Category: Did you know?

The UK album chart began back in 1956 and it took 21 years until the first solo female had a chart-topping album by which time there had already been 189 number one albums prior to that. Over the following 11 years there were only 15 more occurances although there have been more in recent times, but then again there sales/download figures are so much lower than they used to be to make number one.

Here’s the list of the first 15.

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In the UK, the singles chart began in november 1952 and since that time, only eight songs have spent 10 or more weeks at the top. In the US, they’ve had 37 since 1955 with a new record being broken this year. Here’s the list.

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Berry Gordy Jr, the founder of Motown records is 90 years old this week. Here’s 10 facts about the great man:

It all started in 1959 with an $800 loan from his family, to buy a small house of which he converted the garage into a studio and the kitchen into the control room.

He is a descendent of a white farm owner from Georgia and his slave Esther Johnson.

He dropped out of High School in Detroit to pursue a featherweight boxing career before joining the U.S. Army in 1950.

The original label name was Tamla (taken from the hit Debbie Reynolds film Tammy). He then added Motown – a play on Detroit’s nickname Motor Town.

In 1957, he co-wrote Jackie Wilson’s hit Reet Petite which went to number one when re-issued in 1986, two years after Wilson’s death.

Berry has co-written 240 songs for the Motown stable which he sold, years later for $330 million.

Gordy started his own Jobete music publishing company, the name taken from the first two letters of each of his children’s names, Joy, Berry and Terry.

In 1971, Gordy moved the whole Motown business to LA. He also succeeded in getting Diana Ross the starring role in the film The Lady Sings the Blues, which he produced and gained an Oscar nomination.

Berry’s house in the Boston-Edison Historic District of Detroit is called Motown mansion.

He was honoured with a lifetime achievement at the American Music Awards in 1975. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 then received the President’s Merit Award from the Recording Academy in 2008.

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There are 15 songs which have spent 60 or more weeks in total on the Billboard Hot 100. Here is the list.

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In July 1940, Frank Phillips was the first radio newsreader to announce his name at the start of the bulletin.

Former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio sang backing vocals on Tina Turner’s We Don’t Need Another Hero, as he was a member of the Kings House Choir.

Simple Minds took their name from the lyrics of David Bowie’s hit The Jean Genie.

Former OMD member Andy McClusky wrote Atomic Kitten chart-topping Whole Again.

The Beatles’ Abbey Road album had the working title Everest. It wasn’t named after the mountain, but the cigarettes the engineer Geoff Emerick, smoked at the time.

Billie Ray Martin’s biggest hit was the 1995 re-issue of Your Loving Arms which reached number six, but her first chart appearance was as an uncredited vocalist on S-Express’ third hit Hey Music Lover.

On 9th March 2018, the New Musical Express printed its final magazine and its last ever cover star was the female rapper Stefflon Don.

Abba only had one appearance on the Now That’s What I Call Music! series, it was with Dancing Queen when it was re-issued in 1992 and peaked at number 16.

Talking of Abba, in 2000 they turned down $1 billion to do a 100-date tour.

Singers Bryan Adams and Ryan Adams were both born on the same date – 5th November.

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This week’s item was requested by Hayley Coffey who asked me how many titles of number one songs contain a primary colour. At the risk of being sneaky and including a colour within a word that isn’t really a colour (like Blurred Lines) I’ve stuck to real words and there are 21 in total. Here’s the list.

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