1953

9. Frankie Laine with Paul Weston & His Orchestra – I Believe (1953)

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The Intro

US singer, songwriter and actor Frankie Laine’s cover of I Believe stayed at number 1 for nine weeks, equalling the previous record held by Al Martino’s Here in My Heart. However, following a week at number 1 for I’m Walking Behind You by Eddie Fisher and Sally Sweetland, it returned to the top spot for a further six weeks. Mantovani’s The Song from The Moulin Rouge then topped the charts, but once again, I Believe went back to number 1. A staggering feat, this cover of a religious power ballad notched up 18 weeks as the nation’s bestseller. It still holds the record for most non-concurrent weeks at number 1.

Before

I Believe was written by musicians Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl and Al Stillman for Jane Froman. Froman was a big stage, TV and radio star who had suffered chronic injuries in a 1943 plane crash. Troubled by the Korean War in 1952, she asked her songwriters to come up with a tune that would offer hope to the audience of her TV show, Jane Froman’s USA Canteen. It’s fair to say that Drake, Graham, Shirl and Stillman delivered. But back in 1953, such a big song required a big voice, and a big star. So Frankie Laine was a natural choice.

Francesco Paolo LoVecchio arrived in the world on 30 March 1913, the son of Sicilian refugees. The LoVecchios had links to organised crime, and Francesco’s father had even worked as Al Capone’s barber.

Little LoVecchio got his first taste for singing as a member of a church choir, and acquired his astounding vocal prowess through high-school sports. As a teenager in the 20s he found himself performing for thousands at a charity ball. Clearly, a star in the making. But fame didn’t come instantly.

With influences including Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday, Frank LoVecchio spent much of the Great Depression performing at dance marathons. 1937 saw him briefly replace Perry Como in the Freddy Carlone band, and a year later he took on the stage name Frankie Laine.

It wasn’t until World War Two ended that his career really took off. He began recording for Mercury in 1946, and initially listeners thought he was black. Laine’s version of That’s My Desire established him as a force to be reckoned with. Soon he was working with Mitch Miller, and together they were a formidable team. Hit after hit followed, particularly when they jumped ship to Columbia. 1952 saw Laine begin working his magic on film and TV western themes, with High Noon being his first.

Review

While cynical non-believers may balk at the lyrics, I Believe, by comparison to its predecessors at number 1, screams ‘I am a hit and I am important’ at you. For a nation of churchgoers in the 50s, this grandiose ballad was bound to do well. It could partly be that it’s already registered in my mind as a success due to Robson and Jerome’s bland cover (their follow-up to Unchained Melody) from 1995, which cashed in on the elderly’s memories of the song and fans of the duo’s characters in the ITV drama Soldier Soldier. Their cover remains an early warning of Cowell’s evil reign of terror over the charts for years to come.

Beginning with the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar, Laine builds the song into a display of righteous power, bellowing at the end with a performance that is still impressive today.

The Outro

After 18 weeks of chart dominance, Laine still had more to come. 1953 was truly his year.

The Info

Written by

Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl & Al Stillman

Producer

Mitch Miller

Weeks at number 1

18 (24 April-25 June, 3 July-13 August, 21 August-10 September) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

Trivia

Births

6 May: Prime Minister
15 May: Musician Mike Oldfield
19 May: Comedian Victoria Wood
24 May: Actor Alfred Molina
26 May: Conservative MP Michael Portillo
19 June: Dr Hilary Jones
8 August: Racing driver Nigel Mansell
23 August: Bucks Fizz singer Bobby G

Deaths

1 June: Footballer Alex James

Meanwhile…

24 April: Prime Minister Winston Churchill received a knighthood from the Queen. Recognised officially for his part in leading the nation during World War Two, Churchill would then suffer a stroke on 25 June. It began a period of ill health that would begin the decline of the great wartime leader.

2 May: Blackpool win the first televised FA Cup final with a 4-3 win over Bolton Wanderers.

2 June: Elizabeth II’s Coronation took place. The public holiday inadvertently saw the start of the television revolution in the UK, with many families purchasing one specifically to watch a crown be placed on the head of somebody who’d already been Queen for over a year. Also that morning, news reached the world that Mount Everest had finally been conquered. It actually happened on 29 May, but the news travelled slowly.

