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.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

AL DI LA (Emilio Pericoli)


From Wikipedia:
"Al di là" (English translation: "Beyond") is a popular Italian song. "Al di là" was one of Betty Curtis' biggest hits in Italy. The song was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in Italian by Curtis at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on March 18, 1961, after Curtis had won the 1961 edition of the Sanremo Festival on February 2, 1961, (from 1958 to 1966, the winner of the Sanremo Festival would automatically represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest). In the United States, Emilio Pericoli is the artist most associated with the song. He sang "Al Di Là" in the popular 1962 film Rome Adventure, starring Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette, and his single that year on Warner Bros. Records reached number six on Billboard's pop chart and number three on the easy-listening chart. Pericoli's version ranked #48 on Billboard's 1962 Year-End chart.

GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME (The Charlie Santos Group)


Track 16 from the album "The British Invaders" by The Charlie Santos Group. A tribute to Tom Jones.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

BLUE VELVET (Bobby Vinton)


From Wikipedia:
Vinton is the only child of a locally popular bandleader, Stan Vinton. At 16, Vinton formed his first band, which played clubs around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. After a two-year hitch in the U.S. Army, where he served as a chaplain's assistant, Vinton was signed to Epic Records in 1960 as a bandleader: "A Young Man With a Big Band." Two albums and several singles were not successful however, and with Epic ready to pull the plug, Vinton found his first hit single literally sitting in a reject pile. The song was titled "Roses Are Red (My Love)." It spent four weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Arguably, his most famous song is 1963's "Blue Velvet", originally a minor hit for Tony Bennett in 1951, that also went to No.1. Twenty-three years later, David Lynch named his movie Blue Velvet after the song. In 1990, "Blue Velvet" climbed to the top of the music charts in Great Britain, after being featured in a Nivea commercial. In 1964, Vinton had two #1 hits, "There! I've Said It Again" (a #1 hit in 1945 for Vaughn Monroe) and "Mr. Lonely". Vinton wrote "Mr. Lonely" during his service in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s where he served as a Chaplain's Assistant. The song was recorded during the same 1962 session that produced "Roses Are Red" and launched Vinton's singing career.