This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

Weeks of August 30th, 2009 to September 13th, 2009

Once again a very big thank you to Bruce Toews in Winnipeg, Maniotoba, for kindly offering the use of his Toews On The Waves radio show Chat Room. Our network, insinc, has informed me they do not know when or if the regular chat server will be back in operation. So in the meantime, Bruce will allow us to use his until we have a definitive answer from insinc. Also thanks to our webmaster, Eddy Fisher, the Chat Room was very busy as a result of Eddy posting a notice on the Main, Listen, and Chat pages informing listeners of how to connect to the chat room with Bruce's server and channel information. It was very helpful.

We sure had fun reminiscing about the music and memories on our three themes-in-one special this week: Back To School, Back To Work and End Of Summer Special. And it was great to play some Lost Treasures such as Chain Gang by Bobby Scott, Back To School Again by Timmie "Oh Yeah" Rogers, First Day Back To School by Paul and Paula, and so many more.

Be sure to enjoy the brand new special I know you will enjoy, The Motown Special, which will also include the excellent documentary, The Motown Story, narrated by the famous DJ Charlie Van Dyke. This special has been pre-recorded and is be available on demand for your enjoyment. Even though I will be away on vacation in Australia, the Chat Room will still be live, so be sure to log in and say hi to the regulars, the Nuts In The Hut.

I appreciate the comments and emails I received regarding the Blog post on the death of superstar songwriter Ellie Greenwich. It was wonderful to hear from my good friend, Pamela Oland, in Los Angeles, She too is a very accomplished and successful songwriter and she sent a lovely note. And this week our Song of the Week is a tribute to Ellie Greenwich, the rarely heard Sunshine After The Rain, written, composed and performed by Ellie. Enjoy!

Please note there is no Voice Your Choice on next week's Motown Special. Our popular weekly feature will return September 13th with Wilson Pickett and two of his great songs for your votes: Engine Number 9 and Funky Broadway. You can vote now for the song you prefer. Click the Voice Your Choice button on any page of the website and cast your vote. The winning song will be played in the third hour of our September 13th show.

Happy Birthday to Matt Meaney and Fay Greenwood in Langley, British Columbia. They both celebrated their birthdays while on vacation in England. It was great to see them in the Chat Room this week, albeit briefly as they were very jet lagged from their flight home. Happy Birthday wishes also go out to Carl Fiset in Quebec City, Quebec. It was nice to wish him all the best while he was in the Chat Room during this week's live show. If you have a birthday coming up or would like me to wish Happy Birthday to someone special, send the details to me: name, birthday date as well and the city, province or state and country to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and I'll play our official birthday song, Birthday by The Beatles, to recognize the special day.

Don't forget to submit your photo for the Treasure Island Oldies Listener Gallery. It's great to have so many listeners in the gallery already, and your photo would make a great addition. Send your photo, name, city and state or province to michael@treasureislandoldies.com.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone in the Chat Room and the many Listeners who sent email to me wishing me a good vacation. I am very excited to be going to Australia; it's been a lifelong dream of mine. Really looking forward to seeing Sydney and the surrounding areas. With only one week, I will not be able to see a tremendous amount, but I will surely get a great flavour and taste of Australia. I intend to post some photos to the Blog while away. So please be sure to visit the Blog from time to time while I am away. I will miss you while away, but sure look forward to a relaxing holiday.

See you for the next live show, Sunday, September 13th.

Take good care of yourselves.

Bye for now.

Michael

Voice Your Choice Returns September 13th, 2009 with Wilson Pickett

Wilson Pickett will be in the spotlight on Treasure Island Oldies when Voice Your Choice returns September 13, 2009.

You can vote now for the song you'd like to hear on the show, either Engine Number 9 or Funky Broadway.

To cast your vote, click the Voice Your Choice page and make your selection. We'll play the winning song in the third hour of the show September 13th.

See you then.

Michael

Ellie Greenwich - Song of the Week

It is quite amazing to consider the impact Ellie Greenwich has had on the music of the 20th Century. She wrote or co-wrote many hits such as Be My Baby, Baby, I Love You, Da Doo Ron Ron, (And) Then He Kissed Me, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry, Hanky Panky, Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Chapel Of Love, Leader Of the Pack, and so many more. She also discovered and produced Neil Diamond and all his early monster hits such as Kentucky Woman, Cherry Cherry and other smashes.

She left us with an amazing legacy of great music. And this week here on the Treasure Island Oldies Blog I am pleased to present a very rare song written, produced and performed by Ellie Greenwich, Sunshine After The Rain. You'll also see some great photos of her and some celebrities. I know you will enjoy our Song of the Week.

Michael

Treasure Island Oldies Chat Room Important Update

The regular Treasure Island Oldies Chat Room server continues to be down. I don't know when or if our network, insinc, will be able to get it back up and running.