25 June: The serial killer John Christie was sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Ethel. However, he should have been sentenced for more. A further seven bodies were uncovered at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill. During the trial, Christie confessed to murdering Beryl Evans. Beryl, her husband Timothy and their baby daughter Geraldine had lived at the flat in the 40s, and in 1950, Beryl’s husband Timothy was hanged for murdering Beryl and Geraldine, despite him insisting Christie had been responsible. Christie had even been a witness for the prosecution. He was hanged on 15 July. Yet another instance of tragic errors in the justice system that helped lead to the abolishment of the death penalty. The whole shocking, terrible story was made into a film starring Richard Attenborough in 1971 and a BBC television series starring Tim Roth in 2016.

18 July: Influential sci-fi drama The Quatermass Experiment began on the BBC.

20 July: Nostalgic (yes the BBC loved looking to the past even then) music hall series The Good Old Days began. It would run for 30 years.

8. Lita Roza – (How Much is) That Doggie in the Window? (1953)

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The Intro

Here’s one we all know. (How Much is) That Doggie in the Window? is known to most as a timeless nursery rhyme rather than a chart-topper. It is about as far removed from a modern number 1 as it’s possible to get, but children of every generation since have grown up with it and loved it, including my own daughters.

Before

(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window? was written by Bob Merrill, author of the tacky She Wears Red Feathers, number 1 by Guy Mitchell a month previously. Loosely based on a folk song called Carnival of Venice, an earlier version, The Doggie in the Window, sung by one of the most famous singers of the 50s, Patti Page, is still the most well-known, and hit number 1 on the Billboard charts in the US, selling millions. But it didn’t make it to number one in the UK. Enter Lita Roza.

Roza, born Lilian Patricia Lita Roza on 14 March 1926, hailed from Liverpool. She credited her passion for music to her father, an accordionist and pianist. He was of Filipino ancestry, which is where Roza’s sultry looks originated too.

Her desire to make it in show business was with her as a child. Aged 12 she became a dancer, at 15 she was working with a comedian, and she first became a singer a year later. Roza signed up with The Harry Roy Orchestra in London but by the time she was 18 she had quit and moved to America with her new husband. The marriage was short-lived and shortly after World War Two she returned to the UK.

Roza became a singer with The Ted Heath Jazz Band and juggled this with a burgeoning solo career. She regularly topped polls in Melody Maker and the New Musical Express for best female singer.

A creditable artist, she didn’t want to record a novelty record, but her A&R, Dick Rowe, nagged her until she relented. However, she insisted on singing it in only one take, and refused to ever perform it live. Roza claimed in a 2004 interview that she kept her word, and so she began a long tradition of artists who hate the song they become best known for. Nonetheless, it immortalised her as the first UK solo act to become number 1.

Review

Listening to her cover alongside Patti Page’s (not something I can see myself doing more than once), I prefer Roza’s, as she sings with much less affectation than Page. Despite overfamiliarity (in a strange way, as how often have I heard it as an adult?), I can’t help but like this.

After

She remained popular until rock’n’roll took off, when she moved into TV work, and also appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest heats from 1957, 1959 and 1960.

However, Roza clearly had some affection or appreciation of (How Much is) That Doggie in the Window? as when she died she left £300,000 in her will to charities. £190,000 of this went to dog-related charities: Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and The Cinnamon Trust.

The Outro

She passed away on 14 August 2008, aged 82.

The Info

Written by

Bob Merrill

Producer

Dick Rowe

Weeks at number 1

1 (17-23 April)

Trivia

Births

20 April: Novelist Sebastian Faulks

7. The Stargazers – Broken Wings (1953)

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The Info

The ‘comic’ stylings of She Wears Red Feathers was knocked from number 1 on 10 April, and we were back to appropriately mournful ballad territory, but for the first time, it was a British vocal group.

Before

The Stargazers went through several incarnations following their inception in 1949. The original line-up consisted of Dick James, Cliff Adams, Marie Benson, Fred Datchler and Ronnie Milne. 

The Stargazers became famous via their appearances on radio shows of the era, including The Family Hour and The Goon Show. By 1953 James had departed. He went on to be a music publisher, establishing Dick James Music in 1961 and becoming one of the founders of The Beatles publishing arm, Northern Songs in 1963. Bob Brown replaced him in the group.

