Four-time Grammy Award-winning actress and singer Olivia Newton-John
gained fame in Grease (1978) and released the double platinum album
Physical. She has sold over 100 million records and has released over 10
Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles. She formed an all-girl group, Sol Four,
with three of her classmates during her teens.
The Newbeats: Brothers Dean and Marc Mathis and Larry Henley
(center).
Lawrence Joel "Larry" Henley was born in Arp, TX.
(June 30, 1937 – December 18, 2014)
Larry Henley was the lead singer of the pop group The
Newbeats, formed in the 1964, singing in a distinctive
falsetto. The group had two hits that charted in the top
20 of Billboard magazine, with one of them, "Bread and
Butter", reaching No. 2 on the chart and selling over a
million copies. They toured Australia and New Zealand
with Roy Orbison, Ray Columbus and the Invaders and
the Rolling Stones on the "Big Beat ’65" tour. The group’s
last single was released in 1974. Henley had a solo album,
Piece a Cake, released in 1975.
Henley died of Lewy Body Dementia in Nashville, Tenn.
at age 77. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s and
Alzheimer’s diseases.
1965
Billboard Magazine introduced its "Hot 100" chart, which was part popularity and a barometer of the movement of potential hits. It quickly became the industry standard
and Billboard dropped the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13, 1958. The
first number one song on the “Hot 100” was Ricky Nelson’s "Poor Little Fool."
Ricky Nelson (Eric Hilliard Nelson)
(May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985)
The Drifters first single featuring Charlie Thomas on lead vocal, "Sweets
for My Sweet" reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on the
R&B chart, in October 1961. This was one of the few post-1958 Drifters
singles that did not feature a string section. It also featured Jimmy Radcliffe
and four female backup vocalists, all of whom would later have hit records,
Cissy Houston, Doris Troy, Dionne Warwick, and Dee Dee Warwick. The
recording also features an up in front piano provided by the song’s co-writer,
Mort Shuman. (From Wikipedia)
Buddy Holly and The Cricketts
The song "Peggy Sue" went to number three on the Billboard Top 100 chart in
1957. It is ranked number 194 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 list of the
"500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It is also ranked as the 106th greatest song
of all time and the third best song of 1957 by Acclaimed Music. “Peggy Sue”
was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame and Museum included the song on its list of the "Songs That Shaped
Rock and Roll”.
Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley)
(September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959)
