She Wrote the Songs

Today in Music History: January 1

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2015! The music of today's focus reflects upon not only a person with a very successful singing career but also an author and the songwriter/co-songwriter (along with Gerry Goffin) for numerous successes of other recording artists. A string of classic hits and cherished album tracks were released in the 60s for a variety of artists. 

Welcome into the Spotlight...

Carole King: American singer and songwriter who has written or co-written over 400 songs that have been recorded by more than 1,000 artists

Carole King has traveled a long and winding road in her still-going music career. Her birth name is Carole Joan Klein and she has played the piano since the age of 4. In the '50s, Carol Klein changed her name to Carole King, formed a band called the Co-Sines, and made demo records with her friend Paul Simon for $25 a session. While attending college, King met her soon to be song-writing partner, Gerry Goffin, who she eventually married but ultimately divorced. During the sixties, with King writing the music and Goffin the lyrics, they wrote a string of classic songs for a variety of artists.

Songwriting partners Gerry Goffin and Carole King composed a string of classic hits and cherished album tracks for a variety of artists during the sixties. A brief sampling: “Up On the Roof” (the Drifters), “One Fine Day” (the Chiffons), “I’m Into Something Good” (Herman’s Hermits), “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (the Shirelles), “Take Good Care of My Baby” (Bobby Vee), “Chains” (the Cookies), “Don’t Bring Me Down” (the Animals), “Take a Giant Step” (the Monkees) and “Goin’ Back” (the Byrds). The prolific duo, who remained married for much of the Sixties, even tapped their babysitter to sing one of the songs they’d written, and the result was a Number One hit and a new dance craze: “The Loco-Motion,” by Little Eva. - See more...

 

 Carole King: Natural Woman

It was not until the 70s when King's successes in her own right came to fruition when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. Carole King has been one of the most influential songwriters of our time. 

1972 Carole King started a three week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Music', her second US chart topper. Music is the third album by American singer-songwriter Carole King. It is a continuation of the style laid down in Tapestry. Carole King: Music stayed on the Billboard pop album charts for 44 weeks and was eventually certified platinum.

No.1s on this day...

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  1955 English singer Dickie Valentine was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Finger Of Suspicion'. Valentine hosted The Dickie Valentine TV Show in 1956.

• 1956 Bill Haley's 'Rock Around The Clock' went to No.1 on the UK singles chart for the second time.

• 1966 Simon and Garfunkel started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Sound Of Silence', a No.13 hit in the UK. 

• 1969 Marmalade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of The Beatles song 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da'.

• 1970 Rolf Harris was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Two Little Boys'. The song was written by American composer Theodore Morse and lyricist Edward Madden in 1902.

• 1977 Wings were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Mull Of Kintyre'. Spending nine weeks at No.1 in became the first single to sell over 2 million copies in the UK.

 

1967 The Doors made their first live television appearance lip-synching their first single 'Break on Through' on Shebang, KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles. The single peaked No. 126 on the US chart mainly due to lack of airplay after censors objected to the drug use implied by the line "she gets high", which is repeated in the middle section of the song.

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...