for 16 weeks on Billboard Hot 100 and 15 weeks on Cash Box
Top 100. Following a performance of the song on The Ed Sullivan Show
on January 26, it became number one on February 1, 1969, a position
held for one week on Cash Box Top 100 and two weeks on both Billboard
Hot 100.

The single has sold 5 million copies, making it Tommy James and the
Shondells’ best selling song. In 2006, Pitchfork Media named it the 57th
best song of the 1960s.

Tommy James and the Shondells on the Ed Sullivan
Show in 1969.

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Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson) turned 69 in April.

The song Moonlight Serenade was a Top Ten hit on the U.S. pop charts 
in 1939, reaching number three on the Billboard charts, where it stayed 
for fifteen weeks. In 1991,it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

After leaping from #100 to #50 last week, Mark Dinning’s "Teen Angel" entered
the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop chart. The teenage tragedy song will reach the
top less than five weeks later, despite being banned by some radio stations in
the United States.