September 6, 2026

 

With the first of eight hits on Top Rank,

in 59, A Teenager In Love, made No.13.

Also in the summer of 59, staying for four weeks,

arrived his No.1 hit – Only Sixteen.

 

Three more hits followed in 60,

when  Pretty Blue Eyes, had a Top 4 stay.

and The Heart Of A Teenage Girl, made No.10.

And reaching No.41, was  Oh! What A Day

 

In 61, rising to No.9, was, A Hundred Pounds Of Clay.

Also in 61, Time, peaked at No.9.

And in 62, When My Little Girl Is Smiling,

became his last hit on Top Rank, also making No.9.

 

Next in 62, Our Favourite Melodies, 

this time on Columbia, another No.9, in this mix.

And finally in 62, Oh Lonesome Me, on Decca, rose to No.15.

And in 63, Town Crier, also on Decca, made No.36.

 

 

In a five year span of 11 UK hits,

seven of them made the Top 10,

for this much loved singer of the time,

when life was so sweet, back then.

 

Craig Douglas still had a following,

who saw him headline Night Clubs and Cruise  Ship stages.

Thank you for bringing so much pleasure,

to fans down the years of all ages.

 

R.I.P    Craig Douglas   1941 – 2026

 

written by Harriet Blackbury

usual copyright rules apply

 

 

 

 

 

August 29, 2026

 

 

 

In 76, arrived her first UK hit on RCA,

when Jolene, rose to No. 7.

And in 81, still on RCA, 9 To 5 

became a US No.1 and UK No.47.

 

In 83, Islands In The Sun, on RCA, a US No.1

for Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, made the UK No.7 slot.

And in 84, Here You Come again, on RCA,

reached No.75, and was loved a lot.

 

In 94, The Day I Fall In Love, on Columbia,

took Dolly Parton + James Ingram to No.64.

And in 02, If, on Sanctuary, made No.73,

ensuring that Dolly was loved forever more.

 

This totally amazing lady

soon became a world wide phenomenon,

by teaching us how to battle on,

even when all hope seemed gone.

 

With a talent to heal every aching heart,

Her powerful songs pulled us through.

On the darkest of days, she held us together, 

until cloudy skies turned to blue.

 

A goddess of goodness.

The queen of hope.

A writer of songs 

that gave us all hope.

 

A pocket sized sweetheart,

with a heart of gold.

The largest of Legends,

who never grew old.

 

R.I.P.   Dolly Parton     1946 – 2026

vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and so much more.

 

 

written by Harriet Blackbury

(usual copyright rules apply)

 

 

 

 

August 4, 2026

 

 

In 76, Lost In France, on RCA, rose to No.9,

with two hits in 77, both on RCA,

being –  More Than A Lover, peaking at No.27

and gold selling  It’s A Heartache, a Top 4 play.

 

In 79, Married Men, on RCA, reached No.35.

And in 83, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, on CBS,

became a gold selling US and UK No.1, and

Faster Than The Speed Of Night, made No.43 on CBS.

 

Also in 83, Have You Ever Seen The Rain

made No.47, on CBS.

And in 84, A Rockin’ Good Way, on Epic,

gave Shaky & Bonnie, a Top 5 success.

 

In 85, Holding Out For A Hero, on CBS was No.2.

and Loving You’s A Dirty Job But

Somebody’s Gotta Do It, on CBS, made No.73

with Todd Rundgren’s guest vocals imput.

 

In 91, Holding Out For A Hero, on Total, was a No.69.

And in 96, Making Love ( Out Of Nothing At All),

on East West, peaked at No.45.

And in 08, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, a No.57, on RCA.

 

Thank you for the great music 

R.I.P.   Bonnie Tyler  1951 – 2026

 

 

 

 

written by Harriet Blackbury 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 68, Black Magic Woman, on Blue Horizon, made No.37,

being the first UK hit for Fleetwood Mac.

And in 77, La Belle Epoque , on Harvest,

had a gold selling Top 2 with Black Is Black.

 

In 86, Have You Ever Had It So Blue, rose to No.14

for Style Council, on Polydor.

And in 96, The Day We Caught The Train, on MCA,

took Ocean Colour Scene to the Top 4.

 

In 82, Inside Out, gave Odyssey

a Top 3 on RCA.

And in 85, China Crisis, on Virgin,

reached No.14 with Black Man Ray.