In the meantime, our good friend Bruce Toews, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has kindly offered the use of his chat room once again this week. Here is how to connect during the live show Sunday from 6 to 10 pm Pacific time.

mIRC:

irc.irchighway.net
Channel #totw

web based chat:

webchat.irchighway.net
Channel #totw

Many thanks to Bruce for kindly offering the use of his Toews On The Waves radio show chat room.

See you in the Chat Room.

Bye for now.
Michael

Superstar Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Has Died At Age 68

By: Brian Scott Lipton · Aug 26, 2009 · New York
Ellie Greenwich, one of the foremost songwriters of the rock 'n' roll era, has died at age 68.

Greenwich's songs were the basis of the 1985 Broadway revue Leader of the Pack, which earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. She also appeared in the production, alongside Patrick Cassidy, Dinah Manoff, Annie Golden, Jasmine Guy, Darlene Love, and other stars.

In addition to the song "Leader of the Pack," Greenwich wrote such iconic hits as "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Tell Laura I Love Her" and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." In 1991, she and Jeff Barry, her former husband and songwriting and producing partner, were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Greenwich's songs were also featured in three other Broadway revues: Uptown, It's Hot!, Andre De Shields' Harlem Nocturne, and Rock 'n' Roll! The First 5,000 Years.

During her career as writer and producer, Greenwich also worked with such top talents as Phil Spector, Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra, Lesley Gore, Bobby Darin, Nona Hendryx, and Cyndi Lauper.

She is survived by her sister, Laura Weiner. Donations can be made to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.

And more on Ellie...

By Randy Lewis

August 27, 2009

Ellie Greenwich, the New York songwriter behind a
string of 1960s hits that gave effervescent voice to
unbridled teen romance including "Da Doo Ron Ron,"
"Chapel of Love" and "Be My Baby," many of them in
collaboration with producer Phil Spector, died
Wednesday of a heart attack, according to her niece,
Jessica Weiner. She was 68.

She was being treated for pneumonia and "some other
heart issues" at St. Luke's- Roosevelt Hospital Center
in New York when she suffered the heart attack, Weiner
said.

"She was the greatest melody writer of all time," Brian
Wilson told The Times on Wednesday. The chief creative
force of the Beach Boys, whose music was strongly
influenced by many of the hits Greenwich and her
husband Jeff Barry wrote with Spector, has often cited
"Be My Baby" as his favorite record of all time.

"Those songs are part of the fabric of forever," said
songwriter Diane Warren, whose compositions have been
recorded by Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Barbra
Streisand, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige and dozens of
others. "Her songs were written in the '60s, and it's
2010 almost, but they are as relevant and meaningful
today as the day when they were born."

Greenwich and Barry were part of the fabled Brill
Building stable of professional songwriters that also
included the teams of Hal David and Burt Bacharach,
Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia
Weil as well as Paul Simon, Neil Sedaka and Neil
Diamond.

Greenwich also broke ground as one of the first female
record producers, working with Barry in crafting
Diamond's early recordings, including "Cherry Cherry,"
"Solitary Man" and "Kentucky Woman."

Diamond had struggled as a songwriter until he came
under the wing of Greenwich and Barry, who'd already
logged numerous shimmering pop hits for groups such as
the Ronettes, the Crystals, the Dixie Cups and Ronnie
Spector.

After recording some demos of his songs with Greenwich
supplying backup vocals, Diamond recalled her telling
him, "'I think you're pretty good -- maybe you'd like
to meet my husband, and we could sit and talk.' . . .
They got me a contract, as a writer with [Jerry] Leiber
and [Mike] Stoller's Trio Music."

The songwriting-production team of Leiber and Stoller,
who had written many of Elvis Presley's hits and dozens
of other chart-topping '50s songs, had been impressed
with Greenwich's songs and brought her into their
company.

"The songs that they wrote were simple but very
wonderful," Stoller said Wednesday. "She was very gifted
at writing that kind of a song. She was just terrific."

Their collaborations with Wall of Sound creator Spector
are regarded among the greatest singles ever created.
The music publishing rights organization Broadcast Music
Inc. lists more than 200 songs she wrote or co-wrote,
including "Then He Kissed Me" (the Crystals), "I Can Hear
Music" (The Ronettes, Beach Boys), "Hanky Panky" (a hit
for Tommy James & the Shondells), "Maybe I Know" (Lesley
Gore) and the song Spector considered his greatest
recording, "River Deep, Mountain High" (Ike and Tina
Turner).

Greenwich has said that the title phrase of "Da Doo Ron
Ron" was never intended to be part of the song; it was
improvised as a nonsensical space filler until she and
Barry could come up with a real line to follow the
tune's opening lyric: "I met him on a Monday and my
heart stood still."

