Percy Faith

Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listening" or "mood music" format. Faith became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. Though his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, Faith refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s`.
Faith was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He was the oldest of eight children. His parents, Abraham Faith and Minnie, née Rottenberg, were Jewish. He played violin and piano as a child, and played in theatres and at Massey Hall. After his hands were badly burned in a fire, he turned to conducting, and his live orchestras used the new medium of radio broadcasting.

Beginning with defunct stations CKNC and CKCL, Faith was a staple of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's live-music broadcasting from 1933 to 1940, when he resettled in Chicago. In the early 1940s, Faith was orchestra leader for the Carnation Contented program on NBC. From 1948-1949 he also served as the orchestra leader on the CBS radio network program The Coca-Cola Hour (also called The Pause That Refreshes). The orchestral accordionist John Serry Sr. collaborated with Faith in these broadcasts.

In 1945, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He made many recordings for Voice of America. After working briefly for Decca Records, he worked for Mitch Miller at Columbia Records, where he turned out dozens of albums and provided arrangements for many of the pop singers of the 1950s, including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis for Mathis's 1958 Christmas album titled Merry Christmas, and Guy Mitchell for whom Faith wrote Mitchell's number-one single, "My Heart Cries for You".

His most famous and remembered recordings are "Delicado" (1952), "The Song from Moulin Rouge" (1953) and "Theme from A Summer Place" (1960), which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1961. Faith remains the only artist to have the best selling single of the year during both the pop singer era ("Song from Moulin Rouge") and the rock era ("Theme from a Summer Place"); and he is one of only three artists, along with Elvis Presley and The Beatles, to have the best selling single of the year twice. The B-side of "Song from the Moulin Rouge" was "Swedish Rhapsody" by Hugo Alfvén. In 1961 his fame in Sweden would rise exponentially as his work Mucho Gusto would become the theme music for the sports broadcasts of Sveriges Radio.

Though Faith initially mined the worlds of Broadway, Hollywood and Latin music for many of his top-selling 1950s recordings, he enjoyed popularity starting in 1962 with his orchestral versions of popular rock and pop hits of the day. His Themes for Young Lovers album was a top seller during this era and introduced the Faith sound to a younger generation of listeners. With the success of Columbia record-mate Ray Conniff's chorus and orchestra during this same time, Faith began using a chorus (usually all female in most of his recordings, but used a mixed chorus on his albums Leaving on a Jet Plane and I Think I Love You, which were released in 1970 and 1971 respectively) in several popular albums from the mid-1960s on. Faith's first single with a female chorus, "Yellow Days," was a substantial hit in the MOR (Middle of the Road) easy listening radio format of the mid-1960s. Faith continued to enjoy airplay and consistent album sales throughout the early 1970s, and received a second Grammy award in 1969 for his album Love Theme from 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Though best known for his recording career, Faith also occasionally scored motion pictures, and received an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of the song score for the Doris Day musical feature, Love Me or Leave Me. His other film scores included romantic comedies and dramatic features such as Tammy Tell Me True (1961), I'd Rather Be Rich (1964), The Third Day (1965) and The Oscar (1966). Faith also composed the popular theme for the long running NBC series The Virginian.

With the advent of harder rock sounds in the 1970s, Faith's elegant arrangements fell out of favour with the listening and record-buying public, although he continued to release albums as diverse and contemporary as Jesus Christ Superstar and Black Magic Woman. He released one album of country music and two albums of disco-oriented arrangements toward the end of his forty-year career, his very last recording being a disco-style reworking of "Theme from a Summer Place", titled "Summer Place '76", which was a minor and posthumous hit. Faith died of cancer in Encino, California, and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. His wife, Mary (Palange) Faith, was born November 24, 1909, and died November 27, 1997, in Los Angeles. They married in 1928 and had 2 children, Marilyn and Peter.
Here is "Happy Holiday" From 1966 Enjoy.

