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JUMP TO:
🎵 1995 – HAVE YOU EVER REALLY LOVED A WOMAN? / Bryan Adams
🎵 1985 – HEAVEN / Bryan Adams
🎵 1975 – LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER / The Captain & Tennille
🎵 1965 – I CAN’T HELP MYSELF / Four Tops
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Welcome to another #1 Songs On This Date! – another four-pack of the cream of the crop from the Top 40 Rock ‘n’ Roll music era.
And with this post, the one-third mark of the #1 Songs archive project is eminent, with 278 distinct number one singles from the years 1956 through 1995 having now been featured – with still hundreds more to follow.
They’re all part of a permanent repository that’s being built at HouseoftheHits.com which will ultimately feature ALL 837 different number one singles as listed in 2,080 weekly national music charts published by Billboard® within that 40-year timeframe.
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Fortunately, HouseoftheHits has every one of those charts – plus secondary data – as published in the essential Joel Whitburn’s Record Research series (CD-ROM and eBook edition formats).
Everything is stored digitally on a HouseoftheHits computer – as are all 837 number one singles (in high-quality audio) from the music vault.
With the availability of precise data and the HOTH song files – together with some amazing technology – approximately 600 – 700 of those Billboard® chart-toppers will be presented this year – with the remainder to follow in early 2017.
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As the archive grows you will have continual free access to the accumulating repository, indexed by Decade, Month and Year. Plus, EVERY Title and Artist will be (blue) hyper-linked for smooth, easy navigation from song to song – with more great features to be added along the way.
Again, it will contain every #1 single in America, plus interesting commentary about each song (written by yours truly) and presented with a crystal clear High-Definition audio version of the complete original hit to instantly play as often as you wish.
The ever-expanding library is found HERE and you can bookmark this link for future instant access.
Enjoy!
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[NOTE]
Due to copyright issues, some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets and connected devices. Whenever possible, an alternate working audio source will be provided, but a PC, Mac or laptop may ultimately be required in some cases.
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#1 / July 5th, 1995
HAVE YOU EVER REALLY LOVED A WOMAN?
Bryan Adams
[1995]
Number One: 5 weeks
Replaced: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT / Montell Jordan
Succeeded by: WATERFALLS / TLC
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Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter-guitarist Bryan Adams scored a huge hit on both Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts with yet another tune written for inclusion in a motion picture – in this case, ‘Don Juan DeMarco’ starring Johnny Depp, Marlon Brandon and Faye Dunaway.
About the recording, Adams was quoted as saying: “The charm of that song is its simplicity – it is really sparse and basically what it is, a flamenco guitar and a voice.”
The creative formula that worked so well for the #1 hit (Everything I Do) I Do For You was again employed for “Woman’ – Adams’ writing collaboration with Robert John “Mutt” Lange and Michael Kamen.
[Trivia Bits] The Flamenco guitar work was provided by Paco De Lucia, who comes from a Spanish family famous for their guitarists, and who at one time worked with Chick Corea.
HYERLAW? was the last of three #1 Hot 100 hits recorded by Adams for movies. In 1991 it was (Everything I Do) I Do It For You for ‘Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves’ and in 1993 he collaborated with Rod Stewart and Sting on All For Love as heard in ‘The 3 Musketeers’ (See below).
‘Woman’ was nominated for both the ‘Best Male Pop Vocal Performance’ Grammy and ‘Best Original Song’ Academy Award, but lost in both categories – to Seal‘s Kiss From A Rose and Colors Of The Wind (from ‘Pocahontas’), respectively.
Other #1 Singles for BRYAN ADAMS (4)
• 1985 / HEAVEN
• 1991 / (Everything I Do) I DO IT FOR YOU
• 1989 / ALL FOR LOVE (Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting)
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#1 / July 5th, 1985
HEAVEN
Bryan Adams
[1985]
Number One: 2 weeks
Replaced: EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD / Tears For Fears
Succeeded by: SUSSUDIO / Phil Collins
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Canadian rocker Bryan Adams scored his first of four chart-toppers on this date in 1985 – albeit two years after the song’s recording.
Heaven first appeared in the 1983 motion picture “A Night In Heaven,” a somewhat sleazy piece presented under the guise of it being a “romance film.”
The flick starred Christoper Atkins as a Florida college student / part-time male stripper and his unhappily married school speech professor, played by Lesley Ann Warren.
The latter just happened to be an occasional patron of Atkins’ character’s dance club, where she unexpectedly “encountered” her daytime student. And, well…you can guess where it went from there.
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Also by 1983, Adams was becoming an international star, with his debut album Cuts Like A Knife having garnered extensive airplay on American radio.
Based on that growing stature, a station in Phoenix, AZ took notice of an Adams song called Heaven on the movie’s soundtrack release and began airing the track.
But despite the positive response, Adams’ record label, A&M, was reluctant to release it as a single.
But by 1985, increased pressure by radio and public demand for the song convinced the label to finally issue Heaven as a 45.
The fact that the single shot straight to #1 for Adams and A&M was sweet vindication for those who’d pushed for its release for so long.
Other #1 Singles for BRYAN ADAMS (4)
• 1991 / (Everything I Do) I DO IT FOR YOU
• 1989 / ALL FOR LOVE (Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting)
• 1995 / HAVE YOU EVER REALLY LOVED A WOMAN?
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#1 / July 5th, 1975
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER
The Captain & Tennille
[1975]
Number One: 1 week
Replaced: SISTER GOLDEN HAIR / America
Succeeded by: LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAID / Wings
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The top tune on this date in 1975 comes from two ex-members of the Beach Boys – that is, of their touring band.