"We got all the rest of the words and music together, but
we couldn't find anything for this bit," she said in 2005.
"Believe me, it doesn't mean a thing." On the other hand,
when she and Barry wrote "There she goes just a walkin'
down the street" to start another song, she responded
with what she imagined a young girl skipping down a
street would sing: "Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do." "Do
Wah Diddy Diddy" became a No. 1 hit in 1965 for the
British group Manfred Mann.

Eleanor Louise Greenwich was born Oct. 23, 1940, in
Brooklyn, N.Y., to a Catholic father and a Jewish mother.
They moved to Levittown, Long Island, when she was about
11, and she began studying accordion before switching to
piano.

She enrolled at Queens College when she was 17 and in
1958 released a single with two songs she had written,
"Silly Isn't It" and "Cha-Cha Charming." She transferred
to Hofstra University, where she met Barry. She graduated
in 1962, and married Barry the same year.

Their common interest in music also gave birth to a
songwriting team. On a visit to the Brill Building, she
was plunking out notes on a piano while waiting to meet
with another writer, and Leiber looked in thinking he was
hearing Carole King. Greenwich introduced herself, showed
off some of her songs and soon Leiber and Stoller offered
her a songwriting contract at Trio Music.

She and Barry recorded a few songs as the Raindrops, but
their biggest hit reached only No. 17, "The Kind of Boy
You Can't Forget."

Leiber and Stoller also had been working with Spector,
who clicked with Greenwich and Barry and crafted many of
his biggest successes with their help.

"We just got Phil," she said in 2001. "We made him laugh.
And we understood him. We accepted his idiosyncrasies. . .
I think he just felt safe with us. Plus, we turned out
some really good stuff."

Greenwich suffered a nervous breakdown after she and
Barry divorced in 1965, and the hits stopped flowing. The
public's attention was shifting to the Beatles and other
British invasion bands as well as a rising crop of self-
contained singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, putting
many Brill Building pros out of work.

"When my marriage fell apart and my style dropped out of
fashion, it seemed there wasn't anything left," she told
an Australian newspaper in 2005. "It's easy to say I had
plenty left, but that's not how it seems when you're
there."

In the '80s she created a musical titled "Leader of the
Pack" that included many her pop hits and told the story
of her rise to fame and equally steep fall. She bounced
back with new songs, and scored Tony and Grammy Award
nominations for her show.

As recently as 1997 one of her songs, "The Sunshine After
the Rain," became a dance-pop hit in England and
Australia. Cyndi Lauper, Nona Hendryx and Desmond Child
were among artists who recorded her compositions in
recent years.

Greenwich is survived by her sister, Laura Weiner.
Services will be private.

randy.lewis@latimes.com
Copyright C 2009, The Los Angeles Times

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

Week of August 23rd to August 29th, 2009

I would like to thank Bruce Toews in Winnipeg, Manitoba for kindly offering the use of his Chat Room during this week's live show. Several servers at our network, insinc, were down, including our chat room server. I very much appreciate Bruce coming to the rescue so that the Nuts in the Hut could get together for their weekly visit. Everything should be back in order for next week's Annual Back to School Special. It won't just be back to school songs we'll play though. You'll also hear back to work songs as well as the last of the summer songs for the year. Looking forward to bringing you this annual special next week.

Hello to Sergio de Oliveira in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the very nice email he sent to me. He commented that he always listens to the show. He also sent two Brazilian songs that I very much enjoyed hearing. Thanks, Sergio! I'd love to hear from you too. Send your note to michael@treasureislandoldies.com.

The Treasure Island Oldies Blog has The Animals with our Song of the Week, It's My Life. This was a brand new single when they performed this live on the TV show Hullabaloo, guest hosted by George Maharis from the popular TV show Route 66. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice features the great Marty Robbins with two of his big hit songs: A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) and Devil Woman. Cast your vote for the song you'd like to hear. Click the Voice Your Choice button on any page of the website and make your selection. We'll play the winning song in the third hour of next week's show.

Don't forget to submit your photo for the Treasure Island Oldies Listener Gallery. It's great to have so many listeners in the gallery already, and your photo would make a great addition. Send your photo, name, city and state or province to michael@treasureislandoldies.com.

Finally, if you have a birthday coming up or would like me to wish Happy Birthday to someone special, send the details to me: name, birthday date as well and the city, province or state and country to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and I'll play our official birthday song, Birthday by The Beatles, to recognize the special day.

Have a great week.

Bye for now.

Michael

Marty Robbins - Voice Your Choice

Marty Robbins was born Martin David Robinson in Glendale, Arizona on September 26, 1925. Sadly he died of a heart attack at age 57 on December 8, 1982.

