On this day in music history:September 20,1973. Delta Dawn is a song written by former child rockabilly star Larry Collins and songwriter Alex Harvey (who more often goes by the name Alexander Harvey today, and is not to be confused with the late Glaswegian rocker Alex Harvey), best known as a 1972 top ten C&W hit for Tanya Tucker and a number-one hit for Helen Reddy in 1973. In the meantime Bette Midler had recorded Delta Dawn for her The Divine Miss M debut album from which her bluesy version was planned as the lead single. The June 1973 single release of Reddys version was two days before Midlers, necessitating the amendment of the latters single so that the original B-side Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy was shopped to radio, becoming a Top Ten hit. Reddys version, with upward modulation added to the mimicking of Tuckers cold intro and nonstop vocals throughout, entered the Top Ten on 18 August 1973 on its way to its lone frame at number 1, on 15 September 1973. Reddys Hot 100 #1 hits, in order, were 1972s I Am Woman, then Delta Dawn, then 1974s Angie Baby. Delta Dawn also became the first of Reddys six consecutive – and eight overall – number 1 hits on the Easy Listening chart in Billboard. In Reddys native Australia, where she had reached number 2 with both I Dont Know How to Love Him and I Am Woman, Delta Dawn became Reddys first number 1 hit, spending five weeks atop the chart in August and September 1973. The follow-up single Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) gave Reddy a second consecutive – and final – Australian number 1. Delta Dawn also marked Reddys only chart appearance in South Africa, reaching number 13 in the autumn of 1973. Heres a video. youtube/watch?v=GGrk_s0h13g
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 00:05:35 +0000
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