Reelin' and Rockin' at #40 – it's the DC5!

Singing drummer Gary Lewis is the eldest of the six sons of Jerry Lewis, who had once formed half of a comedic double-act with Dean Martin. Gary founded the Playboys while still in his mid-teens and they successfully auditioned for a summer season at Disneyland in 1964. The Playboys were David Costell (bass), guitarists Al Ramsey and John West, and David Walker on keyboards.

This Diamond Ring was a US million-seller that never charted in the UK nationals. Surprisingly, Gary's father Jerry had fared better with his revival of Al Jolson's Rock-a-Bye Your Baby (With a Dixie Melody) which hit the UK #12 in 1957.

This Diamond Ring was Al Kooper's biggest hit as a songwriter. He and co-writers Bob Brass and Irwin Levine had penned it with the Drifters in mind. (The trio also wrote this week's #11, I Must Be Seeing Things.) Gary pipped Elvis and Frank Sinatra to the post as Cash Box magazine’s 1965 Male Vocalist of the Year.

Official band website; Gary with Al Kooper in 2007.

The glamorous Kathy Kirby (Kathleen O'Rourke) took I Belong (written by Peter Lee Stirling and Phil Peters) to the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest in Naples, where it gained second place for the United Kingdom. (The winning country was Luxembourg, with a ditty about a doll, written by 'Monsieur Je T'aime' – Serge Gainsbourg.)

I Belong had competed for BBC viewers' approval against five other Eurovision hopefuls. All six finalist compositions (penned by top songwriters of the day) were performed by powerful vocalist Kathy, during a January TV special hosted by David Jacobs. I Belong received the highest number of postal votes, beating One Day (writer Chris Andrews) My Only Love (Tom Springfield) I'll Try Not To Cry (Les Reed and Barry Mason) Sometimes (Leslie Bricusse) and I Won't Let You Go (Tony Hatch) to become the 1965 UK Song for Europe.

Although the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Naples on March 20th, only one day before this week's Fab was announced, I Belong was already on its way out of the fast-changing Big L chart. The British public apparently liked the song sufficiently to vote for it, but not to buy it. Despite its TV exposure, the second-placed song failed to climb higher than #36 in the Nationals, and I Belong was to be Kathy's final chart entry. It did fare far better in the Fab Forty, but one week after coming second in Eurovision, I Belong was gone.

In the early Sixties, songwriter Peter Lee Stirling (then known as Peter Green) had been a member of Tommy Bruce's backing band The Bruisers and another Birmingham outfit, the Beachcombers. He then carved his niche as a songwriter, scoring big hits for the Merseybeats and others. Peter's own recording The Sweet And Tender Hold Of Your Love, was a Big L climber for two weeks running, in June '66, but failed to get into the Fab 40. Greater chart success came in the Seventies, when he recorded under the name of Daniel Boone and scored with Beautiful Sunday and Daddy Don't YouWalk So Fast.(Note for arch-Anoraks: Peter Lee Stirling also co-wrote (with David Cumming) both sides of the Kenny and Cash single, Knees and this week's #21, Where Am I.)

'I Belong' is one of 38 tracks on a 2-CD compilation, The Collection, released in 2005. Click on the sleeve photo for full track listing and information.

Kathy died in May 2011. The Official Kathy Kirby website, with many photos from Kathy's personal collection, is here.

Two new climbers added March 2015

Mike Barraclough discovered that Javed Jafri had posted a recording of a Dave Dennis Show on his website Let the Universe Answer.

The show, from Tuesday, March 23rd 1965, gives an interesting insight into the early days of Big L, when new releases were still at a premium. It includes specially-recorded personal DD messages from Twinkle (who the following year modelled T-shirts for the station) and Marianne Faithfull. A promo advertises a midnight matinee benefit in aid of Thalidomide victims, starring comedians Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes. During the programme, Dave announced Johnny Rivers' version of Sam Cooke's Cupid as 'a big Stateside hit' and applied the same label to The Race is On.

From this recording, two new climbers have been discovered - both identified on air by a 'Climber' sound effect. This seems to have been an early idea for the fledgling station that subsequently fizzled out. These new climbers are both very obscure and both seem to be the only releases under a specific name for the musicians in question. Finding information has proved difficult.

All Cried Out, released on Polydor by Pinky, is a cover of Dusty Springfield's 1964 single, recorded with Johnnie Spence and his Orchestra. The Record Collector Price Guide links the single to post-Big L releases by Pinky and the Fellas, (right) who seem to have been popular in Japan. A Japanese sleeve lists the line up as Pinky aka Caroline Gardner, lead vocal; John Gardner (Pinky's brother), guitar; Las Hunter, guitar (possibly Les Hunter?); Bobby Burns, drums; Huey Dempsey keyboard, John Steve, bass.

45.cat, lists a Japanese release from 1980, with Sixties recordings from Pinky and the Fellas on one side and Tinkerbell's Fairydust on the other. The highly-collectable Tinkerbell's Fairydust does not, however, appear to have any links to the other band. Assuming that the Tinkerbell lineup listed on Wikipedia is correct and the Japanese album sleeve line-up for Pinky and the Fellas is also correct, the two bands have no members in common. Pinky and the Fellas recorded in the mid-Sixties, Tinkerbell's Fairydust did not release singles till 1967.

On March 25th, while on shore leave, Dave Dennis interviewed Pinky for his programme.

Can't Stop Thinking About Her was released on Pye by the Chapters, B/W Dance Little Lady. Kenny Lynch is named as the producer and publisher on one of the few photos of the single that have been posted on the net. Songwriting credits go to M Novak and M Jordan. A theatre programme from a 1965 PJ Proby tour where the band was on the bill, describes the Chapters as a new group from Bradford discovered by Mervyn Conn in a West End Club. It unhelpfully names the band members as Mick, David, Ian and Malcolm, but does not identify them in the accompanying photograph and gives no surnames. However, in 2018, Rick Bartlett got in touch from Victoria, Australia with information provided by the band's drummer, Malcolm (Mally) Crossley. "Members of The Chapters were Mick Kershaw, lead singer, Ian (Junior) Atkinson, lead guitar Dave Gallager bass guitar and me on drums. I think they are still playing, although not together. I heard that Junior is a star harmonica player in Las Vegas". Rick informs us that sadly, since supplying that useful information, Melly has passed away.

The Proby programme names the group's first release as Dance Little Lady, which at the date of the programme going to press, was due out on March 22 1965. However, that particular song ended up on the B-side - possibly a record company decision by Pye. According to the blurb, the Chapters were scheduled to appear on popular TV shows Ready, Steady Go! and Thank Your Lucky Stars, but whether or not these appearances ever happened is unknown. The accompanying photo in that programme is the only one we have managed to unearth of the band.

Can't Stop Thinking About Her is a collectible rarity and in top condition, changes hands for over £100.