David Rose

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Jackie Gleason enjoyed lending his
name to a series of best-selling "mood music" albums with jazz overtones
for Capitol Records. He felt there was a market for romantic instrumentals
and his goal was to make "musical wallpaper that should never be intrusive,
but conducive”.

Gleason’s first album, Music for Lovers Only, still holds the record for the
album longest in the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first ten
albums all sold over one million copies. At one point, Gleason held the record
for charting the most number-one albums on the Billboard 200 without charting
any hits on the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Gleason could
not read or write music; he was said to have conceived melodies in his head
and described them vocally to assistants.

Orchestra conducted by Jackie Gleason, Trumpet solo by Bobby Hackett

Brian Douglas Wilson

Wilson co-wrote over twenty-five top forty hits as co-founder of The
Beach Boys, including such hits as “Good Vibrations” in 1966 and
“Surfin’ USA” in 1963.

       Clyde Lensley McPhatter (November 15, 1932 – June 13, 1972)

This 1970 album was Clyde McPhatter’s final and was not a success. He died
two years later.

McPhatter is perhaps the most widely imitated R&B singer of the 1950s and 1960s. making him a key figure in the shaping of doo-wop and R&B. He is best known for
his solo hit "A Lover’s Question" and for being the founder of the original group,
The Drifters in 1953.  He left a legacy of over 22 years of recording history. 

Clyde McPhatter was the first artist in music history to become a double inductee
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  

McPhatter died in his sleep at the age of only 39 from complications of heart, liver, 
and kidney disease, brought on by alcohol abuse. Thus McPatter’s hopes for a 
major comeback ended. 

Gene Vincent’s "Be-Bop-A-Lula" was recorded in Nashville on
May 4, 1956. After it’s release the following month, it reached
#5 and sold over a million copies.

Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps in the studio