During his very successful career, he charted no less than 94 hits on the country charts between 1952 and 1983. He also had a passion for stock cars, which he raced, and he also appeared in the movies Road To Nashville and Guns Of A Stranger.

On the pop charts, he appeared 24 times including three Top Ten hits and received one Gold Record.

This week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice features Marty Robbins with two of his well known and loved hit songs: A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) and Devil Woman.

Which song would you like to hear? Come to the Voice Your Choice page to cast your vote. The winning song will be played in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

The Animals - Song of the Week

This week we spotlight The Animals featuring Eric Burdon in a clip from the popular TV show Hullabaloo. This episode of the show had as guest host George Maharis from the TV show Route 66 that also starred Martin Miller. He introduces The Animals as about to perform their brand new single It's My Life.

Enjoy!

Michael

Wrecking Crew Member Larry Knechtel Dead At 69

Famed studio musician and one-time member of Bread Larry Knechtel died Thursday (August 20) in a Yakima, Washington hospital, near where he lived. He was 69. Larry played with Duane Eddy's Rebels and made a nmae for himself as part of Hollywood's Wrecking Crew of studio musicians. Though primarily a pianist (most notably on Simon & Garfunkel's #1 hit "Bridge Over Troubled Water" in 1970), he also played bass ("Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds) and provided the guitar work on Bread's "The Guitar Man (#11-1972)." Born in Bell, California, Larry played with the Los Angeles group Kip Tyler and the Flips until joining Duane Eddy for four years, beginning in 1959. While working as a studio musician, he also played bass for the house band on the TV program, "Shindig" as well as on Elvis Presley's "Comeback" TV special. He backed four different acts at the Monterey Pop Festival. Larry joined Bread in 1971 until the group disbanded two years later, providing guitar, bass, piano and even harmonica on such hits as "Baby I'm A Want You" (#3-1971), "Everything I Own" (#5-1972), "Diary" (#15-1972) and "Sweet Surrender" (#15-1972). He also co-produced Sammy John's album and single "Chevy Van." Larry was inducted into the Musician's Hall of Fame in 2007.

Flamingos and Dells Singer Johnny Carter Dead At Age 75

Johnny Carter, a member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame with both the Flamingos and the Dells, died of cancer Friday (August 21) at his home in suburban Chicago at the age of 75. Johnny met the other members of the Flamingos (most notably his cousins-by-marriage Jake and Zeke Carey) at Chicago's Jewish Church of God and Saints of Christ, where they were members of the choir. Black Jewish church music uses the minor keys that became prevalent in the Flamingos' music. The group recorded for Chance, Parrot and Checker Records in the Windy City before the Army called Johnny away in 1956. Their biggest hit during that time was "I'll Be Home"-- a #4 pop cover for Pat Boone but #5 on the R&B charts by the Chicago quartet. Upon his return from service, Johnny serendipitously hooked up with the Dells, who were looking for a replacement for Johnny Funches. The group sang backup for many R&B artists, including Dinah Washington (during one period of inactivity for the Dells, Johnny toured as one of Dinah's backup singers, D's Gentlemen). The Dells recorded for Vee-Jay and Chess' Argo and Cadet labels while backing up others like Etta James, Jerry Butler and Barbara Lewis (most notably on "Hello Stranger." Finally, in 1968, the group broke through on their own with "There Is" (#20), leading the way for other hits-- "Stay In My Corner" (#10 pop, #1 R&B-1968) "Oh, What A Night" (#10-1969, though the original version had charted top five R&B in 1956) and "Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation" (#34 pop, #3 R&B-1973). The Flamingos (with Johnny) were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Dells (with Johnny) followed in 2004.

My thanks to Ron Smith at oldiesmusic.com for this news story.

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

August 16th, 2009 to August 22nd, 2009

It was great to pay tribute to the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley on this week's show. It was August 16, 1977, the day Elvis died at his Graceland Mansion in Memphis. And what a fitting way to recognize the King of Rock and Roll than to feature him exclusively for the Rock and Roll Reunion. It was great to hear some of the lesser played songs such as My Baby Left Me and I Need Your Love Tonight. I was also was pleased to recognize and spotlight the late Les Paul on this week's Lounge Double. What an amazing and unassuming man and so talented and creative. I hope you enjoyed hearing his 1950 recording of Nola as well as his signature song, How High The Moon, with his then wife Mary Ford.

Speaking of Les Paul, in addition to the posting of his obituary and the video clip, this week the Treasure Island Oldies Blog features another great duo performance by Les Paul and Mary Ford with The World's Waiting For The Sunrise, our Song of the Week. Enjoy!