Review

Broken Wings has not aged well. Written by John Jerome and Bernard Gunn, the lyrics point out correctly that with broken wings, no bird can fly. The subject of the song has been let down by their lover, who has been unfaithful.

‘With broken wings, no bird can fly
And broken promises mean love must fade and die
I trusted you, you can”t be true
My heart no longer sings
It”s wings are broken too’.

Musically, The Stargazers’ cover is a dirge, with only two points of interest. One is the sparse instrumentation, dominated by an electric piano. Very different to what had been top of the pops up to this point. Second is that the producer was Dick Rowe, the man who famously said ‘Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr Epstein’ when The Beatles failed their audition for Decca. He made up for his mistake by signing, among others, The Rolling Stones, Them, Tom Jones and Small Faces.

The Outro

If you want to hear a catchier song called Broken Wings, there is of course, this track by Mr Mister.

The Info

Written by

John Jerome & Bernard Gunn

Producer

Dick Rowe

Weeks at number 1

1 (10-16 April)

Trivia

Births

11 April: Mathematician Andrew Wiles 
13 April: Labour MP Stephen Byers 

Meanwhile…

13 April: Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published, beginning an almighty cultural legacy.

6. Guy Mitchell with Mitch Miller & His Orchestra & Chorus – She Wears Red Feathers (1953)

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The Intro

Hmm. Novelty songs were all the rage back in the 50s. I’ve nothing against novelty songs if done right, but these early ones came way before anyone had even thought of political correctness. She Wears Red Feathers is the bizarre tale of an English banker’s love for a hula-hula girl, who apparently ‘lives on just cokey-nuts and fish from the sea’. The banker and his love get married in a ceremony involving an elephant and baboons playing bassoons… clearly, the weirdest number 1 up to this point.

This song didn’t do great in the US, but the British have always had a more eccentric sense of humour, and they welcomed it with open arms and sent cheeky US crooner and actor Guy Mitchell’s version to number 1 on 13 March.

Before

Mitchell’s real name was Albert George Cernik. The son of Croatian immigrants (parents who immigrated to the US seems to be a common theme among many of these early number 1 stars) was born on 22 February 1927. Cernik was signed to Warner Brothers Pictures when only 11 to sing and act.

During World War Two he served in the US navy before accepting an invitation to join Carmen Cavallaro’s big band, but solo stardom was right around the corner when he, like Al Martino, won the radio talent show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in 1949. A year later he signed with Columbia, where Mitch Miller took him under his wing and dubbed him Guy Mitchell, because he seemed like a nice guy. Debut single My Heart Cries for You made him an instant success, narrowly missing out on the top spot in America. His first hit in the UK, the bizarre Feet Up (Pat Him on the Po-Po), was the first ever number two in the singles chart.

Review

Despite the lyrics to She Wears Red Feathers being highly questionable, (‘cokey-nuts’ is performed by Mitchell in a ‘comedy’ accent), the chorus is memorable. It’s the sort of tune you can imagine Nigel Farage singing after a skinful.

Worryingly, it’s the earliest number 1 I have heard. It’s been lurking somewhere in the dark corners of my mind all this time, as I recognised the title when I came upon it and the chorus started up in my brain automatically. I’ve no idea where I heard it. We certainly didn’t own a copy, so it must have been in a film or TV show.

The song was created in 1952 (all these early number ones so far have actually dated from the previous year) by US songsmith Bob Merrill. Merrill had an astounding hit rate and was the second most successful songwriter of the decade in this country. He co-wrote If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake with Al Hoffman and Clem Watts in 1950, and specialised in comical, catchy tunes.

Merrill and Mitchell worked very well together, especially when produced by Mitch Miller, who was renowned for inventiveness and gimmickry. Miller hated rock’n’roll when it came about, calling it ‘musical baby food’, and he turned both Elvis Presley and the Beatles down. Not exactly forward-thinking, Mitch.

However, back in the early 50s, Mitchell, Merrill and Miller could do no wrong, and Mitchell scored another three number 1s.

The Outro

Glam rockers Mud recorded an awful cover of She Wears Red Feathers in the 70s, when being PC still didn’t matter, and you can hear it here, if you really need to.

