SINGY BOYS

Blood Sweat and Tears

Percy Sledge died today

Johnnie Ray

Smiley Burnette

Earl Grant

This boy is more of a dancey boy, but i thought i would post this song here. The song appeared first in 1929, in the 1929 Hollywood Revue.

Bobby Vinton

Terry Stafford

This song from the credits of the movie Slumdog Millionaire became a world-wide hit. Vocals in three languages (Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi) were done by Sukhvinder Singh, Mahalaxmi Iyer and Vijay Prakash.

This song by K'naan (Keinan Abdi Warsame) was written by him for his homeland Somalia and the aspirations of his people. It became a world-wide hit, and Coca-Cola used it in their advertising for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It became the anthem of the 2010 World cup.

The Korean pop singer Psy (Park Jae-sang) had a hit with this "viral video" song in 2012:

Ricky Martin (Enrique Martín Morales), from Puerto Rico, was a major factor in making "Latin pop" very popular outside of Spanish speaking countries. "Livin' la Vida Loca" (the crazy life) was his 1999 hit in which he "crossed over" to English, and some claim, launched the Latin pop explosion.

Here's something you weren't expecting. Lou Bega is a German singer, of Italian and Ugandan descent. In the same year that Ricky Martin "broke out," 1999, Lou had a big hit with "Mambo Number Five."

I have read many times that Bing Crosby was the most popular singer of the first half of the 20TH Century and that for many years White Christmas was the best selling record of all time.

Jimmie Rodgers is said to have been given up on by his voice coach, before he began his string of hits with Honeycomb

This song from the group Jethro Tull has lead vocals by Ian Anderson. (Jethro Tull was an agronomist and inventor who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries and is often thought of as the father of modern British agriculture.)

The song is interesting because, although recorded in the studio, it is entirely overdubs. Anderson recorded his flute part, some of the drum parts and the vocals, and all the other group members recorded their parts, and then they were all combined by overdubbing.

I like the piano solo at the beginning . . .

Tyrannosaurus Rex was an acoustic band beloved of hippies in the 1960s, but releasing only "underground" albums (produced, recorded, pressed and sold by the band). But they began to look to their future, got an agent and a contract, and then (GASP), they went electric ("sell outs!" shouted their hippie fans). In 1971, the now re-named T Rex had this song as a hit, sung by Marc Bolan, with back up vocals by Volman and Kaylan of the Turtles, by then defunct.

David Bowie released this song in 1969, a little more than a week before the moon landing, which gave the single and the album a boost. The character of Major Tom was created by a German singer-songwriter named Schiller. The video below is from a 1972 re-release. (Really bad lip synch in the video . . .)

The group Canned Heat formed to promote the appreciation of the blues. They took their name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 song "Canned Heat," which refers to Sterno, a desperate choice for alcoholics with the DTs--like Tommy Johnson himself. Formed in 1965, they proved an enduring group. Although Bob Hite sang most of the group's lead vocals, this song features Alan Wilson. This song, along with "Going up the Country" (performed at Woodstock), made Canned Heat international stars.

[Edit: Forgive me in case this is a repeat. I didn't see a mention of it in the last 2 pages.]

Roy O, to me, was the voice of '60s ballad and the good side of Pop music. He always makes me smile and think back to sunny times. I love singing and it was his voice that I tried to train myself to emulate but I didn't give up my day job. Once Karaoke started up everywhere, I stopped trying as so many time Roy's songs would come up in the playlists. Subsequently, I avoided lounges and bars that did Karaoke. It gives me a rash.

If there's a heaven and I go there...(2 impossibilities), Roy will be singing when I enter the Pearly Gates....oh, and on Friday nights.

This clip has 43 of his hits. I'm listening to Only he Lonely (#4) and In Dreams (#5) and now, Uptown (#7)...:

"Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988), also known by the nickname The Big O, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his trademark sunglasses, distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country and western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis. His greatest success came with Monument Records between 1960 and 1964, when 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top 40, including "Only the Lonely", "Crying", and "Oh, Pretty Woman". His career stagnated through the 1970s, but several covers of his songs and the use of "In Dreams" in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) revived his career"