(Ben Gabus)
New
Zealand
#3 NZ*
*NZ chart position calculated by Warwick Freeman.
Keil is pronounced kile, thus rhyming with isle.
The Keil Isles were a popular, hard-working Auckland band, New Zealand’s first prominent rock’n’rollers. They were formed – in response to the arrival of rock’n’roll in NZ – by Samoan-born guitarist and guitar technician Olaf Keil and his cousin Freddie Keil (v). The original line-up included Olaf’s brothers Herma (rg), Rudolph (bg) and Klaus (d), plus Heke Kewene (p). Later, Olaf’s sisters Eliza and Helga sang with the band.
The Keil Isles released numerous singles and some albums during a ten-year run, by which time personnel changes had left no original members in the line-up.
Herma Keil recorded many solo singles, some of them crediting The Keil Isles as backing band (see, for example, Herma Keil And The Keil Isles – Cinnamon Cinder,1963).
Freddie Keil recorded several solo singles (including a popular cover version of Ricky Nelson’s I’ve Got My Eyes On You) as well as some with his own band The Kavaliers (initially The Zodiacs).
Eliza Keil, who had a successful career of her own, recorded solo and with The Keil Isles.
Olaf Keil, whose electronic skills had enhanced The Keil Isles’ guitar sounds, became a leading guitar maker in California.
Essential reading:
The story is longer and more complex than you will read here. I recommend the Keil Isles histories by Bruce Sergent at his NZ music site and by Chris Bourke at
AudioCulture.
(Ben Gabus)
Australia
Single on Teen by Ian B. McLeod, now known as a country music artist (“Australia’s King of Rockabilly”), and producer-owner of the Bunyip label based in Warragamba NSW. His live shows have included tributes to country stars Slim Whitman and Patsy Cline as well as rocker Johnny O’Keefe.
Further reading: 1. Ian B. McCleod website. 2. Record releases listed at 45cat.com (singles) and at Discogs.com (albums).
(Ben Gabus)
Australia
#39 Sydney
John Laws (b.1935) was a high-rating Sydney disc jockey in the 1950s and 60s who became a prominent syndicated talk show host over several decades. He regularly released singles and EPs from Susie Darling in 1958 through to the 1970s, some of which included his own compositions.
See also his version of One Small Photograph.
Further reading: John Laws by John Stanley at The Australian Media Hall of Fame.
(Ben Gabus)
USA
Original version
#25 Italy*
*Chart position from Hit Parade Italia for 1960.
Single on Versatile, a division of Audicon Records. Johnny Yukon was an artist name of the song’s composer Ben Gabus. He released singles under both names.
Gabus, born in Galveston, Texas in 1931, lived in Lafayette, Louisiana where he was a regular at the Jury Room Lounge nightspot (in which he appears to have had an interest). He later ran the Ben Gabus Tree Service in Lexington, South Carolina, where he lived for many years until his death there in 2021.
Country music star Slim Whitman recorded the Ben Gabus composition Ride Away (With A Song In Your Heart) (1954, single on Imperial).
A Billboard note in October 1959 seems to suggest that Gabus was working as Chuck Wilson when he recorded for Audicon but both of his records for Audicon’s Versatile label were as Johnny Yukon.
Essential reading:
1. Johnny Yokum thread at vinyl forum Rock’n’Roll Schallplatten, especially posts by Gerd Miller
that answer key questions.
2. Benjamin Gabus obituary at Legacy.com, 2021.
(Ben Gabus)
USA
Later version
Single on New Orleans label DALE (#103) by the composer.
This is not the original version of Made To Be Loved, and it was not released in the late 50s on NY label DALE. This claim comes from confusion between the NY DALE and the New Orleans DALE. (NY’s DALE issued its #103 in 1957 by Randy Starr, a different song.)
See the exhaustive discussion at German vinyl forum Rock’n’Roll Schallplatten. At the foot of this page there is a rare screenshot of Ben Gabus’s 1964 single, posted by Gerd Miller. At 45cat.com you can see where it fits into the New Orleans DALE label’s chronology, and at #102 you can spot the label design seen in the image of Ben Gabus’s #103 posted at Rock’n’Roll Schallplatten.
Pop Archives
Australia's premier song history site since 2004
Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2025. 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…
