Joe Dowell--Wooden Heart (1961)

    Joe Dowell was from Indiana then moved with his family to Illinois where he went to college. During a semester break he drove to Nashville to look for a record company to record him. On his last day in the city, he was signed to Smash records not only because of his voice, and his clean cut look. After school was out in May of 1961 he went to record four songs.
     The night before the recording session, producer Shelby Singleton was at the movies watching "G.I. Blues" which was Elvis' latest movie. He was attracted again to a song in the movie called, "Wooden Heart" which was sung partly in German. A version was already going up the charts IN Germany, and with another Elvis song climbing up the charts at the time in the US, it was thought that Presley would not be releasing the song anytime soon, so it was presented to Dowell as one of the four songs to be recorded.
     Dowell took about three hours to learn the song phonetically that next day. It was released in June and a couple of months later it reached number 1. Presley himself had it issued as a single in the UK where it went to number 1, but never released it in the states. Joe had a couple more songs reach the charts, but was dropped by Smash after a contract dispute in late 1962. He spent the rest of his career in radio advertising.

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Mac Davis--Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me (1972)

     By 1972, Mac Davis had become a bit of a hot songwriting commodity. He had written several hit songs for other, "In the Ghetto" and "Memories"  for Elvis (he also wrote "A Little Less Conversation" which would become a hit years after the King's death), "Watching Scotty Grow" for Bobby Goldsboro and "I Believe In Music" for the group Gallery.
     He had also begun a solo career aiming for country music, but having a definite crossover feel. It wasn't until 72' however, that he hit the big time with, "Baby, Don't Get Hooked On Me". Which hit number one on the pop charts in the summer of that year. It was the beginning of a busy decade for Davis as he recorded three more top 20 hits, country hits well into the 80's. He also had several movie roles, in particular, "North Dallas Forty" with Nick Nolte.

 

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Elvis' First Number 1--(1956)

    On this date in 1956, Elvis Presley hit No. 1 for the first time with, "Heartbreak Hotel". It was first released in January of that year, but took off to the top spot after an appearance on the TV show, "Stage Show" starring Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. The song itself almost never made it to the studio as just about everyone who heard the song (written by Tommy Durden and Mae Boren Axton) thought it was "terrible" and "morbid". The song had been based on a news story from Miami who had destroyed his identification papers and then committed suicide leaving just a note that, "I walk a lonely street". In writing the song Mae asked the question, "Why not put Heartbreak Hotel at the end of that street".....

     Upon hearing it for the first time, Elvis loved it and played it ten more times until he memorized it, then promised Mae that he would record it. Sam Phillips at Sun records and many executives at RCA didn't like it either, but Elvis persevered and it soon became his first huge hit...the clip below is from the actual Dorsey show in Feb. of 1956.

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Elvis Presley: I Forgot To Remember To Forget (1956)

On this day in 1956 Elvis celebrated his first major hit when, "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" hit #1 on the Billboard Country & Western charts. Of course, most people "forgot" this song, when a week later, "Heartbreak Hotel" made it's debut on the pop charts...and well... you know the rest.

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Elvis Presley: Heartbreak Hotel (1956)

55 years ago, Elvis had his contract picked up by RCA and in a few weeks the first single, "Heartbreak Hotel" would be released and change his (and rock and roll's) destiny forever. Enjoy and have a great day today!

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