I think Connie Francis was the greatest female vocalist from the late fifties through the mid sixties. (True: I was a young boy then, and in love with her voice.) But it wasn’t just my opinion, it was much of America’s (and the world’s) too.

It was the first number one single by a female singer in the rock era, the first to have “rock and roll” in the title, and the first number one single for RCA Records.

I was turning six years old in the summer of 1957, when Patti Page’s
Old Cape Cod peaked at position #3 and was on the charts for 17 weeks.
To me, it’s one of the classic summer songs of that era.

David V. McLeodMarch 1, 1934 – January 23, 2009
My father died when I was just twelve years old (after having been sick for several years), and my mother didn’t re-marry until I was seventeen. In those in-between years, I was raised by my mother and my father’s mother. One of my primary male influences was [...]

This song was written for the Drifters by the prolific songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman.

THE FOUR ACES lyrics - Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
(Words by Paul Frances Webster and Music by Sammy Fain)
Love is a many splendored thing
It’s the April rose
That only grows in the early spring
Love is nature’s way of giving
A reason to be living
The golden crown that makes a man a king
Once on a [...]

There’s a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see,
Nobody else could miss her, not half as much as me.
She cried so when I left her, it like to broke my heart
And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part.
She’s the sweetest little rosebud,
That Texas ever knew
Her eyes are bright as diamonds,
They [...]

In 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded “Rock Around the Clock”. It was re-released later in 1955, in conjunction with the film Blackboard Jungle. The song rose to the top of the Billboard musical charts that summer and stayed there for eight weeks, the first rock and roll record to do so.

One, two, [...]

TimeLife.com
Malt Shop Memories
Break out those bobby socks and school sweaters! Your favorite 50s Music is here in this special Malt Shop Memories collection, packaged in a nifty collector’s box. Dance to 150 jukebox [...]