The Chat Room was packed once again this week and it was great to welcome back Becky aka Ogopogo from Westbank, British Columbia in the beautiful Okanagan Valley. And a great pleasure to have Marilyn aka Sistahmar from Kitchener, Ontario. It's been several years since she was last able to come by for a visit, but she promises to come back again next week and every week. She is also the moderator for the chat room for a good friend of mine, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame DJ David Marsden. David is on the air every Thursday and Friday night from 7 to Midnight Eastern time. Be sure to have a listen via marsdenglobal.com for the Marsden Theatre. You'll be well entertained.

Be sure to join us for our next two specials: on August 30th it's our Annual Back To School Special, and then the next week, September 6 our Motown Special, which will include The Motown Story, a great documentary. What a great way to wind up summer with these two great specials. Please note that there is no live show on September 6 and I have pre-recorded the Motown Special for your enjoyment.

The fabulous voice of Tony Williams will be spotlighted next week on Voice Your Choice as the lead singer of The Platters with two of their big hits songs for your votes: Only You and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Which song would you prefer to hear? Cast your vote. Click the Voice Your Choice button and make your selection. We'll play the winning song in the third hour of next week's show.

A big hello to Lou Grimaldi in Floral Park, New York. He sent in a photo for the Treasure Island Oldies Listener Gallery. It's now posted and available for viewing. Click the Listener Gallery button available to you on most pages of the website. And please send in your photo too; it would be great to have your picture mounted in the Listener Gallery. Send your photo, name, city and state or province to michael@treasureislandoldies.com. By the way, Lou was introduced to the show by Guylaine Coté in Quebec City, Quebec, a listener and regular in the Chat Room. Lou said he very much enjoyed the interview I did with Guylaine, as well as the show. Speaking of the interview, you can click here to listen.

I was also pleased to hear from Andy Desilets from Ottawa, Ontario, the capital city of Canada. He said he was listening to the Instrumental Gems Wordless Wonders Special for the fourth time! He also requested to hear Don't Ask Me Top To Be True by Montreal's J.B. And The Playboys. Andy, you'll hear it on next week's show. Thanks for getting in touch. And if you have a song you'd like to hear, click the Requests button on any page of the website or call our 24/7 Listener Request Line at 206-203-4678 and record your voicemail message. I'll do my very best to play your song on the show.

Finally, if you have a birthday coming up or you want to celebrate someone else's birthday please send the details to me: your name, birthday date as well and the city, province or state and country to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and I'll play our official birthday song for you to recognize the special day, Birthday by The Beatles.

Have a great week.

Bye for now.

Michael

The Platters - Voice Your Choice

The Platters were an R&B group formed in Los Angeles, California. The original lineup consisted of the amazing voice of Tony Williams on lead vocals, David Lynch (tenor), Paul Robi (baritone), Herb Reed (bass), and Zola Taylor. They initially recorded for Federal Records but met with success once they moved over to Mercury Records.

As the #1 vocal group of the 1950s, they had 70 songs hit the Billboard charts between 1955 and 1967, including 7 Top Ten hits and 5 Gold Records. With so many songs, it was difficult to select just two of them for this week's Voice Your Choice, but I did.

This week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice features The Platters with Only You and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Bet this will be a tight race. Which song do you want to hear? Come to the Voice Your Choice page and place your vote for your favourite song. The winning tune will get played in Hour 3 of next week's show.

Les Paul and Mary Ford - Song of the Week

As part of our tribute to the late great Les Paul, here he is again in a clip from the Les Paul and Mary Ford TV show sponsored by Listerine. Together they perform The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise. It's our Song of the Week.

Enjoy!

Michael

Les Paul and Mary Ford - How High The Moon

As a tribute to Les Paul, the amazing guitarist and inventor who came up with the electric guitar and multi-track recording, here is a fantastic video clip of Les Paul and Mary Ford performing How High The Moon.

R.I.P. Les Paul!

Michael

The Legendary Les Paul Dead At Age 94

NEW YORK – Les Paul, the guitar virtuoso and inventor who revolutionized music and created rock 'n' roll as surely as Elvis Presley and the Beatles by developing the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording, died Thursday at age 94.

Known for his lightning-fast riffs, Paul performed with some of early pop's biggest names and produced a slew of hits, many with wife Mary Ford. But it was his inventive streak that made him universally revered by guitar gods as their original ancestor and earned his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the most important forces in popular music.

Paul, who died in White Plains, N.Y., of complications from pneumonia, was a tireless tinkerer, whose quest for a particular sound led him to create the first solid-body electric guitar, a departure from the hollow-body guitars of the time. His invention paved the way for modern rock 'n' roll and became the standard instrument for legends like Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page.

He also developed technology that would become hallmarks of rock and pop recordings, from multitrack recording that allowed for layers and layers of "overdubs" to guitar reverb and other sound effects.

"He was truly the cornerstone of popular music," said Henry Juskiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, which mass produced Paul's original invention. "He was a futurist, and unlike some futurists who write about it and predict things, he was a guy who actually did things."

