(Barry De Vorzon)
Australia
#5 Melbourne
Single on W&G September 1961 by Melbourne singer, guitarist and songwriter, backed by popular Melbourne live band The Thunderbirds.
Johnny Chester (b.1941) started out with the Chessmen (originally known as The Jaywoods) in the late 1950s, performing at dances that he organised. He had a number of Top 10 hits in Melbourne, beginning with The Hokey Pokey (May 1961, #8 Melbourne).
He became a disc jockey with Top 40 station 3UZ in 1966 and he has also announced on Radio Australia. After moving into country music, he was Male Vocalist of The Year 1981-83 in the Golden Guitar Awards. He wrote Rebound: The Musical in the early 2000s.
Further reading: 1. Other Johnny Chester records featured at this site. 2. More records by The Thunderbirds. 3. Johnny Chester biography and timeline at JohnnyChester.com.
(Barry De Vorzon)
USA
Original version
Music publishing partners Barry De Vorzon (b.1934) and Billy Sherman founded Valiant Records to release De Vorzon’s production of Shelby Flint’s Angel On My Shoulder (1961, #22 USA, #37 Australia).
Valiant released Barry And The Tamerlanes’ I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight (1963, #21 USA), written by De Vorzon who was also lead singer. (It is not the 1968 Boyce & Hart song of that name.) The Association’s first hits Along Comes Mary and Cherish (1966) were Valiant releases.
As a composer, De Vorzon contributed to numerous film and TV soundtracks. He and Perry Botkin Jr. wrote Bless The Beasts And Children (1971) from the film of the same name, recorded by The Carpenters. The Grammy-award winning Nadia’s Theme from The Young and the Restless, another Perry Botkin Jr. collaboration, was first written for the Bless The Beasts And Children soundtrack.
Pop Archives
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2024. 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…