( T.J. Fowler & Tom King)
New Zealand
#14 NZ*
*NZ chart position calculated by Warwick Freeman.
Single on Zodiac by Australian saxophonist-arranger-producer-musical director active in the New Zealand music scene 1963-1977. His name is spelt Jimmie on nearly all his records.
Jimmie Sloggett (b. 1940) was from Coonamble NSW where, as an eight-year-old, he joined the brass band conducted by his father Harry. From his late teens Jimmie became a professional saxophonist, building a CV packed with the notable names he played for in sessions, on stage, or as a band member. These included Johnny Rebb’s Rebels and Johnny O’Keefe’s Dee Jays in Australia, and The Keil Isles and Max Merritt & The Meteors in New Zealand (Jimmie famously influenced Max’s musical direction by introducing him to Otis Redding’s Try A Little Tenderness).
In 1963 Jimmie and his wife, Auckland singer Carol Davies, moved to New Zealand where he continued to be in demand as a session and touring musician. He worked as a musical director and arranger at Viking Records and produced many notable NZ artists after co-founding an A&R and production company in 1966. Back in Sydney from 1977, Jimmie established a recording studio and continued performing live and in sessions.
Main sources: 1. Jimmie Sloggett biography at Bruce Sergent’s NZ Music site. 2. Crossfire as a song title with cover versions listed at SecondHandSongs.
Other essential reading:
1. Jimmie Sloggett profile by Chris Bourke at AudioCulture.
2. Jimmie Sloggett on the Sax: detailed profile from ABC Radio’s RareCollections series.
Recommended viewing: Wendy Stapleton’s Wrokdown interview with Jimmie Sloggett (embedded below)
( T.J. Fowler & Tom King)
Germany
Track on album Slop Train by initially jazz-oriented West German band formed in Frankfurt 1953/54 by brothers Hans and Klaus Kisha. In the late 50s they moved into rock’n’roll, the twist, and a variation of the twist called the slop, popular in Germany during the beat era.
Sources: 1. Liner notes to Slop Train. 2. Gisha Brothers page at laut.de.
( T.J. Fowler & Tom King)
Canada
Track on the ARC album of covers Wheels And Other Guitar Hits by Toronto studio musicians.
The album was also released for a French Canadian audience as Dans Le Coeur De Ma Blonde (Wheels retitled) with the artist name as Les Fantômes. The tracks are all instrumentals, so no adaptation was involved apart from some of the titles. (Crossfire is still Crossfire.)
Jaimie Vernon at The Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia suggests that the musicians could be from Doug Rankine’s bands The Secrets or The Quiet Jungle.
Disambiguation: This band is not, for example, Ottawa band The Phantoms, formed 1987, nor is it 1960s Melbourne band The Phantoms or 1960s French band Les Fantômes.
More: Discogs.com search results for artist name The Phantoms.
( T.J. Fowler & Tom King)
USA
Track on album The Big Ten on Columbia’s budget label Harmony.
Band led by Roscoe Joseph III (1937-2015), pianist and key exponent of the Tulsa Sound, better known as Rocky Frisco, also as Rocky Curtiss, a longtime associate and sideman of J.J. Cale on tour and in the studio.
( T.J. Fowler & Tom King) USA
Original version
#23 USA #25 Sydney #22 Melbourne #29 Brisbane
Single on Detroit label Twirl February 1959, then on New York label Warwick, April 1959 by American instrumental band with saxophone, guitar, keyboard and drums. Led by Hammond Chord organist Johnny Paris (b. Pocisk, 1940-2006), they flourished late-50s to early 60s.
Crossfire was the first of four Top 40 Billboard singles for Johnny & The Hurricanes 1959-60, all instrumentals. The other three Top 40 tracks were all based on old songs: Red River Rock (#5 USA, from the Western folk song Red River Valley), Reveille Rock (#25, from the military call), Beatnik Fly (#15, from the old song Jimmy Crack Corn aka Blue Tail Fly).
The writers
• T.J. Fowler (1910-1982), raised in River Rouge in the Detroit area, was a formally trained boogie pianist, arranger and composer who recorded in his own name and as a session musician or band leader. He was also a label owner and music publisher. He wrote or co-wrote other tracks for Johnny & The Hurricanes including Rocking Goose and Beatnik Fly. T.J. was his full first name.
• Tom King was a songwriting pseudonym of Harry Balk (1925-2016). He and business partner Irving Micahnik (aka Ira Mack) operated production, publishing and talent management companies in Detroit. Their Embee Productions handled the early careers of Johnny & The Hurricanes and Del Shannon, and they owned the Twirl label which first released Crossfire. Balk later became head of A&R at Motown (see discogs.com).
Songwriting credits for Rocking Goose (1960, #60 USA, #3 UK) are to all three of the above-mentioned: T.J. Fowler, Tom King (Harry Balk) and Ira Mack (Irving Micahnik).
(Kal Mann - Dave Appell) USA
Red herring
#19 USA
Similar title but not the same song as “Crossfire” by Jimmy Sloggett.
Single on Cameo. ♫ Listen at YouTube
Crossfire! was the last of five Top 20 Billboard singles 1962-63 by this vocal quartet from Philadelphia. Their biggest hits were The Wah Watusi (1962, #2 USA), Don’t Hang Up (1962, #4) and South Street (1963, #3).
Red herring à la Madagascar, anyone?
This Crossfire was covered by Madagascan vocal group Les Surfs in French (Ecoute cet air là), Italian (Quando balli il surf) and Spanish (El Crossfire). See the list at SecondHandSongs for these and other adaptations.
Red herrings caught in the crossfire
There are many different songs called Crossfire, including these few:
• The Hollies – Crossfire (Clarke-Sylvester-Hicks) 1977 B-side
• Bellamy Brothers – Crossfire (Careaga-Holler) 1977 single
• Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Crossfire (Mann-Rogers-Lingwood) 1986 B-side
• Go West – Crossfire (Cox-Drummie-Murphy) 1987 B-side
• Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – Crossfire (Carter et al) 1989 on In Step
More: Crossfire as a song title on singles listed at Discogs.com
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2026. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…