Paul remained an active performer until his last months: He put out his very first rock album just four years ago, and up until recently played every week at a New York jazz club.

The news of his death prompted an outpouring of tributes from the music world.

"Les lived a very long life and he got to a lot of his goals, so I'm happy for him in that respect. ... At least he realized that he was a legend in his own time while he was alive," said Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi's guitarist and a friend of Paul's, on Thursday. "He was revolutionary in the music business."

Said Kiss' Paul Stanley: "The name Les Paul is iconic and is known by aspiring and virtuoso guitar players worldwide. That guitar is the cornerstone of a lot of great music that has been made in the last 50 years."

A musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log," a 4-by-4 piece of wood strung with steel strings.

"I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a traditional guitar shape.

The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s.

Leo Fender's Broadcaster was the first mass-produced solid body electric on the market in the late 1940s.

Gibson solicited Paul to create a prototype for a guitar, and began production on the Les Paul guitar in 1952. Townshend of the Who, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin's Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.

The Les Paul series has become one of the most widely used guitars in the music industry. In 2005, Christie's auction house sold a 1955 Gibson Les Paul for $45,600.

Paul was born Lester William Polfuss, in Waukesha, Wis., on June 9, 1915. He began his career as a musician, billing himself as Red Hot Red or Rhubarb Red. He toured with the popular Chicago band Rube Tronson and His Texas Cowboys and led the house band on WJJD radio in Chicago.

In the mid-1930s he joined Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and soon moved to New York to form the Les Paul Trio, with Jim Atkins and bassist Ernie Newton.

Paul started out as an accompanist, working with key artists until he struck out on his own. His first records were released in 1944 on Decca Records. Later, with Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records for hits including "Vaya Con Dios" and "How High the Moon," which both hit No. 1.

He had met Ford, then known as Colleen Summers, in the 1940s while working as a studio musician in Los Angeles. For seven years in the 1950s, Paul and Ford broadcast a TV show from their home in Mahwah, N.J. (Ford died in 1977, 15 years after they divorced).

Paul had made his first attempt at audio amplification at age 13. Unhappy with the amount of volume produced by his acoustic guitar, he tried placing a telephone receiver under the strings. Although this worked to some extent, only two strings were amplified and the volume level was still too low.

By placing a phonograph needle in the guitar, all six strings were amplified, which proved to be much louder. Paul was playing a working prototype of the electric guitar in 1929.

His work on recording techniques began in the years after World War II, when Bing Crosby gave him a tape recorder. Drawing on his earlier experimentation with his homemade recording machine, Paul added an additional playback head to the recorder. The result was a delayed effect that became known as tape echo.

Tape echo gave the recording a more "live" feel and enabled the user to simulate different playing environments.

Paul's next "crazy idea" was to stack together eight mono tape machines and send their outputs to one piece of tape, stacking the recording heads on top of each other. The resulting machine served as the forerunner to today's multitrack recorders. Many of his songs with Ford used overdubbing techniques that Paul had helped develop.

"I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished," he recalled. "This is quite an asset." The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.

Paul's use of multitrack recording was unique: Before he did it, most recordings were made on a single tape. By recording each element separately, from the vocals to instrumentation on different tracks, they could be mixed and layered, adding to the richness in sound.

"In the old days, if you only had one track, you put a microphone in the middle of the music and hope for the best," Juskiewicz said.

In 1954, Paul commissioned the first eight-track tape recorder, later known as "Sel-Sync," in which a recording head could simultaneously record a new track and play back previous ones.

In the late 1960s, Paul retired from music to concentrate on his inventions. His interest in country music was rekindled in the mid-'70s and he teamed with Chet Atkins for two albums. The duo were awarded a Grammy for best country instrumental performance of 1976 for their "Chester and Lester" album.

In 2005, he released the Grammy-winning "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played," his first album of new material since those 1970s recordings and his first official rock CD. Among those playing with him: Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Richie Sambora.

"They're not only my friends, but they're great players," Paul told The Associated Press. "I never stop being amazed by all the different ways of playing the guitar and making it deliver a message."

Paul was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005.

___

Associated Press writer Luke Sheridan contributed to this report.

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

Week of August 9th to August 15th, 2009

The Chat Room was packed this week with folks from across Canada and the United States including British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Wisconsin, California, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, North Dakota and other locations. Come check it out when we are live every Sunday from 6 to 10 pm Pacific time, 9 pm to 1 am Eastern. Click Chat on the Menu on any page of the website and follow the instructions carefully, particularly for the Java chat applet. I know you will enjoy your visit and it will enhance your experience of listening to the show.

