Search among John Twang's articles

A 1949 tear-jerker of a motion picture and an Oscar nominated hit song, "My Foolish Heart" (Victor Young - Ned Washington) was sung by Martha Mears in the film. Martha was the singing voice in movies for Claudette Colbert, Lucille Ball, Loretta Young,

Charlie Calello and Grammy nominee Joel Diamond produced this Richie Adams demo of "After The Lovin'" (Richie Adams - Alan Bernstein). The late Ritchie Adams (Ziegler) was a member of The Fireflies and co-wrote the classic "Tossin' And Turnin'". In 1976

The 1958 movie "Thunder Road" opens with Randy (Lloyd) Sparks singing "The Ballad Of Thunder Road" (Don Raye - Robert Mitchum). Randy was asked to play Robert Mitchum's brother in the film and write the music but that obviously didn't occur. Co-writer and

The incredibly talented Hoagy (Hoagland) Carmichael wrote "Stardust", originally published as "Star Dust". This was recorded by the author as the original instrumental in 1927 with his "pals" Emil Seidel's Orchestra and the Dorsey brothers. Mitchell

The trio Touch Of Class (Peter and Gerald Jackson, and Herbert Brevard) recorded a demo of "Turn The Beat Around" for their debut 1975 LP but it didn't show up by the group on vinyl until their 1979 self-titled release. Your humble poster prefers this

The late Italian singer, composer Lucio Battisti released "Balla Linda" (Battisti - Mogol) in 1968 where it reached the top twenty on the Italian chart as a B side. Created by Dunhill label owner Lou Adler with songwriters/producers P.F. Sloan and Steve

Co-writer Roger Gook with "Talking In Your Sleep" (Roger Cook - Bobby Wood). Co-composer Bobby Wood was the pianist on "Suspicious Minds" and "In The Ghetto" by Elvis Presley along with Danny O'Keefe's "Goodtime Charlie's Got The Blues". Roger Cook

"Children Of The World" was a 1976 LP by The Bee Gees (lead Robin Gibb, Barry Gibb and Maurice Gibb) containing the track "Love Me" (Barry Gibb - Robin Gibb). Later that year Yvonne Elliman released "Love Me" from the album of the same name. The single

"Jesus Christ Superstar" spawned a few hits and one of them was Yvonne Elliman in the role of Mary Magdalene singing "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (A. L. Webber - T. Rice) in one take from the 1970 soundtrack double LP. The single reached number

Personal favourite Roger Miller wrote and performed "Whistle Stop" for the 1973 Disney film "Robin Hood". This is from the soundtrack. Roger played fiddle in Minnie Pearl's band. played drums with Faron Young's group and was once a member of Ray Price's

Fittingly released on the Paramount Records label, The Paramount Singers with the traditional gospel song "When All The Saints Go Marching In" from it's first known recording in 1923. The melody is traditionally used as a dirge during a New Orleans

Austria's Falco (Johann Holzel) introduced "Der Kommissar" (Falco - Robert Pronger) in 1981 topping the charts in other parts of the planet, top twenty in Canada but it didn't do well in the U.S. nationally. The single is from the album "Einzelhaft".

Delaney & Bonnie (Bramlett) And Friends (Duane Allmam plays lead guitar, Leon Russell on piano) issued "Groupie (Superstar)" (Bramlett - Russell) in 1969. Delaney Bramlett was a members of the house band on television's "Shindig" while Bonnie was the

James Ingram admitted that "Just Once" (Barry Mann - Cynthia Weil) started as a fifty dollar demo for ATV Music. I feel confident that James had no idea he would win Grammy nominations for the final product. ATV was founded as Associated Television in the

"Ooo Baby, Bay" (William Robinson - Warren Moore) was a 1965 number sixteen pop and number four R&B hit for The Miracles (Smokey and Claudette Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White). The single is from the album "Going To A Go-Go" which

The Bobby Troup Trio with Virginia Maxey sings "Daddy" (Troupe) from 1951. Bobby also wrote "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" and starred with wife Julie London in television's "Emergency" in the seventies. Virginia Maxey was a big band singer with Tony

Smokey Robinson produced The Temptations (lead David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul and Otis Williams) "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (Norman Whitfield - Edward Holland Jr. - Cornelius Grant). The single with guitar work by co-composer

The Temptations' (lead vocal Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams) "How Can I Forget" (Whitfield - Strong) was released as a B side in 1968. The single is on the album "The Temptations Wish It Would Rain". Marvin Gayes'

"Remember What I Told You To Forget" (Brian Potter - Dennis Lambert) was recorded by The Four Tops (lead Levi Stubbs, Renaldo Benson, Abdul Fakir and Lawrence Payton) in 1972. Early in their career The Four Tops sang backup for The Supremes and Martha and

In 1964 The Miracles (Smokey and Claudette Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Marv Tarpin and Ronnie White) recorded "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" (Norman Whitfield - Edward Holland Jr.). The original was not issued until the 1966 LP "Away We A Go-Go".

In 1975 The Choice Four (Charles Blagmon, Bobby Hamilton, Ted Maduro and Pete Marshall) recorded the Van McCoy produced "I'm Gonna Walk Away From Love" (Charles Kipps). Later that year former Temptations lead, member of The Dixie Nightingales and The

The 1966 LP "Gettin' Ready" contains The Temptations (Eddie Kendricks lead vocals, Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin, Otis Williams and Paul Williams) original "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (Norman Whitfield - Janie Bradford - Barrett Strong). Marvin

(Daryl) Hall and (John) Oates "She's Gone" (Hall - Oates) is on the 1973 album "Abandoned Luncheonette". When it was issued as a single edit the song stalled at number sixty on Billboard. Two years later the original was re-released and peaked at number

Based on the traditional "Young Man's Lamentation", a Knoxville, Tennessee busker known as "The Blind Musician Of The Smoky Mountains" George Reneau recorded "On Top Of Old Smoky" in 1925 at a NYC studio. This isn't the melody associated with the song

The Larry Butler album "Larry Butler and Friends" includes his version of (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (Larry Butler - Chips Moman) along with noted musicians The Jordanaires, Pete Drake, Bob Moore, Tommy Allsup and Pig

Frankie Valli (Castelluccio) was first to record "Native New Yorker" (Sandy Linzer - Denny Randell) for the 1977 album "Lady Put The Light Out". The songwriters were also known for their Four Seasons hits "Let's Hang On" and "Working My Way Back To You".

The Tony winning 1955 Broadway musical "Damn Yankees" introduced (You've Gotta Have) Heart (Dick Adler - Jerry Ross) ran for over one thousand performances. The production was successfully revived in 1994 while the movie version was released in 1958 and