During a break in a “Boys of Summer” 1971 tour, keyboardist Daryl Dragon was taking in a new musical debuting in San Francisco – one co-written by Alabama-born but Southern California-transplanted musician Toni Tennille, whom he’d yet to encounter.
The pair ended up meeting on that occasion, immediately hit it off, and soon after Dragon asked Toni to join the Beach Boys band, with the latter playing piano and providing back-up vocals for the next year. And for trivia buffs, Tennille is now known as the only “Beach Girl.”
Once that tour ended, they began working as a musical duo, playing gigs in and around Los Angeles.
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By 1974 they were married, and a recording made for their own small Butterscotch label as Toni and Daryl – the Tennille-penned The Way I Want To Touch You – found its way into the hands of a suburban L.A. radio station which began spinning the tune.
That exposure led to a contract with Herb Alpert‘s A&M Records label and into the studio to cut an album. And it was during those sessions that a frequent occurrence among recording artists repeated itself yet again.
One more up-tempo number was needed to finish the set of songs, and the duo was directed to a track from the comeback album of early 1960’s American singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka – an LP titled Sedaka’s Back.
That particular tune was called Love Will Keep Us Together and a big hit was born in the summer of ’75; one that in fact would score the ‘Record of the Year’ Grammy Award.
[Trivia Bits] Toni Tennille paid tribute to Neil Sedaka during the closing seconds of the recording when she vocalized “Sedaka is back…”
It was Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love who gave Daryl the moniker “Captain” – and it stuck. Soon after, the quiet and reserved Dragon began wearing a nautical captain’s hat regularly to concur with the nickname.
The Captain and Tennille would record a new version of their demo The Way I Want To Touch You for A&M and it climbed to #4 on the Hot 100 in the fall of 1975.
Sadly, Daryl Dragon has been suffering from a form of Parkinson’s Disease since 2007 – not full-blown, but enough to seriously handicap his keyboard playing and typing skills.
Other #1 Singles by THE CAPTAIN & TENNILLE (2)
• 1980 / DO THAT TO ME ONE MORE TIME
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#1 / July 5th, 1965
I CAN’T HELP MYSELF
Four Tops
[1965]
Number One: 2 weeks
Replaced (1st time): BACK IN MY ARMS AGAIN / The Supremes
Succeeded by (1st time): MR. TAMBOURINE MAN / The Byrds
Replaced (2nd time): MR. TAMBOURINE MAN / The Byrds
Succeeded by (2nd time): (I Can’t Get No) SATISFACTION / The Rolling Stones
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Another hit written by the red-hot Motown Records tandem of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland sat at the apex of the Hot 100 in the early summer of 1965.
I Can’t Help Myself – sometimes subtitled Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch – from the Four Tops featured the unique and unmistakable voice of lead singer Levi Stubbs.
Stubbs, along with Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Abdul “Duke” Fakir and Lawrence Payton were all boyhood friends, who in 1954, despite being members of different groups, joined forces as a quartet known as the “Four Aims.”
That moniker was derived from the group’s credo to “aim for the top,” but later changed to the “Four Tops” to align with the latter verbage of that mission statement.
This was long before they’d joined “Hitsville U.S.A.” – having recorded for Chess, Red Top and then Columbia before inking a deal with Barry Gordy Jr.‘s stable in 1963.
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After their initial non-Top 10 releases Baby I Need Your Lovin’ (1964 • #11) and Ask The Lonely (1965 • #24) the quartet really hit the mark on this date.
When I Can’t Help Myself claimed #1, it was the first time in which one Motown single had succeeded another at the top, i.e.Back In My Arms Again by The Supremes, also penned by Holland, Dozier and Holland.
ICHM split its two weeks at number one – replaced for 7 days by the debut single from The Byrds, the electric folk-rock hit Mr. Tambourine Man.
[Trivia Bits] The Four Tops are the one and only group to have retained the original line-up for over 40 years and also having had a number one Hot 100 single.
During 19 years recording for Motown, the Tops turned out thirteen Top 20-charting singles, the biggest of the bunch being It’s The Same Old Song (1965 • #5), Standing In The Shadows Of Love (1966 • #6), Bernadette (1967 • #4) and their other #1, Reach Out I’ll Be There in 1966.
In late 1972 the quartet left their long-time home label to sign with ABC/Dunhill, a move with immediately yielded twin hits the following year – Keeper Of The Castle (#10) and the #4 million-seller Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I Got).
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The last time that Levi and company placed a record on the Hot 100 was in 1988 with Indestructible (#35), a song used by NBC-TV during the Summer Olympics that year.
Levi Stubbs died in October, 2008 at the age of 72. He was pre-deceased by Lawrence Payton in June of 1997 (59) and “Obie” Benson in July, 2005 (68), thus leaving “Duke” Fakir as the lone surviving original member.
Other #1 Singles by FOUR TOPS (2)
• 1966 / REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE
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CREDITS
Produced & Written By: Rick Murray Hunter / HouseoftheHits.com
Songs Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
References:
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Hits (5th Edition) by Fred Bronson
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits by Adam White and Fred Bronson
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits by Wesley Hyatt
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Albums by Craig Rosen
• The Billboard’s Hottest Hot 100 Hits (4th Edition) by Fred Bronson
• 1000 UK Chart Hits (Kindle Edition) by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh
• The Archives of RollingStone.com
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat.com
Special thanks to the patio of Starbucks, Little Road in New Port Richey, FL 😎
Other #1 Songs on This Date Posts are HERE
