Author: Red Robinson

  • “One Night” from Elvis and Fats Domino

    Here’s the flip side of “I Got Stung”: “One Night” by Elvis Presley! The song was written by New Orleans producer Dave Bartholomew and his wife Pearl King. Bartholomew discovered Fats Domino. The original version was called “One Night of Sin”. Elvis recorded “One Night” with the original lyrics “One night of sin is what…

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  • Elvis Presley, “I Got Stung”

    On this day in 1958, Elvis Presley‘s double-sided smash “I Got Stung”/”One Night” hits the #1 spot on the CKWX Sensational Sixty (“The ONLY survey of best-selling records in Vancouver”). Elvis recorded the songs in Nashville as he was getting ready to join the U.S. Army for a 17-month stay in Germany. These were my…

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  • New Gene Pitney Book!

    Gene Pitney had a string of Top Ten hits in the early 60’s: “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance”, “Only Love Can Break a Heart”, “Mecca”, “Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa”, “It Hurts to Be in Love” and “I’m Gonna Be Strong” are among the most memorable. I interviewed Gene in Vancouver in 1986 for…

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  • Remembering Conway Twitty

    With Elvis in the U.S. Army in 1958, Conway Twitty was the closest we had to the real thing. Conway’s rockabilly sound made him one of the most successful rock ballad singers in the late Fifties. It is rumoured that he took his name from small towns in Arkansas and Texas. His real name was…

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  • “Flying Blue Angels” Is #1

    #1 this week in 1961 on the CFUN-tastic Fifty, a one hit wonder for George, Johnny & The Pilots: “Flying Blue Angels”. You can read more at Ray McGinnis‘ amazing website Vancouver Signature Sounds. My friend Pat O’Day loved flying. His son Jerry O’Day says, “He always enjoyed attending private parties for the U.S. Navy…

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  • Dear Abby, Buddy Knox

    One of the nicest and most talented young guys in show business today has just completed three more tremendously successful appearances in B.C. It’s not too often a graduate of psychology, business administration and a Golden Gloves competitor turns to singing but a 28-year old Texan, Buddy Knox, is the exception. Buddy hails from a…

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  • “Tom Dooley” hits #1

    On this day in 1958, The Kingston Trio‘s first hit, “Tom Dooley”, reached Number 1 on the CKWX Sensational Sixty. “Tom Dooley” sold more than six million copies, and is often credited with starting the folk music boom of the late Fifties and early Sixties. Other Kingston Trio hits include “The Tijuana Jail”, “M.T.A.”, “A…

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  • The Stars Come Out In Vancouver

    On this day in 1957 Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, Eddie Cochran, Paul Anka, Buddy Knox, the Drifters, LaVern Baker, Clyde McPhatter, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, and Jimmy Bowen and the Rhythm Orchids came to Vancouver’s Georgia Auditorium for the Biggest Show of Stars. I was the show MC and spent time interviewing many of these rock’n’roll pioneers.…

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  • Happy Birthday, Gary Puckett!

    Happy Birthday, Gary Puckett! Gary and his group The Union Gap gave us some memorable hits in the late 1960’s: “Woman, Woman”, “Young Girl”, “Lady Willpower”, “Over You”, “Don’t Give In to Him”, and “This Girl Is a Woman Now”. Did you know the Union Gap’s original bass player, Kerry Chater, is from Vancouver? That’s…

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  • Bobby Darin, “Mack The Knife”

    On this day in 1959, Bobby Darin‘s “Mack The Knife” tops the charts! Bobby had a string of hits early in the growth of rock’n’roll, following up 1958’s “Splish Splash” and “Queen Of The Hop” with “Dream Lover” in early 1959. During Portland’s Oregon Centennial Exposition that September Bobby dropped by the KGW booth at…

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