 

In 69, White Room, on Polydor,

for Cream, peaked at No.28.

And in 86, True Colours, gave Cyndi Lauper

a US No.1 and UK No.12, on Portrait.

 

In 67, Procol Harum, had a 6 week No.1 on Deram,

with A Whiter Shade Of Pale.

And in 72, reaching No.13, this time on Magnifly,

for a second time came, A Whiter  Shade Of Pale.

 

In 66, Paint It Black, on Decca,

gave The Rolling Stones, a US and UK No.1 glow.

And in 95, Dreams, for Wild Colour,

rose to No.25, on Perfecto.

 

written by Harriet Blackbury

( usual copyright rules apply )

 

 

 

July 2, 2026

 

 

In 77, San Francisco (You Got Me)  made No.45,

for The Village People on DJM DJS.

And in 78, Y.M.C.A. on Mercury,

was a platinum selling, 3 week No.1 success.

 

In 79, still on Mercury, In The Navy,

reached No. 2 in the chart.

And also in 79, Go West, was a No.15.

And in 80, Can’t Stop The Music, at No.11, won every heart.

 

In 85, Sex Over The Phone, peaked at No.59,

this time on Record Shack.

And in 93, Y.M.C.A.(Remix) made No.12, on Bell.

And in 94, In The Navy (Remix), rose to No.36, also on Bell.

 

In 99, Y.M.C.A. (2nd Remix),

on Wrasse, reached No.35.

and to this day remains a favourite,

and fitting end to this hot list jive.

 

Thank You for the ‘feel good’ music.

Victor Willis   – Lead singer – The Village People

R I P    1951 – 2026

 

From Dad dancers to kings and presidents,

From children to grannies galore.

Your music brought joy to so many.

You knew how to fill a dance floor.

 

From the moment you hit the stage running,

with your own very personal style.

In the world full of sadness we live in.

You gave us all a reason to smile.

 

written by 

Harriet Blackbury.

 

 

 

June 30, 2026

 

 

In 70, the first of four hits came on CBS, with

I’m A Man at No. 8 and 25 Or Six To Four at No.7.

And in 76, If You Leave Me Now  became a gold selling

UK + US No.1, which was simply heaven.

 

In 77, Baby What A Big Surprise,

their last on CBS, made a No.41 score.

And in 82, now on Full Moon,

Hard To Say I’m Sorry – a US No.1+UK. Top 4.

 

In 84, Hard Habit To Break

peaked at No.8, also on Full Moon.

And in 85, on Warner Brothers,

You’re The Inspiration  was a No.14 tune.

 

 

Walter Parazaider – a much respected founder member of Chicago,

and multi talented musician ( sax, flute and clarinet).

Thank You  for such a great contribution to the music industry.

RIP      1945 – 2026

 

written by 

Harriet Blackbury

 

usual copyright rules apply

 

 

 

 

 

June 9, 2026

 

In 74, The Commodores had 2 hits on Tamla Motown – 

The first being Machine Gun, peaking at No.20.

And also, The Zoo (The Human Zoo) made No.44,

and in 77, Easy – now on Motown, was a No.9 entry.

 

Also in 77, Sweet Love/Brick House was a No.32,

and in 78, making No.38, came Too Hot To Trot/ Zoom.

followed by Flying High reaching No.37, and

Three Times A Lady, a gold selling US+UK No.1 tune.

 

Ending 78, Just To Be Close To You, made No.62,

and in 79, reaching No.8, arrived Sail On.

Also in 79, came Still, a US No.1+UK Top 4.

And in 80, Wonderland – a Top 40 slot won.

 

Also in 80, Lady (You bring me up) made No.56.

And in 81, Oh No peaked at No.44.

In 85, Nightshift was a Top 3.

And also in 85, Animal Instinct made No.74

 

In 86, Goin’ To The Bank, on Polydor, was a No.43,

And in 88, Easy, on Motown, at No.15, ends this mix.

Thank you Ronald LaPread – a talented musician and well respected

member of the The Commodores, from 1970 – 86

 

Thank you for the music 

RIP     Ronald LaPread    1949 – 2026.

Written by 

Harriet Blackbury

 

 

 

 

March 3, 2026

 

The first of 14 UK hits came on RCA, when

in 59, I Go Ape, made No.9, followed by, Oh Carol at No.3.