The Rattles

The Rattles are a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1960, most prominently known for their 1970 psychedelic hit single, "The Witch".
The Rattles performed in Hamburg, and played at the same venues as The Beatles on several occasions in 1962. In 1964 the group recorded "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah", which charted in the UK. In 1968 they recorded their first version of "The Witch", with vocals by Henner Hoier. The band's records sold well in Germany during the 1960s.
Their second version of "The Witch" in 1970, this time with vocals by Edna Bejarano, became their only international hit. "The Witch" appeared in the Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, the top 20 in Austria, and reached the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.. It eventually sold over one million copies. Rosetta Stone released a gothic rock cover of "The Witch" in the 1990s. The Norwegian psychedelic hard rock band Motorpsycho covered the song during 1999 and 2000. A recording of this song can be found on their bootleg Live Union Scene from 14 April 1999.
Here is "Zip-A-Dee=Doo-Dah" From 1964 Enjoy.




Here is a Bonus "The Witch" FRom 1970 Enjoy.

The British Walkers

The British Walkers
From: Washington D.C., MD, USA

The British Walkers weren’t actually British. They were an American band whose sound was influenced by The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Kinks. Forming in 1964, The British Walkers lasted only four years, breaking up in 1968. The band’s debut single was “I Found You,” released on Try Records. The song was written by Bobby Howard (vocals, harmonica, keyboard) and Roy Buchanan (lead guitar). Roy had actually started writing the song years before as a love song to his wife. The B-side was a remake of the Bo Diddley classic “Diddley Daddy.”

Buchanan would go on to become a Washington D.C. area legend, greatly renowned for his blues guitar prowess. It is believed that he was asked to replace Brian Jones in The Rolling Stones. Buchanan wasn’t a member of The British Walkers for very long. There were several occasions in which he was not at a gig, and would be found at home locked up in the closet. In 1988, Roy hanged himself in his jail cell after being arrested for public intoxication – at least, that is the “official” cause for his death. Bruises to Buchanan’s head were never explained, but it has been documented that Buchanan was beaten by the local police before his arrest. In 2003, Rolling Stone declared Buchanan one of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time,” landing the #57 spot.

John Hall was another prominent member of The British Walkers. Hall joined the band briefly in 1967 towards the end of their career. Hall gained fame for co-writing the song “Half Moon” for Janis Joplin. Hall was also a guiding force behind the 1970s concert No Nukes, and later was the leader of the highly successful group Orleans. He also had an extended solo career. In 2006, Hall was elected Congressman for New York’s 19th district and assumed office in early 2007.

Frontman and band leader, Bobby Howard, was unhappy to find out that band representatives Bobby Poe and Mitch Corday had trademarked the name The British Walkers. This meant that, if Howard left the band, the name would go on. Howard did decide to quit the band in 1967 and the name did continue, with John Hall and other going in and out of the lineup. Corday even went to England to recruit actual British members for the band, including Geoff Richardson (guitar) of The Attack, but it was far from the same and everyone knew the band’s days were numbered.

In 1966, Howard recorded a “solo” single. It was recorded with the current lineup for The British Walkers, but released as a Howard song. The single eventually attained cult status in the UK and is seen as a collectors item. The band recorded the single “Sh’ Mon” under the moniker Mr. Dynamite. “Sh’ Mon” was a song that could very easily be mistaken for a Soul music workout by James Brown. The late Charlie Hampton arranged the song, and the horns on the track have is signature sound. The single was released by Sue Records in the UK and is considered a collectors item, selling for a substantial amount. In America, “Sh’ Mon” was the only release on Soultime Records, a label Poe started for the occasion.

The British Walkers recorded a number of singles over their brief existence. The only one that charted was “Shake” / “That Was Yesterday.” Initially, “Shake” had been written and recorded by Sam Cooke. This version featured Tom and Charlie Willett on vocals. Howard’s vocals had been removed from the single when he quit the band during an argument with management. The B-side, “That Was Yesterday,” was written by Frank Dillon and Vernon Sandusky of The Chartbusters. The Chartbusters were actually the backing band on the “Shake” single, and by this time, The British Walkers were a band in name only, primarily existing to fulfill concert commitments.

“Shake” was released on the Cameo Parkway label and landed on the national charts. The British Walkers Shoe Company was going to offer the band a substantial amount of money if the single entered the Billboard Top 10. However, two things happened, preventing this from happening. Otis Redding released a great version of “Shake” and the new owner of Cameo Parkway pulled the plug on the entire label, thus costing the band the shoe deal. The new owner was Allen Klein and when he purchased the label, there was talk that The Rolling Stones would record for Cameo Parkway, driving the stock price way up. In 1969, the label was resurrected in 1969 as ABKCO Records, but none of the previous roster was brought back.

