The Four Lads were a Canadian male singing quartet that earned many gold singles and albums in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Their million-selling signature tunes include "Moments to Remember"; "Standing on the Corner"; "No, Not Much"; "Who Needs You?" and "Istanbul".
Many musical styles flourished and combined in the 1940s and 1950s, most likely because of the influence the radio had in creating a mass market for music. World War II caused great social upheaval, and the music of this period shows the effects of that upheaval.
Frankie Laine was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005. Often billed as "America's Number One Song Stylist", his other nicknames include "Mr. Rhythm", "Old Leather Lungs", and "Mr. Steel Tonsils". His hits included "That's My Desire", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Mule Train", "Jezebel", "High Noon", "I Believe", "Hey Joe!", "The Kid's Last Fight", "Cool Water", "Rawhide", and "You Gave Me a Mountain".
John Coburn Stewart was an American songwriter and singer. He is known for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the 1960s while with the Kingston Trio (1961–1967) and as a popular music songwriter of the Monkees' No. 1 hit "Daydream Believer" and his own No. 5 hit "Gold" during a solo career spanning 40 years that included almost four dozen albums and more than 600 recorded songs.
Ned Washington was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
"In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" is a popular song with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally planned to feature it in a Paramount film written for Betty Hutton that never took off, which was to be called The Mack Sennett Girl. The song was buried in Paramount's files until it was rediscovered and then used in the 1951 film Here Comes the Groom and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
"Marianne" is a traditional calypso song made popular by Trinidadian calypsonian Roaring Lion. Writing credits on the Easy Riders recording are Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller.
Frank Miller was an American singer and songwriter. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for being part of a band called "The Easy Riders", with Richard Dehr and Miller: they accompanied Terry Gilkyson on the best-selling recording of their hit song "Marianne" as a single in 1956. Subsequently, Miller, Jerry Yester, and Doug Myres formed another "Easy Riders" group. His wife Juanita died in 2005 at the age of 81. Miller died in Durham, North Carolina in December 2015 at the age of 97.
"I Believe" is a popular song written by Ervin Drake, Irvin Abraham, Jack Mendelsohn and Al Stillman in 1953. The most popular version was recorded by Italian-American singer Frankie Laine, and spent eighteen weeks at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.
Terry Gilkyson was an American folk singer and songwriter.
"Memories Are Made of This" is a popular song about nostalgia, written in 1955 by Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller. They were the members of a three-pieced group called "The Easy Riders", who served as a backing band for Dean Martin's version of this song, also released in 1955.
Marianne is the national personification of France.
"I May Be Wrong " is a popular song. The music was written by Henry Sullivan, the lyrics by Harry Ruskin, arranged by Dan Daugherty, and the original music publisher was Ager, Yellen, and Bornstein, Inc. The song was published in 1929 and it was included in the musical revue Murray Anderson's Almanac which ran for 69 performances at Erlanger's Theatre on Broadway in 1929. It is said that the song was written on-demand for John Murray Anderson.
"Hey Joe!" is a 1953 popular song written by Boudleaux Bryant. It was recorded by Carl Smith for Columbia Records on 19 May 1953 and spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the US country music chart, marking Bryant's first no. 1 record. He later wrote songs with his wife Felice for The Everly Brothers. The song was first published in New York on July 17, 1953 as "Hey, Joe".
"That's My Desire" is a 1931 popular song with music by Helmy Kresa and lyrics by Carroll Loveday.
Clarence Carson Parks II was an American songwriter, music publisher, musician and singer, best known for writing the hit song "Somethin' Stupid". His younger brother is the composer Van Dyke Parks.
The Kingston Trio is the Kingston Trio's debut album, released in 1958. It entered the album charts in late October 1958, where it resided for nearly four years, spending one week at #1 in early 1959. It was awarded an RIAA gold album on January 19, 1961.
"The Cry of the Wild Goose" is a 1950 song written by Terry Gilkyson. Originally performed by Frankie Laine, the song was the third of three consecutive number-one hits for him, following the previous year's hits "That Lucky Old Sun" and "Mule Train". The song was released on 78 rpm in early 1950 by Mercury Records with a catalog number of 5363.
"Greenfields" is a song written by Frank Miller, Richard Dehr, and Terry Gilkyson and performed by the Brothers Four. In 1960, the track reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 2 in Canada, and No. 40 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Don't Make My Baby Blue" is a song by Frankie Laine, released as a single in March 1963. It peaked at number 51 on Billboard Hot 100. It was later covered by the Shadows, who had a hit with it in the UK. Laine also recorded the song in Spanish, Italian and German.