In 60, Stairway To Heaven, rose to No.8,

and making No.45 was, You Mean Everything To Me.

 

In 61, Calendar Girl, reached No.8,

and Little Devil, a No. 9 proved to be.

Ending 61, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, was a Top 3,

and in 62, King Of Clowns, rose to No.23.

 

Next in 62, came a US No.1 and UK Top 7 – 

being, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.

And ending 62, Next Door To An Angel, made  No.29.

And in 63, Let’s Go Steady Again, settled at No.42.

 

In 72, on RCA – Maximillion, reaching No.19, was,

Oh Carol/Breaking Up Is Hard To Do/Little Devil.

Also in 72, Beautiful You, peaked at No.43.

And in 73, That’s When The Music Takes Me, hit a No.18 level.

 

Also in 73, Standing On The Inside,

on MGM climbed to No.26.

And, Our Last Song Together, at No.31,

also a MGM mix.

 

In  74, A Little Loving, on Polydor, rose to No.34.

and Laughter In The Rain – a US.No.1 + UK No.15, on Polydor.

And ending this tribute to Neil Sedaka,

In 75, reaching No.35, also on Polydor, was, The Queen Of 64.

 

Thank You for the happy, feel-good music  Neil Sedaka

RIP  1939 – 2026

a fine vocalist, pianist and great songwriter for many.

 

written by

Harriet Blackbury.

 

 

 

December 24, 2025

 

Between 78 and 88 Chris Rea  had 13 hits on Magnet,

with Fool (If You Think It’s Over), at No.30, the 1st to arrive.

In 79 came Diamonds, making it to No44.

And in 82, Loving You, was at No. 65.

 

In 83, I Can Hear Your Heartbeat, rose to No. 60

and in 84, at No.65 – I Don’t KnowWhat It Is But I Love It.

And in 85, came Stainsby Girls peaking at No.26,

and seen at No.67, Josephine, another hit.

 

In 86, It’s All Gone, reached No. 69,

and also in 86 was, On The Beach, at No.57.

In 87, Let’s Dance, rose to No.12,

with, Loving You Again, at No.47 , 

and Joys Of Christmas , at No.67.

 

In 88, Que Sera, the last hit on Magnet, made No.73.

Also in 88, On The Beach Summer 88, was at No.12 on Wea.

I Can Hear Your Heartbeat, on Wea, peaked at No.74.

Finally in 88, Driving Home For Christmas (EP), rose to No.53.

 

In 89, Working On It, on Wea, also made No.53,

and last on Wea, a Top 10 – The Road To Hell (part 2).

In 90, Tell Me There’s A Heaven, made No.24, on East West

Also in 90, Texas, still on East West, at No.69, was on view.

 

In 91, Auberge, peaked at No.16, on East West,

followed by Heaven, at No.57.

Also in 91, Looking For The Summer, rose to No.49,

and ending 91, came , Winter Song,  at No.27.

 

In 92, Nothing To Fear, reached No.16, 

and, God’s Great Banana Skin, a No.31, was to be.

In 93, still on East West, 

Soft Top Hard Shoulder, peaked at No.53.

 

Still in 93, Julia, rose to No.18.

and in 94, at No.28, was, You Can Go Your Own Way.

and still on East West, Tell Me There’s A Heaven, made No.70,

and in 96 Disco’ La Passione, at No.41,with Shirley Bassey, was on display.

 

In 97, Let’s Dance, on Magnet, for Middlesbrough FC

ftrg Bob Mortimer and Chris Rea, made No.44.

And for many years, on Warner Brothers, from 07 onwards,

Driving Home For Christmas, was, and still is,

one of the best Christmas songs, for sure.

 

 

Thank you for the music  

God Bless you Chris Rea

RIP      1951 – 2025

written by 

Harriet Blackbury

 

 

November 25, 2025

 

In 69, Wonderful World Beautiful People

for Jimmy Cliff, on Trogan, was a UK Top 6.

And in 70, Vietnam, also on Trogan

entered the charts at No.46.

 

Still in 70, Wild World, on Island, rose to No.8,

and in 94, I Can See Clearly Now, on Columbia, made No.23.

God bless Jimmy Cliff, a much renowned singer,

and one of the undisputed kings of reggae, is he. 

 

Jimmy Cliff  1944 – 2025

 

written by

Harriet Blackbury

 

 

Newer Posts »