The Info

Written by

Bob Merrill

Producer

Mitch Miller

Weeks at number 1

4 (13 March-9 April)

Trivia

Births

26 March: Author Christopher Fowler

Deaths

24 March: Queen Mary
6 April: Poet Idris Davies

Meanwhile…

24 March: Queen Mary, consort of the deceased King George V, died peacefully in her sleep.
On the same day, the discovery of several bodies at 10 Rillington Place shocked the country. The murderer, John Christie, had moved out four days earlier, leaving several bodies hidden around the house. He had killed at least eight people, including his wife Ethel.

31 March: Both the funeral of Queen Mary and the arrest of Christie took place. Mary had insisted that the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II should not be delayed in the event of her death. The trial of Christie, later in the year, revealed a terrible miscarriage of justice in which a husband and father had been wrongly sentenced to death by hanging.

5. Perry Como with the Ramblers – Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes (1953)

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The Intro

The first number 1 by an artist I was aware of before taking on this project, US easy listening singer Perry Como was one of the biggest stars of the 50s, and one of the names that really conjures up the era that predates rock’n’roll. After two world wars and economic depression, this is what the people needed. 

With his baritone croon, his cardigans (Bing Crosby once said Como was ‘the man who invented casual’, so we have him to thank for Alan Partridge) and the general aura of cosiness that he gave off, Como had nearly three decades of huge success from the 40s onwards. Had the UK charts existed earlier he’d have no doubt been number 1 before 1953. Not bad going for a man who began work as a barber as a 10-year-old.

Before

Como was born Pierino Ronald Como, the seventh of 10 children to Italian immigrant parents, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on 18 May 1912. His parents owned a second-hand organ, and as a toddler young Como would start learning the ropes of his first instrument. The older he got, the more instruments he would learn, and being a singer wasn’t top of his ambitions. He wanted to be the best barber in the neighbourhood. He had his own shop aged 14.

In 1932 Como made his first appearance on stage in Cleveland while attending a Freddy Carlone show. Carlone invited audience members to perform with him, and a terrified Como was pushed into it by his friends. He was immediately offered a job.

In 1936 he made his first recordings with Ted Weems’s orchestra, where he worked on the smooth singing style that would make his name. But Como had started a family, and missed his wife and young son, so he quit in 1942 to become a barber once more. The offers kept coming though, and in 1943 he signed with RCA Victor, the company he stayed with for the next 44 years. He gained the interest of Frank Sinatra, who sometimes asked him to fill in for him on theatre shows. Como rocketed to stardom.

Review

His first UK chart-topper, Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes shares similarities to Jo Stafford’s number 1, You Belong to Me. Her song featured a woman hoping that her partner would remember who he should be thinking of while he was away,  Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes is about an absent man asking his lover not to stray. I quite like that title, it’s more oblique than the other number 1s that preceded it.

The tune gallops along at a fair rate (well, by 50s standards) but ultimately, it hasn’t aged well. It was written by Winston L. Moore, who was better known as the disc jockey Slim Willet, and had been covered several times before Como, but predictably enough, his was the best known and most successful, staying at number one for five weeks. He would once again reach number 1 in 1958 with the much more memorable Magic Moments.

After

Amusingly, Willet co-wrote a response song with Tommy Hill, to be performed by his sister Goldie Hill, with the less cryptic title I Let the Stars Get in My Eyes, in which Hill basically sings that, oops, she did exactly what she was told not to do and fell for someone else. Charming.

The Info

Written by

Slim Willet

Producer

Eli Oberstein

Weeks at number 1

5 (6 February-12 March)

Trivia

Births

17 February: Comedian Norman Pace 

Meanwhile…

5 February: To the delight of children, and many adults, the government ended rationing on sweets. 

4. Eddie Fisher with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra & Chorus – Outside of Heaven (1953)

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The Intro

In a week hit by not one but two tragedies (see ‘Meanwhile…‘). Outside of Heaven was a suitably gloomy song to rule the singles chart. Sammy Gallop and Chester Conn had written this from the perspective of a spurned lover on the outside looking in at his lost love’s new life.