Artist Info: thebritishwalkers.blogspot.com

Feel free to use Their Facebook page to discuss & ask any questions you have about this artist, a fellow PsycheHead is sure to have the answer.
Here is "Diddley Daddy"From 1964 Enjoy.

The Cake

 

The Cake was a 1960s girl group consisting of Jeanette Jacobs, Barbara Morillo and Eleanor Barooshian. They were managed and produced by Greene & Stone, two Sunset Strip impresarios who also managed Sonny & Cher, Buffalo Springfield and Iron Butterfly.

The Cake formed in New York in 1966, starting out as an a cappella vocal group singing at Steve Paul's The Scene. Barooshian and Morillo both appeared in You Are What You Eat, a 1968 documentary film produced by Peter Yarrow. In the film, Barooshian performed the Sonny & Cher hit "I Got You Babe" with Tiny Tim. She sang the male part, while Tiny Tim sang the female.

What set The Cake apart from other girl groups of the time is that they recorded their own material, as well as a number of R&B standards. Their own songs were in the vein of 1960s baroque pop with intricate madrigal-style vocal harmonies. They released two albums on Decca Records, The Cake (1967) and A Slice Of Cake (1968). Both were recorded at the Gold Star Recording Studios in Los Angeles.

Their debut single was the Jack Nitzsche and Jackie De Shannon penned song, "Baby, That's Me". The production of the song, which was arranged by Harold Battiste, mimicked the Wall of Sound technique created by Nitzsche and Phil Spector. Billboard named the song #64 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. Barooshian also contributed back-up vocals to "Why Are We Sleeping?", a track on The Soft Machine, the 1968 debut album by the British psychedelic rock band of the same name.

Following the break-up of The Cake in 1968, Jacobs and Barooshian toured with Dr John, who was one of the session musicians on their albums, and subsequently moved to the UK, where they became part of Ginger Baker's Air Force. Barooshian also recorded an album in Japan with Tetsu Yamauchi.

Jacobs married Chris Wood of the English group Traffic in 1969. Jeanette Jacobs-Wood died on January 1, 1982, aged 32.

The Kevin Ayers song 'Eleanor's Cake (which ate her)' from the LP 'Joy of a Toy' released in 1970 was written about Barooshian.

In 2006, after a thirty seven-year hiatus, Barooshian and Morillo reformed The Cake, to perform at a one-off Jimi Hendrix tribute concert in New York, organized by Hendrix archivist and documentary film-maker, David Kramer. The show also featured Buddy Miles, Johnny Winter, Jose Feliciano and Leon Hendrix. Their two Decca albums have been re-released on CD by Rev-Ola Records.

Eleanor Barooshian died in 2016 at the age of 66.

Discography

Studio Albums

The Cake (Decca,1967)

A Slice of Cake (Decca,1968)

Compilation

More of Cake(Rev-Ola (Cherry Red),2007)

Singles

"Baby,That's Me" / "Mockingbird" (Decca,1967)

"I Know" / "You can have him" (Decca, 1967)

"Fire Fly" / Rainbow Wood" (Decca, 1968)

"P.T. 280" / "Have you Heard the News" (Decca,1968)

Here is "You  can Have Him" From 1967 Enjoy.

