If they made me a queen

Monday again. Dammit!

Never mind, eh? Here's something/someone to take our minds off it...

Described as "the first of the blue-eyed soul singers", today would have been the 85th birthday of one Timi Yuro, the vocal belter who had a string of hits Stateside before (like so many others) her star began to wane in the wake of the Beatles invasion.

With a series of overwrought hits with over-emotional titles such as Hurt!, Permanently Lonely, What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You) and The Love of a Boy, Miss Yuro was (understandably) given an obituary on her premature death in 2004 by none other than that other "blue-eyed soul" aficionado of angst Morrissey - who described her as his favourite singer!

On this Tacky Music Monday, however, I have found a rather camp interpretation of one of her tearful numbers for your delectation...

Timi Yuro - If

Gawd, I adore Scopitones!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Take it easy and enjoy it while you take it

Sigh. Back to the office again.

Another weekend - albeit a very enjoyable one - has whizzed by again, and so we're faced with another week of unbridled thrills and spills...

We need a little something special to get us going on this Tacky Music Monday - so how about a mantra we all live by, courtesy of the lovely Rosie?

Rosemary Clooney - Keep it Gay

Keep it gay, keep it light
Keep it fresh, keep it fair
Let it bloom every night,
Give it room, give it air

Keep your love-lovely dream and never wake it
Make it happy and be happy as you make it

Let it sing like a nightingale in May, keep it gay
Keep it free or you'll frighten it away
Take it easy and enjoy it while you take it
Keep it gay
Keep it gay
Keep it gay

Let it sing like a nightingale in may, keep it gay
Keep it free or you'll frighten it away
Take it easy and enjoy it while you take it
Keep it gay
Keep it gay
Keep it gay

I hope you're all singing along, dear reader! Have a good week...

A-no place to roam

[No. Not that one...]

Sad news of the departure last weekend of the improbably-nicknamed Clarence "Frogman"* Henry to the Doo-Wop-a-Go-Go Rooms in Fabulon...

Who? I hear you ask. His moment in the spotlight was mainly in the 1950s and early 60s - and indeed his fame was such that he was the opening act for the Beatles during their tour of the US and Canada in 1964. This is probably his most popular and enduring hit:

Clarence "Frogman" Henry - I Don't Know Why I Love You But I Do

However, during my research into the man, I stumbled across this simply marvellous interpretation of his earlier, self-penned number!

Madeline Kahn - Ain't Got No Home

[Oh, how we loved that woman..!}

RIP, Clarence Henry II (19th March 1937 – 7th April 2024)

[*He apparently got the nickname "Frogman" because the way he used to perform was likened to "croaking", and he incorporated it into the lyrics of Ain't Got No Home]

Who's That Boy?

That toddler is 65?! Heavens.

On the day he was born, Elvis was at #1 (and Cliff-bloody-Richard was at #3 - and neither of them are getting an airing here) - but what else was in the charts?

At #2:

The Teddy Bears [featuring Phil Spector] - To Know Him Is To Love Him

At #4:

Shirley Bassey - Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me

At #7:

The Platters - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

...and then, there was this:

Lonnie Donegan - Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavour (On The Bedpost Over Night)?

...and this!

Tommy Dorsey Orchestra - Tea For Two Cha Cha

Many happy returns, Madam Arcati!

Happy birthday, darling.

Planning your holidays?

Try sunny Blackpool, in 1957!

Holiday (1957) - extract

[For Mitzi]

Teach me what to do

And so, farewell then, Caroline Vincinette LoTempio. Who? I hear you ask...

Better known as April Stevens, she found fame in the 1950s and 60s for duets with her brother Nino Tempo on such standards as Deep Purple.

Here at Dolores Delargo Towers, however, it is for this suggestive little number [here in a video with footage from the post-apocalyptic TV series To The Lake, in which it was featured] that we love her the most!

April Stevens - Teach Me Tiger

Teach me Tiger how to kiss you
Show me Tiger how to kiss you

Take my lips, they belong to you
But teach me first, teach me what to do
Touch me Tiger when I'm close to you
Help me Tiger, I don't know what to do
I know that you could love me too
But show me first, show me what to do

This is the first love that I have ever known
What must I do to make you my very own?
Teach me Tiger how to tease you
Tiger, Tiger I wanna squeeze you
All of my love I will give to you
But teach me Tiger or I'll teach you

Tiger.

I wonder if he's lookin' at the same moon I'm lookin' at, every night I'm lookin' at the moon!

Sharing a birthday with the divine Grace Jones and the much-missed "national treasure" Victoria Wood, as well as the usual bizarre assortment of "names" such as Nellie Melba, Malcolm X, Nancy Astor, Pete Townshend, Kemal Atatürk, Martyn Ware, Trevor Peacock, Nora Ephron, Ho Chi Minh, Edward de Bono, Nancy Kwan, Joey Ramone, Sandy Wilson, Robert Kilroy-Silk, Sam Smith, James Fox, and - erm - Pol Pot...