Hi to Russ Horton and everyone at D-Moos.com in Halton Hills, Ontario. Russ has informed me that due to the tremendous response to the show, Treasure Island Oldies is now on every Thursday for 24 hours, non-stop morning, noon and night. Thank you, Russ, it is great to be on D-Moos.com and I am pleased to have the station as part of the Broadcast Partners Network. If you have a local station that you feel would be a good fit for the show, please let me know the name of the station and a contact so that I can get in touch. Send the information to michael@treasureislandoldies.com.

There are two more special coming up very soon on the show: August 30th it's our Annual Back To School Special and the following week, September 6th is the Motown Special, which will include an excellent documentary, The Motown Story, narrated by the legendary Charlie Van Dyke. I know you will enjoy both of these specials.

The Treasure Island Oldies Blog this week features The Drifters with a fantastic summer hit; Up On The Roof, our Song of the Week. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice spotlights Paul McCartney during his post-Beatles era with Wings and we have two of his many hits for your votes this week: Listen To What The Man Said and Jet. Have a favourite? Vote for the song you want to hear. Click the Voice Your Choice button and make your selection. The winning song will be played in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

Don't forget to let me know if you have a birthday coming up and I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play Birthday by The Beatles for you. Just send the details to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and also think about being part of the Treasure Island Oldies Listener Gallery. Send your photo, name, city and country where you live to michael@treasureislandoldies.com.

Have a great week.

Bye for now.

Michael

Paul McCartney & Wings - Voice Your Choice

Some may have originally thought that once The Beatles broke up that would be it. That was definitely not the case when Paul McCartney formed Wings in 1971. Most first time out musicians would be envious of having 29 charted singles, sixteen of which were Top Ten, and nine were Gold Records; but that was Paul's second "career"! Talk about impressive!

This week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice spotlights Paul McCartney and Wings with two of their biggest hits: Listen To What The Man Said and Jet.

Come to the Voice Your Choice page at Treasure Island Oldies and cast your vote for the song you'd like to hear. The winning song will be played in Hour 3 on next week's show.

The Drifters - Song of the Week

Here's a great summer song to enjoy during the Summer of 2009. The Drifters had a long and successful career, despite having several lead singers at different times. This week we feature their early '60s hit Up On The Roof, our Song of the Week.

Enjoy!

Billy Lee Riley - Rockabilly Artist - Dead At Age 75

On Sunday Morning, August 3rd, 2009 rockabilly and Sun Records legend Billy Lee Riley passed away from cancer of the colon. He was 75 years old and the epitome of what it means to be a rock n' roller. Born into a large, poor family in Pocahontas, Arkansas on October 5, 1933, Billy Riley spent his whole life working hard to make that dollar. He began playing in various country bands after being discharged from the Military in 1954. He was a part of the famed Dixie Ramblers which also included future Sun Records engineer, producer and artist Jack Clement.

In 1956, Riley found himself on Sun Records as owner Sam Phillips reissued a song Riley had cut for the legendary Fernwood label, "Trouble Bound". Sam placed "Rock With Me Baby" on the flip side and Sun Records 245 was issued in May of 1956. Sam then released the immortal "Flying Saucers Rock n' Roll", which will still burn your ears when you hear it today. By this time, Billy Riley and his band had evolved into the Sun Records house band, playing on records by Jerry Lee Lewis (including "Great Balls Of Fire") and Sonny Burgess And The Pacers' "Thunderbird" and "Itchy".

Billy Lee Riley and His Little Green Men cut the definitive version of Billy "The Kid" Emerson's "Red Hot", but Sam Phillips failed to put any money behind it and opted to promote "Great Balls Of Fire" instead. "Red Hot" is definitely one of the greatest rock n' roll songs of all-time as it defines the rockabilly sub-genre with all of it's wild and crazy, guitar-driven stomp. It's no wonder that Billy Riley felt shafted that Sam refused to promote what would become a Sun Records classic. 52 years later, we all know who laid that sound down and I have no doubt that Billy Lee Riley will be remembered FOREVER for his contributions to rock n' roll.

Billy Riley was laid to rest in Newport, AR on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009. His longtime friends and fellow rockabilly legends Sonny Burgess, James Van Eaton and Roland Janes attended the small ceremony.

Many of Billy Riley's contemporaries will pay tribute to him with a benefit concert for his family on August 30th at 1pm at The Silver Moon Club in Newport, AR. Performing at the show will be: Sonny Burgess and Pacers, WS Holland and band, Carl Mann, Ace Cannon and band, Dale Hawkins, Teddy Riedel, Larry Donn, Travis Wammack, Smoochy Smith, JM Vaneaton and many more.

Dean Martin - Voice your Choice

Dean Martin was born Dino Crocetti on June 7, 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio. He was very versatile as a singer, actor, comedian, and host of his own TV variety show from 1965 to 1974. He teamed comedian Jerry Lewis in Atlantic City in 1946 and was a member of the famed Rat Pack, along with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford.

