Monday, June 12, 2006

Billy Ward And His Dominoes

Billy Ward And His Dominoes were from Los Angeles, California and were signed to the R&B record company King/Federal. Billy was born in Los Angeles in 1921 and died at age 80 on February 16, 2002. Interesting to note that The Dominoes had three different singers at various times: Billy Ward, Jackie Wilson and Eugene Mumford. The Dominoes were Charlie White, Joe Lamont and Bill Brown.

They had 11 consecutive Top 10 hits on the R&B charts between 1951-53. They only scored four singles on the pop charts and while none of them reached the top ten, one hit Gold status.

This week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice features those two huge hits for you to select from: Star Dust and Deep Purple.

A few interesting trivia bits on both songs...Star Dust was originally a #1 hit in 1931 for Isham Jones and #2 for Benny Goodman in 1936, followed by Artie Shaw in 1941, when it also reached #2. Deep Purple became a #1 hit for Larry Clinton's Orchestra in 1939. See, it's not just today that songs are being remade; it's been going on for a very long time.

Come to Treasure Island Oldies and click the Voice Your Choice button, then make your selection and cast your vote. The song with the most votes will get played in the third hour of this week's show.