The Syndicats

The Syndicats were an English popular music group, notable for being future Yes guitarist Steve Howe's first band. When Howe left for Tomorrow in 1965, he was replaced by Ray Fenwick, who was then replaced by Peter Banks, who Howe would come to replace in Yes. Fenwick played lead guitar on the band's most famous song "Crawdaddy Simone", which he co-wrote with Jeff Williams, the band's keyboardist. Further members were Tom Ladd (lead vocals; born Thomas Ladd in 1940), John Truelove (drums; born John Melton in 1941), Kevin Driscoll (vocals and bass; co-founder; born Kevin C. Driscoll on 16 September 1945 and died on 16 August 1982 in London), Johnny Lamb (lead vocals; born John Lamb), and, Paul Holm (drums on last single).Their three singles on Columbia (EMI) were produced by Joe Meek. "Crawdaddy Simone" is played over the end credits of Telstar, a film biopic of Meek, released in June 2009.
Singles
"Maybellene" (Berry) / "True to Me" (Ladd/Howe) (8 April 1964, Columbia DB 7238)
"Howling For My Baby" (Dixon) / "What To Do" (Howe/Truelove/K. Driscoll/T. Driscoll) (January 1965, Columbia DB 7441)
"On the Horizon" (Leiber/Stoller) / "Crawdaddy Simone" (Fenwick/Williams) (10 September 1965, Columbia DB 7686)
The band's output, except the song "Crawdaddy Simone", was released on Steve Howe's compilation album Mothballs (RPM Records, 1994).
Songs
Crawdaddy SimoneTelstar: The Joe Meek Story OST · 2009
Howlin' for My Baby 1994
On the Horizon 1994
Active From 1963-65
Here is "True To Me" From 1964 Enjoy.

Billy Cotton

William Edward "Billy" Cotton (6 May 1899 – 25 March 1969) was an English band leader and entertainer, one of the few whose orchestras survived the British dance band era. Cotton is now mainly remembered as a 1950s and 1960s radio and television personality, but his musical career had begun in the 1920s. In his younger years Billy Cotton was also an amateur footballer (soccer player) for Brentford (and later, for the then Athenian league club Wimbledon), an accomplished racing driver and the owner of a Gipsy Moth, which he piloted himself. His autobiography, I Did It My Way, was published in 1970, a year after his death.
Born in Smith Square, London, to Joseph and Susan Cotton, Cotton was a choirboy and started his musical career as a drummer. He enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers by falsifying his age and saw service in the First World War in Malta and Egypt before landing at Gallipoli in the middle of an artillery barrage. He was recommended for a commission and learned to fly Bristol Fighter aircraft. Not yet 19 years old, he flew solo for the first time in 1918, on the day the Royal Flying Corps became the Royal Air Force. After the end of the war, in the early 1920s, he worked at several jobs, including as a bus driver, before setting up his own orchestra, the London Savannah Band, in 1924.

At first a conventional dance band, the London Savannah Band gradually tended towards music hall/vaudeville entertainment, introducing visual and verbal humour in between songs. Famous musicians who played in Billy Cotton's band during the 1920s and 1930s included Arthur Rosebery, Syd Lipton and Nat Gonella. The band was also noted for their African American trombonist and tap dancer, Ellis Jackson. Their signature tune was "Somebody Stole My Gal", and they made numerous commercial recordings for Decca.

During the Second World War Cotton and his band toured France with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). After the war, he started his successful Sunday lunchtime radio show on BBC, the Billy Cotton Band Show, which ran from 1949 to 1968. In the 1950s, composer Lionel Bart contributed comedy songs to the show. It regularly opened with the band's signature tune and Cotton's call of "Wakey Wakey". From 1957, it was also broadcast on BBC television. Cotton often also provided vocals on many of his band's recordings, in addition to work as a vocalist on recordings that didn't feature his band.

As a racing driver, he raced at Brooklands between the wars but his finest moment came in 1949 when he finished eighth in the 1949 British Grand Prix, sharing an English Racing Automobiles with David Hampshire.

Cotton married Mabel E. Gregory in 1921. They had two sons, Ted and Sir Bill Cotton, who later became the BBC's managing director of television. In 1962 Billy Cotton suffered a stroke. He died in 1969 while watching a boxing match at Wembley Arena.

Billy Cotton was the great-great-uncle of TV & Radio Presenter Fearne Cotton.
Here is "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" From 1950 Enjoy.

P.S. "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is a novelty song composed in 1944 (as "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts") by Fred Heatherton, a songwriting pseudonym for a collaboration of English songwriters Harold Elton Box, Desmond Cox and Lewis Ilda. The song was published by Box and Cox Publications (ASCAP).

The song celebrates the coconut shy (coconut toss) at funfairs, and the catchy chorus is the call of the showman "standing underneath the flare" (of gaslight), inviting the public to "Roll up, bowl a ball, a penny a pitch." (In American editions, the line is rendered instead as, "Roll or bowl a ball, a penny a pitch.") The ball is tossed or bowled (as in cricket) or pitched at the coconuts, with the object of knocking one off its stand.