Johnny Gill was the lead singer with New Edition, but he was encouraged to make a demo by his neighbour Stacy Lattisaw whose biggest hit was Jump to the Beat in 1980.

Johnny Pearson was an orchestra leader who recorded many TV theme tunes. The only one that charted was Sleepy Shores which charted at the end of 1971 and was the theme to the doctor series Owen MD. It was also the first single I ever owned.

Johnny Tillotson, who had a number one in 1961 with Poetry in Motion, spent most of his youth looking after his grandmother. The inspiration for the title of his number one came from the two songwriters, Paul Kaufman and Mike Anthony, looking up from their desk and watching a line of young ladies from a nearby school pass by outside their window every day.

Johnny Nash wrote and performed the theme song to American cartoon The Mighty Hercules in the 1960s.

Although Johnny Logan represented and won the Eurovision song contest in 1980 with What’s Another Year, his real name is Sean Patrick Michael Sherrard and he was born in Melbourne Australia.

Johnny Johnson’s (of the Bandwagon) real name is Johnny Mathis.

Johnnie (sometimes spelt Johnny) Ray lost his hearing in his right ear after a stupid blanket-toss accident at school where he fell on the ground on his ear.

Johnny Kidd and the Pirates had a minor 1964 hit called Always and Ever. Its B-Side was a cover of a Willie Perryman song called Dr Feelgood from which the punk/rock band took their name in the 70s.

Johnny Mathis, before becoming a singer was a high jump champion at school.

Johnny Cash, for 20 years, lived next door to Roy Orbison in Tennessee and in 1968 when Roy was touring the UK, a fire broke out at his home which killed his two sons, but it was Johnny who called the fire brigade.

Here’s an (almost) A – Z of bands with sisters in them, but not all of them had UK hits.

A	Ace Of Base	Jenny & Linn Bergrenn
B	Bangles	Debbi & Vicki Peterson
C	Cleopatra	Zainam, Yonah & Cleopatra Higgins
D	Dale Sisters	Betty, Julie & Hazel Dunderdale
E	Emotions	Sheila, Wanda & Jeanette Hutchinson
F	Five Star	Denice, Doris & Lorraine Pearson
G	Gardiner Sisters	Hailey, Allie, Mandi, Lindsay, Abby, and Lucy Gardiner
H	Heart	Ann & Nancy Wilson
I	Ibeyi	Twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz
J	Jackson Sisters	Lyn, Pat, Rae, Jacqueline & Glennie
K	Kossoy Sisters	Irene & Ellen
L	Las Ketchup	Pilar, Lola & Lucia Munoz
M	McGuire Sisters	Phyllis, Dorothy & Christine McGuire
N	Nolans	Bernie, Coleen, Linda & Maureen
O	Out of Eden	Danielle, Andrea & Lisa
P	Pointer Sisters	June, Anita, Ruth & Bonnie Pointer
Q	Quinn	Sara & Tegan Quinn
R	Ronettes	Estelle & Veronica Bennett
S	Sister Sledge	Kathy, Kim, Joni & Debbie Sledge
T	Tempers	Corina & Chalia Bakker
U	Unthanks	Becky and Rachel Unthank
V	Voice Of The Beehive	Tracy & Melissa Brooke-Belland
W	Winans	Angie & Debbie Winans
X	Xscape	LaTocha & Tamika Scott
Y	There are none
Z	There are none

 

 

Over Easter, Classic FM polled their listeners and with a return of over 96,000 votes they compiled the top 300 tracks and played them over the Bank Holiday weekend. This was the top 20.

