Hey, tdave, are you sure about those gals? I know the '81 song you are referring to , and I adore that raspy-voiced singer who sang "Bette Davis Eyes", but that's not her.
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I worried that it might be too hard without the song clues. LOL You guys are awfully good at this, though.
#12 in 1981 - The song that broke up a band :
https://youtu.be/gvDwr9-MlfE?list=RDgvDwr9-MlfE
#3 in 1977 :
https://youtu.be/0n7xu6gmu9M?list=RD0n7xu6gmu9M
Btw, the good-looking blonde lady backup singer in the Steely Dan video married some guy you have probably heard of. Remember the Dodger catcher back in the 70's, the one whose throat was pierced by a jagged piece of Bill Russell's broken bat, damaging his esophagus? Yep, that beautiful blonde is Gloria Yeager(Giaone), who married Steve Yeager. She teaches line dancing in California today. She's around 80, I think. I hate Father Time!
Steve Yeager went to Dayton Meadowdale high school. He was a great star basketball player there and I was surprised when he got drafted and signed by the Dodgers. He was like 4 years older than me. I saw him play in a couple high school basketball games in the state tournament (I used to go watch about 3-5 games straight at the UD Arena).
Steve Yeager was the cousin of Chuck Yeager, the pilot who first broke the sound barrier.
Steve Yeager is the reason catchers today wear that dangling throat protector. He nearly lost his life on September 6, 1976 in San Diego. I remember it like it was yesterday. The jagged shard from Russell's bat narrowly missed his windpipe and main artery. It punctured his esophagus. He had to have emergency surgery.
151. This British R&B and Soul singer was born in Wembley, England to Guyanese parents. Before her pop success, she was a West End performer in London, appearing in productions of Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Godspell. Her first hit was a Motown-inspired song that was famously written in seven minutes by two guys while enroute to a hospital where one of the writers' wives was giving birth .
The singer who was offered the song had to be convinced to record it. She couldn't stand the song at first. Didn't think it was any good at all. She finally agreed to record it, but only if it was released under a pseudonym, That's right, she disliked the song much that she didn't even want it connected to her real name. LOL She also wanted the staggering sum of around $45 US dollars. So yeah, she wasn't impressed by this song, and didn't think it had any chance of success. Boy, was she wrong!
She eventually agreed to have the song released under her real name and she was convinced to take a royalty payment, instead of a small flat fee( that decision was worth millions) . The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976 and was a staple on the charts throughout the spring of '76. The song was prominently featured in the 1977 movie, Slapshot.
The artist remained a one-hit wonder for around three years when she struck gold again in 1979 with a song that was co-written by the same woman who co-wrote "September"(Earth, Wind & Fire) and the theme to the television series "Friends." The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1979 and sat atop the Adult Contemporary chart for seven non-consecutive weeks. The song was pretty much autobiographical for the writer, as she was going through a painful breakup at the time she penned the song. She was inspired by the Samantha Sang song, entitled "Emotion," and wanted to write something along the same lines.
About her second big hit song, the singer would describe it as , "[a] sweet, simple little song", adding that its being chosen as a single was a decision with which she had disagreed.
All I can say is that this lady had very little faith in either of her big hits becoming successful. Fortunately for her and her bank account , she listened to the people around her.
Can you name this singer and her two big top 5 hits from 1976 and 1979 ?
#2 in 1976:
https://youtu.be/dANdPhs3Ilo?list=RDdANdPhs3Ilo
#5 in 1979:
Maxine is a gorgeous woman with a divine instrument of a voice. She is still gorgeous today and still sings amazing.
https://youtu.be/VqoawK1bQIM
152. Primarily known for his success in the 1970's , this singer first charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at age 12, when he was known as Bobby Pedrick, Jr. His song, "White Bucks and Saddle Shoes" peaked at #74. But his first major chart success came in 1972 when he peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a cover of a song by a prominent 60's doo-wop band. His biggest smash was yet to come , however. After his chart success in '72, he became frustrated with the music industry and left the music business to work in construction in New Jersey. After years of doing construction, he was encouraged to get back in to making music.
In 1979, he worked for months on a song with producer George Tobin. The song, inspired by Dobby Bose's "My Angel Baby," told of a man tenderly breaking the news to a temporary lover that he was ending their affair because his main lover was returning home. You feel me, guys? We've been there, haven't we?
The song became the singer's biggest hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 late in 1979 and knocking the biggest hit of the year from it's six-week reign at the top of the chart.
There were two Billboard records set with this song in '79. It was the song which took the longest time from when it debuted to when it reached #1(20 weeks) . The song also marked the longest time that had elapsed between when a singer first debuted on the Billboard charts to when this song hit the chart( 20 years, 11 months). I think Tina Turner later broke that record, and then Brenda Lee in 2023.
Also, this dude, in my opinion, had the only falsetto in the 70's that rivaled that of Barry Gibb, and he put it to good use in this #1 song.
Can you name this singer, his big #1 song, and the #1 song of 1979 that he knocked out of the top spot after its six week run there? For bonus points what was his top 5 song in 1972, which was a cover of a #1 hit by prominent sixties doo-wop band?
The song is Sad Eyes by Robert John. If I am not mistaken, his earlier hit - a cover, as you mentioned - was The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
I am far less confident about the smash hit that Sad Eyes dethroned as # 1, but I do remember the following song spending several weeks, if not months, in heavy, heavy airplay around the time, so I will go with The Knack’s My Sharona.
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Here’s a fairly easy trivia question. During the Michael McDonald era, the Doobie Brothers produced two Top 30 hits in which McDonald either didn’t sing lead or sang co-lead. Can you name the songs?
Here are some hints: 1)One is the long-forgotten third single from the Minute by Minute Album. Patrick Simmons sings lead here. 2)The other proved to be the band’s last hit of the McDonald era. McDonald sang co-lead with Saxophone player Cornelius Bumpas (R.I.P).
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#1 in 1979:
https://youtu.be/Xq0KPEIhuHg?list=RDXq0KPEIhuHg
#3 in 1972 :
https://youtu.be/6n0uVCWqsZs?list=RD6n0uVCWqsZs
Dethroned by "Sad Eyes" :
https://youtu.be/bbr60I0u2Ng?list=RDbbr60I0u2Ng