Before

Ironically, Outside of Heaven was recorded by a man who had no problem with women. Singer and actor Eddie Fisher, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 10 August 1928 to Russian-Jewish immigrants, was one of the biggest heart-throbs of the 50s, and is best know these days for his marriages to Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor, to name two out of five. Carrie Fisher, the much-missed Star Wars star, was his daughter to Reynolds, but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

‘Sonny Boy’, as he was known to his family, won several amateur singing contests in his youth. Following his performance on radio (and later TV) show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, Fisher dropped out of high school to focus on his budding career.

In 1949 he signed with RCA Victor and became a nationwide success, but his success was curtailed when he was drafted into the US Army in 1951 and he served a year in Korea. From 1952-53 he was the official vocal soloist for the United States Army Band. During that time he would make occasional TV appearances, and must have still been recording, as he went to number 1 in the US in 1952 with Wish You Were Here, which became his first UK top 10 hit. Outside of Heaven was released three singles later.

Review

Unable to let go, the ex walks past her house, and is even around on her wedding day, suggesting he is at best a glutton for punishment, or at worse, indulging in a spot of stalking…

‘On your wedding day I stood in the crowd
I could hardly keep from crying out loud
There goes the kiss my lips have known’

Certainly interesting lyrically, but the tune is all too easily forgotten. It’s a very maudlin affair, which I’m sure did so well due to Fisher’s charisma and good looks. Yes, even in the 50s, appearance was often as important as talent. Hugo Winterhalter’s orchestra smothers the recording, but that was par for the course in the pop of the era.

After

1953 would prove to be one of Fisher’s most successful years, as in addition to two number 1s, he began hosting his own variety show in the US, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher. I’m assuming this was blatant sponsorship for a certain soft drink rather than an open confession to a drug habit.

The Info

Written by

Sammy Gallop & Chester Conn

Producer

Hugo Winterhalter

Weeks at number 1

1 (30 January-5 February)

Meanwhile…

31 January : The UK suffered two aquatic disasters. The car ferry MV Princess Victoria was sailing from Stranraer, Scotland, to Larne in Northern Ireland, when it sank in the Irish Sea, killing 133 people, including several high-ranking Northern Irish politicians. Also that night, the North Sea flood began, and hundreds of people on the east coast in England, Scotland and Belgium lost their lives.

3. Kay Starr – Comes A-Long A-Love (1953)

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The Intro

US pop and jazz singer Kay Starr hit number 1 with Comes A-Long A-Love (how ’50s’ is that title?). Unlike the first two top-selling tracks, this tune, written by former Tin Pan Alley songwriting veteran Al Sherman, was a chirpy, breezy little number, in which Starr extols the virtues of love. If you’re in love, you’re always singing, bells are ringing… you get the idea.

Before

Starr had been born Katherine Laverne Starks on 22 July 1922 on a reservation in Dougherty, Oklahoma to a native American father and mixed Irish and native American mother. The Starks moved to Dallas when her father got a job installing water sprinklers. Her mother raised chickens, which little Stark would serenade. Pretty idyllic, I’m sure you’ll agree. Her aunt was so impressed by the seven-year-old’s voice, she arranged for her to sing on a local radio station.

Fast forward a few years and the Starks were living in Memphis, and their daughter was regularly performing on the radio there. Misspellings in her fanmail resulted in her taking on the highly appropriate stage name Kay Starr.

Starr was only 17 and still at high school when she made her first recordings with legendary bandleader Glenn Miller in 1939. However, her vocal range didn’t really fit, and the partnership didn’t last long.

After working with Wingy Manone and Charlie Barnet’s ensembles, Starr took the plunge and went solo in 1946, but in a crowded market of female singers like Peggy Lee, the young hopeful was often left with the poorest material to record. Nonetheless, she did have hits in America, most notably with Wheel of Fortune in 1952, which went to number 1 there. Comes-A-Long-A-Love was released later that year.

Review

Although lyrically basic by today’s standards, this song does have something going for it. It must do as I’ve only heard it twice and it’s been in my head for days. Not sure about the lyrics below though…

‘I don’t care how
Blue you’re feeling now
You sparkle yes you bubble
Look out you gotta whole lotta trouble’

Is Starr basically telling the subject of her song, “I don’t care how down you are at the moment, just go and fall in love, alright?”. It seems harsh advice.

