If the real secret of success in Rock & Roll lies in choosing the right name, then Ace very nearly came a cropper. When rhythm…
Browsing: One-Hit Wonders
This short-lived act was one of several US acts formed by pop svengali Kim Fowley as an outlet for his production and songwriting talents at Rendezvous Records.…
London art college types influenced by the Commedia Del Arte, 1920s jazz and vaudeville, the Bonzo’s were originally called The Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Figuring nobody…
Kent-based Irish exile David Cunningham specialised in conceptual excavations of pop hits. His Flying Lizards project was a loose collective of avant-garde and free improvising…
Jilted John was a character invented by Graham Fellows, a 19-year-old from Sheffield, while he was studying at drama school in Manchester in 1977. He…
Jerry Samuels to his friends, this recording engineer and occasional songwriter worked a small miracle of bad taste with just a drum and tambourine in…
Entering the Billboard Top 40 on 21 January 1984, 99 Luftballons – a single by Teutonic new wave group Nena sung entirely in their own language – put German…
Nicholas George Gildern was born in London on 21 December 1951. While studying at Technical College in King’s Lynn (Norfolk), his parents migrated to Canada…
For many aspiring singers and bands, the one-off hit can be a bitter-sweet affair. A really big hit can transform lives in uplifting, positive (and…
Curtis Williams was a member of vocal group The Hollywood Flames formed in Watts, Los Angeles in 1949. However, in late 1953 he decided to…
Promises comprised three Canadian-born siblings, Leslie Knauer (vocals), Jed Knauer (guitar and keyboards) and Benjamin Knauer (keyboards and vocals). Their father Peter was originally from…
Toni Basil was born Antonia Christina Basilotta, but her date of birth is a matter of some speculation – estimates seem to veer between 1943…
Lynn Annette Ripley was born in Surbiton, Surrey, where her home was a 20-room mansion. Her father, Sidney (a prominent local Conservative politician), gave her…
Led by vocalist/guitarist Dave Fenton, The Vapors were a short-lived new wave guitar group that is best remembered for the pop single Turning Japanese. Fenton formed the first…
Formed in 1978, The Waitresses existed for the purpose of performing the witty, often female-oriented songs of guitarist Chris Butler, who had previously led a…