(Steve McLaren )
Australia
#1 Sydney #1 Perth
Although the record shows the songwriting credit of Bryant, this is a different song from the Boudleaux Bryant composition Devoted To You recorded by the Everly Brothers.
Single on Leedon, double-sided hit in Perth with Twenty Miles.
Chart-topping Sydney band that originated in the surf music scene as The Nocturnes. After acquiring Ray Brown as their lead singer, they went on to become one of the most popular Australian bands of the British Invasion era.
Disambiguation: 1. This is not Ray Brown, the American jazz bassist (1926-2002). 2. These Whispers are not the American R&B vocal group formed in 1964.
Reference: Full history at Milesago.
Thanks to John Gambrill for the red herring alert.
(Steve McLaren ) Australia
On the album Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs.
As on the Ray Brown version of Devoted To You, the label wrongly credits Bryant as writer.
The album also included Pride, originally by Brent Edwards but recorded famously in Australia by Ray Brown & The Whispers.
Ray Brown and Billy Thorpe shared a manager, John Harrigan, at this time and both launched their careers from Sydney’s Surf City where Brown followed Thorpe into residency. (TS)
Further reading: 1. For more on Billy Thorpe at this site see, for example, his major Australian hit Poison Ivy. 2. Milesago’s Billy Thorpe history.
Version alert from Terry Stacey.
(Steve McLaren )
UK
Original version
On Decca various artists album At The Cavern (1964).
As on the Australian versions of Devoted To You by Billy Thorpe and Ray Brown, the label mistakenly credits Bryant as the writer. Australian copyright outfit APRA-AMCOS has previously shown Steve McLaren of The Dennisons as the writer but now credits “Dennisons”.
The Dennisons were a Liverpool band who had two charting singles in the UK: their own composition Be My Girl (1963, #46) and Rufus Thomas’s Walkin’ The Dog (1964, #36).
Drummer Clive Hornby plays the part of Jack Sugden in the long-running BBC serial Emmerdale Farm (aka Emmerdale). He also pops up in an early Minder episode, The Bengal Tiger.
Further reading: 1. The Dennisons history and discography from British Beat Boom [archived page]. 2. Dennisons page 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…
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