From Encyclopedia Britannica: - pop ballad, form of slow love song prevalent in nearly all genres of popular music. There are rock ballads, soul ballads, country ballads, and even heavy metal ballads. Here is a selection of some of the most popular “pop ballads” of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Thursday, June 18, 2020

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD by Charlie Santos

From Wikipedia: "What a Wonderful World" is a jazz song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single, which topped the pop charts in the United Kingdom. Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

UNCHAINED MELODY (Righteous Brothers)



(From Wikipedia) Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North used the music as a theme for the little-known prison film Unchained (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers. According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages.
In 1955, three versions of the song (by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton) charted in the Billboard Top 10 in the United States, and four versions (by Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young, and Liberace) appeared in the Top 20 in the United Kingdom simultaneously, an unbeaten record for any song. The song and "Do They Know It's Christmas" are the only songs to reach number one in four different recordings in the UK. Of the hundreds of recordings made, it was the July 1965 version by the Righteous Brothers, performed as a solo by Bobby Hatfield, that became a jukebox standard for the late 20th century. This version achieved a second round of great popularity when it was featured in the film Ghost (1990). In 2004, it finished at number 27 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE (Bee Gees)



(From Wikipedia)"How Deep Is Your Love" is a pop ballad written and recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977 and released as a single in September. It was ultimately used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever. It was a number three hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 24 December 1977 (becoming the first of six consecutive US number-one hits), ended the 10-week reign of Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" and stayed in the Top 10 for a then-record 17 weeks. The single spent six weeks atop the US adult contemporary chart. It is listed at number 22 on the 55th anniversary edition of Billboard's All Time Top 100. Alongside "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever", it is one of the group's three tracks on the list. The song was covered by Take That for their 1996 Greatest Hits album, reaching number-one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks. "How Deep Is Your Love" ranked number 375 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Monday, August 28, 2017

STARRY, STARRY NIGHT 'Vincent' (Don McLean)



(From Wikipedia) "Vincent" is a song by Don McLean written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to Van Gogh's painting The Starry Night. The song also describes different paintings by the artist. It was created on the 100th anniversary of the midpoint of Van Gogh's life. McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of the artist. The following year, the song became the number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and No. 12 in the US. Coincidentally, it spent 12 weeks on the Hot 100. In the US, "Vincent" also peaked at number two on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 94 song for 1972. The song makes use of the accordion, vibraphone, strings, and guitar. In 2000, PBS aired Don McLean: Starry, Starry Night, a concert special that was filmed in Austin, Texas