From Encyclopedia Britannica: - pop ballad, form of slow love song prevalent in nearly all genres of popular music. There are rock ballads, soul ballads, country ballads, and even heavy metal ballads. Here is a selection of some of the most popular “pop ballads” of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

AS TEARS GO BY (The Rolling Stones)


(From Wikipedia): "As Tears Go By" is a song written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham. It was released as a single by Marianne Faithfull in 1964 and peaked at #9 in the United Kingdom. The Rolling Stones recorded their own version later, releasing the track in late 1965 on the album December's Children (And Everybody's) and subsequently as a single in North America.
"As Tears Go By" was one of the first original compositions by Jagger and Richards, as until that point The Rolling Stones had chiefly been performing blues standards. A story surrounding the song's genesis has it that Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: "I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex." The result was initially named "As Time Goes By", the title of the song Dooley Wilson sings in the film Casablanca. It was Oldham who replaced "Time" with "Tears". According to Jagger biographer Philip Norman, the song was mainly created by Jagger, in co-operation with session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

I AM I SAID (Neil Diamond)


From Wikipedia:
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. As a successful pop music performer, Diamond scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. According to David Wild, common themes in Diamond's songs are "a deep sense of isolation and an equal desire for connection. A yearning for home – and at the same time, the allure of greater freedom. The good, the bad and the ugly about a crazy little thing called love."
As of 2001 Diamond has sold 115 million records worldwide, including 48 million records in the U.S. In terms of Billboard chart success, he is the third most successful Adult Contemporary artist ever, ranking behind only Barbra Streisand and Elton John.
Though his record sales declined somewhat after the 1980s, Diamond continues to tour successfully, and maintains a very loyal following. Diamond's songs have been recorded by a vast array of performers from many different musical genres.
Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, and in 2000 he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award.
On Monday, March 14, 2011, Neil Diamond was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

AL DI LA (Emilio Pericoli)


From Wikipedia:
"Al di là" (English translation: "Beyond") is a popular Italian song. "Al di là" was one of Betty Curtis' biggest hits in Italy. The song was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in Italian by Curtis at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on March 18, 1961, after Curtis had won the 1961 edition of the Sanremo Festival on February 2, 1961, (from 1958 to 1966, the winner of the Sanremo Festival would automatically represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest). In the United States, Emilio Pericoli is the artist most associated with the song. He sang "Al Di Là" in the popular 1962 film Rome Adventure, starring Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette, and his single that year on Warner Bros. Records reached number six on Billboard's pop chart and number three on the easy-listening chart. Pericoli's version ranked #48 on Billboard's 1962 Year-End chart.

GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME (The Charlie Santos Group)


Track 16 from the album "The British Invaders" by The Charlie Santos Group. A tribute to Tom Jones.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

BLUE VELVET (Bobby Vinton)


From Wikipedia:
Vinton is the only child of a locally popular bandleader, Stan Vinton. At 16, Vinton formed his first band, which played clubs around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. After a two-year hitch in the U.S. Army, where he served as a chaplain's assistant, Vinton was signed to Epic Records in 1960 as a bandleader: "A Young Man With a Big Band." Two albums and several singles were not successful however, and with Epic ready to pull the plug, Vinton found his first hit single literally sitting in a reject pile. The song was titled "Roses Are Red (My Love)." It spent four weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Arguably, his most famous song is 1963's "Blue Velvet", originally a minor hit for Tony Bennett in 1951, that also went to No.1. Twenty-three years later, David Lynch named his movie Blue Velvet after the song. In 1990, "Blue Velvet" climbed to the top of the music charts in Great Britain, after being featured in a Nivea commercial. In 1964, Vinton had two #1 hits, "There! I've Said It Again" (a #1 hit in 1945 for Vaughn Monroe) and "Mr. Lonely". Vinton wrote "Mr. Lonely" during his service in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s where he served as a Chaplain's Assistant. The song was recorded during the same 1962 session that produced "Roses Are Red" and launched Vinton's singing career.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE (Tony Bennett)


From Wikipedia:
"The Shadow of Your Smile", also known as "Love Theme from The Sandpiper", is a popular song. The music was written by Johnny Mandel with the lyrics written by Paul Francis Webster. The song was introduced in the 1965 film The Sandpiper with a trumpet solo by Jack Sheldon and later became a minor hit for Tony Bennett (Johnny Mandel arranged and conducted his version as well). It won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Well-known versions of the song were recorded by Barbra Streisand (on her 1965 album My Name Is Barbra, Two...), singer Shirley Bassey (on her 1966 album I've Got a Song for You), Andy Williams, Percy Faith, Rita Reys, Al Martino, Perry Como, Nancy Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra. It is also the album title from Astrud Gilberto. Connie Francis recorded the song in English, Spanish (La sombra de tu sonrisa), and in Italian (Castelli di sabbia). Trini Lopez included it on his Reprise Records album (Trini). Lill Lindfors recorded it in Swedish as Din skugga stannar kvar. Marvin Gaye recorded several versions of the song. One can be found on Romantically Yours, another on Vulnerable, and a live version on Marvin Gaye: Live at the Copa. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass recorded an instrumental version for their 1966 album What Now My Love. German singer Udo Lindenberg included a more rock oriented cover of the song on his 1986 single "Germans". In 2006 The Central Band of the Royal British Legion recorded an album with "The Shadow Of Your Smile" as the lead title track.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

I LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN (Tom Jones)


From Wikipedia:
Sir Thomas John Woodward,(born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer. Jones is particularly noted for his powerful voice. Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel. Since 1965, Jones has sold over 100 million records.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A MAN WITHOUT LOVE (The Charlie Santos Group)


A tribute to Engelbert Humperdinck. Track 19 of the album "The British Invaders" produced by me. CASS http://www.charliesantos.com.br/lpr2_mediaplay.swf

Thursday, February 10, 2011

SEA OF LOVE (Phil Phillips)


From Wikipedia:
Phil Phillips (born Philip Baptiste, March 14, 1931, Lake Charles, Louisiana) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1959 hit, "Sea of Love". Philip Baptiste was encouraged to pursue a career as a singer after a school performance of a song called "Sweet Slumber". He performed with his brothers in a gospel group called the Gateway Quartet and worked as a bellhop before he recorded "Sea of Love" in 1959. The song was arranged and produced by Eddie Shuler for neighbor George Khoury's Khoury Records. After three months of work on the arrangement, building up the vocal group and trying out different musicians, the song was ready for release. Baptiste changed his name to Phil Phillips, and dubbed his backing vocalists The Twilights. After a Baton Rouge disc jockey played the song repeatedly, the recording sold heavily and was leased to Mercury Records. "Sea of Love" went to #2 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and spent 14 weeks in the top 40, as well as reaching #1 on the R&B chart. In 1959 it sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Nonetheless, Phillips was paid only $6800, and received no further royalties for the song or its recording.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

AND I LOVE YOU SO (Shirley Bassey)


From Wikipedia:
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE (born 8 January 1937 in Cardiff, Wales), is a Welsh singer who found fame in the late 1950s and has continued a successful career since then worldwide. She is best known for recording the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979), and is a UNESCO Artist for Peace. In the early and mid 1960s, Bassey had numerous hits on the UK charts, and five albums in the top 15. Her 1960 recording of "As Long As He Needs Me" from Lionel Bart's Oliver! reached #2, and had a chart run of 30 weeks. On 13 November 1960, Bassey made her debut performance on American television, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1962, Bassey's collaboration with Nelson Riddle and his orchestra produced the album Let's Face the Music (#12) and the single "What Now My Love" (#5). Other top ten hits of the period included her second #1, the double A-side "Reach for the Stars"/"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (1961), "I'll Get By" (also 1961), and a cover version of the Ben E. King hit "I (Who Have Nothing)" in 1963. During this period, Bassey appeared on the cover of Ebony magazine and sang at a Washington gala celebrating the end of President Kennedy's second year in office. In 1965, Bassey enjoyed her first - and only - U.S. Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit with the title song of the James Bond film, Goldfinger. The single peaked at #8, while the original soundtrack of Goldfinger hit #1 in the U.S. that same year. Also in 1965, she sang the title track for the spoof James Bond film The Liquidator, and had a Top 20 live album recorded during a sell-out run at London's Pigalle.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

MISTY (Ella Fitzgerald)


From Wikipedia:
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist. With a vocal range spanning three octaves (Db3 to Db6), she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. She is considered to be a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Over a recording career that lasted 59 years, she was the winner of 14 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.

Monday, January 17, 2011

A CERTAIN SMILE (Johnny Mathis)


From Wikipedia:
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Mathis concentrated on romantic jazz and pop standards for the adult contemporary audience through the 1980s. Starting his career with singles of standards, Mathis became more popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Mathis has sales of over 27 million sellers, certified units in the United States. According to recordings chart historian and music writer Paul Gambaccini, Mathis has recorded over 130 albums and sold more than 350 million records worldwide.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

GIRL, YOU`LL BE A WOMAN SOON (Neil Diamond)


From Wikipedia:
Neil Leslie Diamond (born on January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. As a successful pop music performer, Diamond scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. According to David Wild, common themes in Diamond's songs are "a deep sense of isolation and an equal desire for connection. A yearning for home – and at the same time, the allure of greater freedom. The good, the bad and the ugly about a crazy little thing called love." As of 2001 Diamond has 115 million records sold worldwide, including 48 million records in the U.S. In terms of Billboard chart success, he is the third most successful Adult Contemporary artist ever, ranking behind only Barbra Streisand and Elton John. Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, in 2000 received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award, and will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.