Rank	Composer	Piece
20	Ennio Morricone	The Mission
19	George Gershwin	Rhapsody in Blue
18	Edward Elgar	Cello Concerto
17	Anton Dvorak	Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)
16	Antonio Vivaldi	Four Seasons
15	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Clarinet Concerto
14	Max Bruch	Violin Concerto No.1
13	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Requiem
12	Dmitri  Shostakovich	Piano Concerto No.2
11	Ludwig van Beethoven	Symphony No.6 (Pastoral)
10	John Williams	Schindler’s List
9	Gregorio Allegri	Miserere
8	Ludwig van Beethoven	Symphony No.9 (Choral)
7	Gustav Holst	The Planets Suite
6	Ludwig van Beethoven	Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor)
5	Karl Jenkins	The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace
4	Edward Elgar	Enigma Variations
3	Ralph Vaughan Williams	Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
2	Ralph Vaughan Williams	The Lark Ascending
1	Serge Rachmaninov	Piano Concerto No.2

This came in as a reqested from Darryl Moreton who ask how many UK hits contain a Capital city in the title. Upon checking that he didn’t mean cities in part-words like Rubberneckin’, then there is 72, here is the list and I’ve included one EP title. They are in alphabetical order by Capital.

Artist	Title	Year	Position
Max Bygraves	Tulips From Amsterdam	03/05/1958	3
Ronnie Hilton	A Windmill In Old Amsterdam	13/02/1965	23
Elvis Costello	New Amsterdam	07/06/1980	36
Simple Minds	The Amsterdam (Ep)	09/12/1989	18
Wheatus	American In Amsterdam	06/09/2003	59
Don Fardon	Belfast Boy	18/04/1970	32
Boney M	Belfast	29/10/1977	8
Barnbrack	Belfast	16/03/1985	45
Simple Minds	Belfast Child	18/02/1989	1
Energy Orchard	Belfast	27/01/1990	52
Orbital	Belfast	27/05/1995	53
John 00 Fleming	Belfast Trance	02/02/2002	74
Infernal	From Paris To Berlin	22/04/2006	2
Mobiles	Drowning In Berlin	09/01/1982	9
Ry X	Berlin	16/11/2013	38
George Ezra	Budapest	16/11/2013	72
Danny Kaye	Wonderful Copenhagen	28/02/1953	5
Dermot O’brien	The Merry Ploughboy (Off To Dublin In The Green)	22/10/1966	46
Frank Chacksfield	In Old Lisbon	25/02/1956	15
Ralph Mctell	Streets Of London	07/12/1974	2
T.Rex	London Boys	06/03/1976	40
Wings	London Town	09/09/1978	60
Electric Light Orchestra	Confusion/Last Train To London	17/11/1979	8
Clash	London Calling	15/12/1979	11
Charlie Harper	Barmy London Army	19/07/1980	68
Light Of The World	London Town	18/10/1980	41
Xtc	Towers Of London	18/10/1980	31
Anti Nowhere League	Streets Of London	23/01/1982	48
Chas And Dave	London Girls	19/03/1983	63
Bucks Fizz	London Town	01/10/1983	34
Bill Sharpe	New Thing From London Town	04/10/1986	52
Radio Heart	London Times	13/06/1987	48
Mr. Lee	Pump Up London	06/08/1988	64
Jean Michel Jarre	London Kid	07/01/1989	52
London Boys	London Nights	01/07/1989	2
Wendy James	London’s Brilliant	17/04/1993	62
X Press 2	London X-Press	05/06/1993	59
Elvis Costello	London’s Brilliant Parade	26/11/1994	48
Collapsed Lung	London Tonight	22/06/1996	31
Scott Garcia	A London Thing	01/11/1997	29
Jds	London Town	23/05/1998	49
Fergie	London Bridge	16/09/2006	3
Grm Daily	London’s Calling	19/05/2018	69
Aj X Deno	London	02/06/2018	45
Young Thug	The London	08/06/2019	18
Ed Sheeran	Take Me Back To London	27/07/2019	3
M24	London	22/02/2020	32
Tony Osborne	The Man From Madrid	25/02/1961	50
Lil Macks	Oslo	02/04/2022	66
Dean Martin	Under The Bridges Of Paris	02/04/1955	6
Eartha Kitt	Under The Bridges Of Paris	02/04/1955	7
Winifred Atwell	The Poor People Of Paris	17/03/1956	1
Gary Moore	Parisienne Walkways	21/04/1979	8
U.K. Subs	Party In Paris	25/10/1980	37
Mood	Paris Is One Day Away	22/05/1982	42
Tygers Of Pan Tang	Paris By Air	11/09/1982	63
Style Council	The Paris Match	13/08/1983	3
Dario G	Carnival De Paris	20/06/1998	5
Ladyhawke	Paris Is Burning	12/07/2008	61
Morrissey	I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris	21/02/2009	21
Jay-Z	N***ers In Paris	03/03/2012	10
Chainsmokers	Paris	28/01/2017	5
Lana Del Rey	Paris Texas	08/04/2023	48
Edmund Hockridge	By The Fountains Of Rome	01/09/1956	17
David Hughes	By The Fountains Of Rome	22/09/1956	27
Morcheeba	Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day	05/08/2000	34
Passengers	Miss Sarajevo	02/12/1995	6
Clairo	Sofia	07/11/2020	75
Ultravox	Vienna	17/01/1981	2
Falco	Vienna Calling	31/05/1986	10
Four Aces	The World Outside (Theme From Warsaw Concerto)	24/01/1959	18
Russ Conway	The World Outside (Theme From The Warsaw Concerto)	24/01/1959	24

