Dancing Queen
Winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with "Waterloo" propelled Sweden's ABBA onto the world stage. They had nine #1 hits in the U.K. but only one on The Billboard Hot 100: "Dancing Queen." The world still loves ABBA after almost 50 years and "Dancing Queen" is a global favorite, appearing in the stage musical and motion picture "Mamma Mia!" and as one of the highlights of their virtual stage show in London, "Voyage."
Come Softly To Me
Gretchen Christopher and Barbara Ellis formed a singing duo, the Saturns, when they were in high school in Olympia, Washington. Looking for a blues trumpet player, they found Gary Troxel, who proved to be better at singing than playing the trumpet. Gretchen composed the music and lyrics to her original song "Come Softly" and arranged it in counterpoint to the street corner humming ("dum dum, dum doo dum") of Gary Troxel, as he walked her downtown, after school (for her scholarship dance classes at Olympia Academy of Theatrical Arts, where she also rehearsed as a Soloist with the Olympia Ballet Company). The Fleetwoods were signed to a new label, Dolphin, and were named after a local telephone exchange, FLeetwood. Label owner Bob Reisdorff changed the title to the less-suggestive "Come Softly To Me."
It's Too Late
Being such a big fan of Carole King's songwriting, I interviewed her for my college newspaper, the Daily Sundial. She took a break from recording an album at A&M in Hollywood and we met in an office there. I asked her about the album she was making and she told me she didn't want to be a star, the album was just her way of getting her demos to other artists. A few months later the album was released and it was titled "Tapestry."
Never Gonna Give You Up
Rick Astley
Producer Pete Waterman saw Rick Astley perform and was impressed with his vocals. "I was offered a job at PWL to work as a tape op, which is basically a tea boy who's learning the engineering profession." Eentually he was able to record for Stock-Aitken-Waterman and "Never Gonna Give You Up" became the No, 1 single of 1987 in the U.K. "Rick Astley has a surprising voice," Mike Stock told me. "It is powerful. It doesn’t need any tricks. Just a decent tune and a heartfelt lyric. 'Never Gonna Give You Up' is about him. He told me about his life and the song followed."