..."the girl with the giggle in her voice", the lovely Alma Cogan would have been 90 today!

As I wrote when I featured the lovely lady over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp five years ago:

Known for her fabulous gowns as much as her cheery songs - never appearing in the same dress twice - Alma Cogan was also renowned for her lavish parties, guests at which included some of the greatest "names" of her day including Princess Margaret, Noël Coward, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Caine, Roger Moore, Frankie Vaughan, Bruce Forsyth and many more. She became one of the first UK record artists to appear frequently on television - that fledgling post-War novelty - and, despite being deemed "uncool" by the time the 60s arrived, nevertheless she allegedly had a passionate affair with John Lennon, and was a close friend of all the Beatles.

Her premature death from cancer aged just 34 shocked the nation, and to this day she is revered for the joy she brought to this country in the midst of the "austerity years" and beyond.

And, for your delectation, here's some examples of that "joy":

Alma Cogan - Got'N Idea

Alma Cogan - Fly Me To The Moon / Tell Him

Alma Cogan - Never Tango With an Eskimo

...and our "house fave" here at Dolores Delargo Towers:

Alma Cogan - Bell Bottom Blues

Long gone, but never forgotten!

Alma Angela Cohen Cogan (19th May 1932 – 26th October 1966)

The World of High Technology

Ooh, wee!

At last, it seems the hurricane-force winds, black clouds and generally chilly feel to the air has subsided, and the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers have a chance to bask in a bit of sunshine - of the sort one should expect in June!

So, how about a jolly little choon by way of a celebration? For today, sharing a birthday with such unlikely bedfellows as Peter the Great, Johnny Depp, Cole Porter, Patricia Cornwell, Natalie Portman, guitar guru Les Paul, "Father of the Railways" George Stephenson, actor Tony Britton (still with us aged 95), Charles Saatchi and Michael J. Fox, it would have been the 85th birthday of Mr Jackie Wilson!

Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite

Faboo!

A new look?

It's all over, bar the shouting.

Boxing Day. Ahhhh.

Now that Xmas nonsense is out of the way, we're heading for the New Year - perhaps the perfect time to start planning a home make-over. With a little help from the "experts" at Soft Tempo Lounge, it all becomes so easy...

Soft Tempo Lounge - Design Collection

Lovely.

[Music Life of Leisure by Keith Mansfield]

Hair-hoppers

Two birthday boys on this day, linked by a common muse?

House fave - and several-times featured "Totty of the Day" Mr Johnny Depp blows out 51 candles today. We'd like to help him with the "blow" bit...

The late, great Mr Jackie Wilson - another favourite of the genius that is John Waters - would have celebrated his 80th birthday today.

For this Tacky Music Monday let's pay tribute to the three of them, with a routine by the latter that could easily have been lifted straight from one of Mr Waters' musical movies - Hairspray or Cry Baby [Mr Depp at his most gorgeous] - it's Baby Workout!

Check out those bobby-soxers! And those trousers...

Jackie Wilson - Baby Workout

John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II (born 9th June 1963)

Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. (9th June 1934 – 21st January 1984)

Shopping

After a magnificent - extended - and sunny weekend, it is time for me to go to work.

Oh, dear.

To take one's mind off it let's have a soothing musical interlude, and think of better things. Like shopping!

Soft Tempo Lounge - English Rose

How life should be. Preferably without the "sci-fi" hairdos.

[Music: Sunspot by Roger Webb]

Pat Him On The Po-Po?

Remarkably, it is not just Her Maj's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 - today marks 60 years since the very first "official music chart" was published in the UK.

A helluva lot of water has passed under the bridge since those "innocent" days. I'm not quite sure what anyone in 1952 might have made of the likes of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj or Maroon 5... nor indeed what any of the benighted yoof of today would make of the records that made up that very first Top 5.

I know which selection I'd prefer!

5. Guy Mitchell:

Guy Mitchell - Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-Po)

4. Bing Crosby:

Bing Crosby - The Isle Of Innisfree

3. Nat King Cole:

Nat King Cole - Somewhere Along The Way

2. Jo Stafford:

Jo Stafford - You Belong To Me

1. Al Martino:

Al Martino - Here In My Heart

I can hear you all singing along...

First ever chart

Will the arrow point my way?

Heavens! Who even knew she was still alive? (#297 in a series...)

Today, the lovely 1950s crooner Miss Kay Starr celebrates her 90th birthday. What better way to pay respects than with Miss Starr's most famous hit Wheel of Fortune, as presented in that most "creative" of styles, a Scopitone clip?!

Kay Starr - Wheel of Fortune

I dare say that when this song was first written and recorded, no-one could have expected it - or Miss Starr - would ever be accompanied by writhing go-go girls...