Here are 10 American chart facts that will hopefully interest you.

Only two acts in American chart history have occupied the top three positions at the same time, The Beatles in 1964 with Can’t Buy Me Love, Twist & Shout and Do You Want to Know a Secret and matched in 2019 by Ariana Grande with 7 Rings, Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored and Thank U, Next.

The longest gap between Top 10 hits is held by the Ronettes from Be My Baby in 1963 to Sleigh Ride in 2022.

The longest climb to no. 1 record was also broke in 2020 when Glass Animals’ hit Heat Waves topped the chart in its 59th week.

Most weeks at number was Lil Nas X’s song Old Town Road which, in 2019, spent 18 weeks there.

Most weeks at number two without getting to number one: two have achieved this, Foreigner’s 1981 hit Waiting for a Girl Like You and Missy Elliott’s Work It but spend 10 weeks in runner up position.

Most weeks in the top five: in 202/21 The Weeknd with Blinding Lights spent 43 weeks in the top five.

Biggest jump to the top from within the top 100. In 2009, Kelly Clarkson with My Life Would Suck Without You leapt from 97–1.

Grandest plummet out of the Hot 100: In 2016, following his death Prince was back with Purple Rain but as quick as it arrived, it disappeared vanishing from number four.

Acts with the most U.S. number ones, the goes to the Beatles with 20, but Mariah Carey is closing the gap, she’s currently on 19.

And finally, most consecutive weeks in the top 10: that record holder is Katy Perry where between 2010 and 2011 she spent 69 weeks on the chart with the songs California Gurls, Teenage Dream, Firework, E.T.,  and Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).

 

This week marks ANZAC Day so I thought a list of the most successful Australian and New Zealand acts in UK chart history. I’ve included every act that have achieved eight or more hits and bands who are part-antipodean. I also show their active years and an end year if they haven’t chart for more than two years.

Rank	Name	Total UK hits	UK number ones	Chart Active years
1	Kylie Minogue	58	7	1988 – 2020
2	AC/DC	28	0	1978 – 2012
3	Sia	27	1	2000 –
4	INXS	25	0	1986 – 1997
5	Jason Donovan	17	4	1988 – 1993
6	Thompson Twins	16	0	1982 – 1992
7	Crowded House	15	0	1987 – 2007
8	5 Seconds Of Summer	15	1	2014 – 2020
9	Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds	14	0	1992 – 2008
10	Iggy Azalea	11	1	2012 – 2016
11	Pendulum	11	0	2004 – 2010
12	Rolf Harris	10	1	1960 – 2008
13	Natalie Imbruglia	10	0	1997 – 2007
14	The Kid Laroi	10	0	2020 –
15	Lords	9	1	2011 – 2021
16	Tina Arena	9	0	1995 – 2003
17	Savage Garden	9	0	1997 – 2001
18	The Seekers	9	2	1965 – 1967
19	Darren Hayes	8	0	2002 – 2007
20	Lemonheads	8	0	1992 – 1996
21	Craig Mclachlan	8	0	1990 – 1995