His big hit was That's Amore, which went to the #2 spot on the chart in 1953. Between 1955 and 1969, he had thirty charted records on Billboard, including two Number One hits, which were both Gold Records as well.

This week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice features Dean Martin with two of his big hit songs for your votes: Memories Are Made of This and Everybody loves Somebody. Cast your vote for the song you would like to hear by coming to the Voice Your Choice page. The winning song will be played in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

August 2nd, 2009 to August 8th, 2009

Thank you ever so much for the great requests and comments on our Annual Instrumental Gems - Wordless Wonders Special. It was great to hear from so many of you including Judy in Canton, Ohio, Jake in Vista, California, Paul in Ellicott City, Maryland, George in Edwardsburg, Michigan, Roy in Campbell River, British Columbia, Gerard from the island of Guaruja in Brazil, Linda in La Habra, California, and many others. It was very nice to hear from new listener John Duggan in Ontario who commented: "I only recently discovered your show and it is truly great. Thank you so very much for letting us hear again on radio so many great songs that we don't hear on the other oldies shows." I was happy to play Cast Your Fate To The Wind by Sounds Orchestral for him. I really enjoyed hearing the original version of Apache by The Shadows on Hits From Across the Pond with Fay Greenwood. I had thought that Jorgen Ingmann was the first to score a hit with the song. I didn't know that a member of The Shadows had written Apache.

A big hello to Brian Murphy in Stockport, England, who got in touch to say how much he enjoyed our Cover Tunes Special with Tom Locke. Chuck Pettke from Detroit, Michigan also sent an email to say hi and to request a couple of songs. I was surprised and pleased to hear from Roy Harrow in Adelaide, Australia. Roy is the host of An Earful of Rock & Roll, which follows Treasure Island Oldies on FlamingOldies.com. He had not heard the Electric Prunes and I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night in many years. If you have a comment or would just like to say hi, please get in touch with me. The address is michael@treasureislandoldies.com. And if you have a song request you'd like to hear, click the Requests button on any page of the website or call our 24/7 Listener Request Line at 206-203-4678. I'd love to hear from you.

This is a reminder of our next two specials coming up soon to wrap up the Summer of 2009. On August 30th it's our Annual Back To School Special and the following week we present a brand new Motown Special which will include the excellent documentary The Motown Story. That special will be on September 6th and will be an "On Demand' show as it will not be live. I will be away on vacation to Sydney, Australia, a place and country I have always wanted to see and I am actually going to finally see and experience. I am excited.

Over at the Treasure Island Oldies Blog, our Song of the Week is our theme song for the show, Quiet Village by Martin Denny. It was a Top 5 hit and a Gold record in 1959 and very fitting for the week of our Instrumental Gems - Wordless Wonders Special. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice features one of the famous Rat Pack, which also included Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. It's Dean Martin with two of his most loved hit songs: Memories Are Made Of This and Everybody Loves Somebody. Which song would you like to hear? Click the Voice Your Choice button and cast your vote. We'll play the winning song in Hour 3 of next week's show.

Don't forget to let me know if you have a birthday coming up and I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play Birthday by The Beatles for you. Just send the details to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and also think about being part of the Treasure Island Oldies Listener Gallery. Send your photo, name, city and country where you live to michael@treasureislandoldies.com.

Have a great week.

Bye for now.

Michael

Martin Denny - Song of the Week

When I began Treasure Island Oldies back in 1997, I thought it would be very fitting to have Quiet Village by Martin Denny as the theme to begin each hour of the show.

Check out this live performance of Martin Denny and his combo on Hawaii Calls, a TV show from Hawaii. It's amazing how they were actually able to perform this music live. It's our Song of the Week.

Enjoy!

My thanks to listener Ian Sexton in Victoria, British Columbia for the tip to this very cool clip. And also big thanks to Ian for the very kind words in his email.

Warren "Birdland" Settles of The Raves Has Died

Warren "Birdland" Suttles, the last remaining original member of the Ravens, died Friday (July 24) at the age of 84. Warren had sung with as a member of Wini Brown's Boyfriends before the baritone started the Ravens along with bass singer Jimmy Ricks, second tenor Leonard "Zeke" Puzey and high tenor Maithe Marshall in 1945.

From 1948 to 1952, they amassed eleven chart records in the days when the R&B chart was only 10-15 songs. Among their R&B hits were "Rock Me All Night Long" (#4-1952), "Write Me A Letter" (#5-1948), "Send For Me If You Need Me" (#5-1948) and "Ol' Man River" (#10-1948). Warren left the group three times, finally for good in 1954. When "Warren Suttles and the Dreamers" and the "Warren Suttles Trio" failed, he went on to manage a bar. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.