1959 FLEETWOODS 78 MR. BLUE / YOU MEAN EVERYTHING..TOP RANK JAR 202 M-
£
93
$
123
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Description
A MEGA-RARE CLASSIC 1959 VOCAL 78 FROM THE FLEETWOODS ON THE UK TOP RANK LABEL
MR. BLUE / YOU MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME
The Fleetwoods were a singing trio from Olympia, Washington, United States; formed in the late 1950s. They were responsible for the hit song "Come Softly to Me". The song was originally called "Come Softly", and the group was originally named Two Girls and a Guy, but both were changed en route to the song becoming a hit.
Gary Troxel (b. November 28, 1939, Centralia, Washington) and Gretchen Christopher (b. February 29, 1940, Olympia, Washington) were two high school students waiting for Christopher's mother to pick them up after school. They started singing and humming a song together, and liked it enough to ask Christopher's friend and singing partner, Barbara Ellis (b. February 20, 1940, Olympia, Washington), to join them as a trio to perform it.
They performed the song twice at school functions, and their classmates wanted recordings of it so they could learn the song. After six months, they got the track recorded. They sang it a cappella, then dubbed the instrumental accompaniment, consisting only of Latin-styled acoustic guitar and the rhythmic shaking of Troxel's car keys. "Come Softly to Me" was also recorded by Frankie Vaughan and The Kaye Sisters, who had a chart hit in the United Kingdom with the song. The Fleetwoods' version of "Come Softly To Me" can be heard on a portable radio at one point in the 1986 movie, Stand By Me, which was set in Washington state.
Bob Reisdorf, the owner of Dolphin Records (later changed to Dolton Records), was responsible for the changes to the group name and song title. He thought that the title was too risque and not commercial-sounding enough, so he had it changed to "Come Softly to Me". He also thought that the group's original name wasn't commercial-sounding enough. The new name of the group, The Fleetwoods, was based on the telephone exchanges in the areas where the three members lived.
"Mr. Blue" written by James Perrotto and first recorded by DeWayne Blackwell in 1959 became a big US hit for The Fleetwoods, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1959 and giving the group its second chart-topping hit of the year - However it failed to make it in the UK where the song was covered by David MacBeth and Mike Preston.
DISC DETAILS:
UK TOP RANK 202 10" 78rpm VINYL
CONDITION - EX++ / NEAR MINT (COMES IN ORIGINAL SLEEVE)
VERY RARE 1959 CLASSIC VOCAL 78
DON'T MISS OUT
BID NOW!
On 31-Jan-07 at 14:38:06 GMT, seller added the following information:
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