Nonetheless, she sings Sherman’s tune with a certain panache. In her voice you can hear the stylings of the rock’n’roll singers that would be all over the charts in a few years.

After

Comes A-Long A-Love was only number 1 for one week, but Starr, who Billie Holliday once proclaimed to be ‘the only white woman who could sing the blues’, would reach pole position one more time.

The Outro

It’s also worth noting that this is the first number 1 to be produced by Mitch Miller, the conductor and A&R man who would be responsible for many more chart-toppers over the next few years.

The Info

Written by

Al Sherman

Producer

Mitch Miller

Weeks at number 1

1 (23-29 January)

Trivia

Births

29 January: Footballer Ronnie Moore

Deaths

29 January: Criminal Derek Bentley

Meanwhile…

28 January: Derek Bentley was controversially hanged for murder at Wandsworth Prison in London. Bentley issued the infamous and ambiguous phrase “Let him have it” to his friend and accomplice Christopher Craig, and a policeman was shot dead. Bentley, who had health and developmental issues, was pardoned for the crime 45 years later, and the tragic case helped bring about the eventual end of the death penalty in the UK.

2. Jo Stafford with Paul Weston & His Orchestra – You Belong to Me (1953)

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The Intro

US singer Jo Stafford’s cover of You Belong to Me featured in the very first UK singles chart on 14 November 1952. When Al Martino’s Here in My Heart finally lost its grip on the top slot, Stafford became the first female solo artist to be number 1 on 16 January 1953.

Before

Stafford, born 12 November 1917 in Coalinga, California, caught the music bug from a young age, thanks to her mother’s love of folk music and banjo playing. She began performing at the tender age of 12 and her mother had high hopes for her. For a while she had voice lessons and ambitions to be an opera singer, but the Great Depression put paid to that. While at high school she teamed up with her elder siblings and they were known, obviously enough, as the Stafford Sisters.

They had some success on radio and in film, and it was in 1938 that Stafford met the singing group the Pied Pipers and became their lead singer. The following year, bandleader Tommy Dorsey hired them to provide backing vocals for his orchestra, and they helped propel Frank Sinatra to stardom. Dorsey eventually shone the spotlight on Stafford and awarded her solo performances. In 1944, she left the group and became the first solo artist to sign with Capitol Records.

Like Martino, Stafford’s vocal range was operatic, but there was more to her than that. Among her contemporaries she was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the 50s and had several hit duets with Frankie Laine.

She had earned the nickname ‘GI Jo’ during World War Two, performing for soldiers stationed in the US, and like Martino’s track, You Belong to Me clearly touched a nerve for those who had suffered through the war.

This romantic ballad was credited to Pee Wee King, Chilton Price and Redd Stewart, but Price wrote the first draft. Originally entitled Hurry Home to Me, he envisaged it as being from the viewpoint of a woman missing her soldier sweetheart during the war. King and Stewart made alterations and made it less specific, providing the song with more of a universal appeal. After all, the war was seven years in the past by this point.

Review

You Belong to Me holds up better than Here in My Heart, and I think the lyrics can be interpreted in more than one way…

‘See the pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle
But just remember, darling, all the while
You belong to me’

Sounds sweet and lovely at first, doesn’t it, but could these be the words of a worried, paranoid control freak? Could she be issuing a threat to her partner to behave himself while he’s away? Or am I alone in thinking this?!

After

Despite only topping the charts for one week, its appeal has stood the test of time – Bob Dylan and Tori Amos are among the notable artists to release cover versions.

As for Stafford, she continued to record with her husband Paul Weston (they had wed in 1952), the famous orchestra leader and producer on this track. In 1954, she became the second artist after Bing Crosby to sell 25 million records for Columbia. But by the end of the decade she and her husband were mostly performing comedy songs, which seems like a waste of a great voice to me.

Stafford was offered a contract to perform in Las Vegas in 1959, but she declined and went into semi-retirement soon after to concentrate on her family. In 1977 she and Weston released a cover of the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive.

The Outro

Weston died in 1996, and Stafford passed away due to heart failure on 16 July 2008, aged 90.

The Info

Written by

Pee Wee King, Chilton Price & Redd Stewart

Producer

Paul Weston

Weeks at number 1

1 (16-22 January)