And then there's this bizarrely literal interpretation of Around The World:

Kay Starr - Around the World

We love Scopitone! We love Kay Starr!

Facts about Kay Starr:

• She is part-Iroquois Indian, and was born on a reservation in Oklahoma.
• Kay was one of the guests who accompanied the manic Spike Jones on his TV series Club Oasis.
• Count Basie and Kay Starr collaborated on an album in 1968 called How About This; and this rare classic has recently been released on CD.
• One of her last recordings was a duet with Tony Bennett in 2001, Blue and Sentimental .

Kay Starr fan site

If I Had Plenty of Money and You

Having failed miserably again to win the Lottery, I thought this might be an appropriate choice of "Sunday music"...

It's the lovely Virginia Mayo as "Hot Garters Gertie", Working Her Way Through College apparently (ahem!):

She's Working Her Way Through College (Original Theatrical Trailer)

Indeed.

The best set of pipes in the business

Who knew that the consummate crooner (and heartthrob in the early 50s) Vic Damone was still alive?

The 83-year-old former Vito Rocco Farinola was discovered as a teenager by the classic comedian and entertainer Milton Berle, who pushed him in the direction of his first recording contract. In the 40s and 50s Mr Damone had numerous hits, including On the Street Where You Live, I Have But One Heart, Vagabond Shoes and An Affair To Remember, and was (briefly) considered a serious rival for Frank Sinatra.

As with so many crooners, the rock'n'roll era and the Swinging Sixties were not kind to Mr Damone's career and inevitably he ended up in debt and in Vegas, performing in casinos. But that turned out to be no bad thing in the MOR-dominated early 1970s, when a combination of touring and covers albums rejuvenated his career as a jobbing vocalist.

Facts about Vic Damone:

• He has recorded over 2,000 songs in his seven-decade career, only retiring in 2002.
• Frank Sinatra said that Damone had "the best set of pipes in the business".
• Wife number four (of five) was the lovely Diahann Carroll (later the magnificent Dominique Devereaux in Dynasty).
• In 1997, Damone received the "Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

And speaking of Sammy Cahn, here's one of his songs - a perfect piece of "Sunday Music" - beautifully sung by Vic Damone...

Vic Damone - Wonder Why

Wonder Why
Wonder why I'm not myself of late
Been feeling strangely great
I wonder why

I suppose some genius could explain
Why I walk in the rain
Just let him try

I guess there is a simple explanation
Unless I've come up with a new sensation
It could be that she's caught up with me
And all this mystery I'm speaking of
Is simply that I went and fell in love

Wonder why I haven't been the same
Since I first heard your name
I wonder why

And what's more, I do peculiar things
Like gaze at wedding rings
I wonder why

What makes a man with two left feet a dancer
It takes a wiser man, I guess, to answer
It could be that she's caught up with me
And all this mystery I'm speaking of
Is simply that I went and fell in love.

Many happy returns!

http://www.vicdamone.com/

Put another nickel in...

Had she lived, the delightful Teresa Brewer would have been 80 years old today.

Miss Brewer was one of those eternally chirpy artists so beloved of the pop world in the early 50s. A child star during WW2, she hit the big time principally as a singer of novelty songs (although one of her hits Gonna Get Along Without You Now has subsequently become a much-covered classic) - a genre that was emulated, with greater success, here in the UK by Alma Cogan. In many ways, she was the "child star who never grew up".

Once the mood of music changed with the advent of rock'n'roll, Teresa Brewer found it harder and harder to achieve the success of those early years, and it wasn't until the 1980s that she re-emerged as a jazz cabaret artiste - and, as is the wont of perceived kitsch female singers d'un certain age, a bit of a gay icon. She died only four years ago, aged 76.

Teresa Brewer - Music Music Music

Teresa Brewer fan site

If they made me a Queen...

Described as "the first of the blue-eyed soul singers", today would have been the 70th birthday of one Timi Yuro, the vocal belter who had a string of hits Stateside before (like so many others) her star began to wane in the wake of the Beatles invasion.

Unsurprisingly, with hits such as Hurt!, Permanently Lonely, What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You) and The Love of a Boy, Miss Yuro was given an obituary on her premature death in 2004 by none other than that other "blue-eyed soul" aficionado Morrissey - who described her as his favourite singer!

Here she is with a rather more camp little number for your delectation...

Timi Yuro - If

The Official Timi Yuro Association

A true impresario RIP

Mitch Miller, the bandleader who popularized the sing-along-with-your-TV form of entertainment and launched the careers of Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney has died at age 99.

All together, now!

Mitch Miller - Sing along with Mitch

She certainly can can can

On this Tacky Music Monday, I am hungover after our long and drunken picnic, and there is only one cure!

Laydeez 'n' gentlemen, (former Mrs Xavier Cugat) Miss Abbe Lane and The Tom Hansen Dancers... Enjoy!

Abbe Lane - Heatwave

Whew.