33 years ago today, The Oak Ridge Boys scored their 4th #1 hit with Elvira. The song was an old one, having been written by Dallas Frazier in the mid-1960s. He got the idea when he was driving through Madison, Tennessee and came upon Elvira Street. Fraziers version of the song made it onto the pop chart in 1966 and the song was recorded eight more times between 1967 and 1980, including versions done by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition and Rodney Crowell. Singer Eddy Raven had been on a tour of Texas and was in Houston one night sitting with two friends from the Acuff-Rose Publishing Company. When the opening act, a Texas bar band, started playing the song, one of Ravens friends remembered that Acuff-Rose owned the publishing rights to the song. Eddy remembered, I told him he needed to work on that. He said, You know, [producer Ron] Chaneys been calling me. The Oak Ridge Boys need a song....I said, Well, this songs perfect. It became the biggest-selling country single ever made in Nashville, selling over 2.5-million copies, won Single of the Year from both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music, and won The Oaks a Grammy award. (A few years ago, The Oaks played at the Boot Hill Jamboree near Bothwell, Ont., and I just had to get a souvenir t-shirt commemorating the songs 30th anniversary) Other songs that reached #1 on this date include: Billy Ray Cyrus Achy Breaky Heart in 1992 (his 1st and only #1 hit); and The Oak Ridge Boys It Takes a Little Rain (to Make Love Grow) in 1987 (their 14th #1 song). Songs that reached #1 on this date on the Canadian country charts include: John Berrys Your Love Amazes Me in 1994 (his 1st #1 hit); The OKanes Cant Stop My Heart From Loving You in 1987 (their 1st and only #1 song); and Ronnie Milsaps Am I Losing You in 1981 (his 11th #1 hit).
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 12:07:07 +0000
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