Hailing from Atlanta Georgia, it's fascinating to hear Tommy Roe recall the musical heroes he literally grew up with. In Part 1 of this interview you can listen as Tommy details the amazing start to his career and reveals his memories of writing many of his hits. The story of Tommy Roe's career continues in Part 2.
The story of Tommy Roe's career continues in Part 2 with even more stories concerning his hits. Tommy also chats about how some of his songs have been covered by other artists and do you know which hit song of his is actually named after one of his father's favourite expressions? If you missed Part 1 of the interview, it can be found here.
Singer/songwriter Nick Gilder first found fame in his native Canada as the lead singer of a "glam rock" band. Despite that band's success, Nick departed to chase the international fame he found with his song "Hot Child In The City". Nick reveals the meaning of "Hot Child" and tells about the huge hit he co-wrote for another band.
It can be quite difficult to predict which songs are going to be hits and which aren't. Toto's Bobby Kimball admits he's not good at it and has a great example to prove it! Bobby also has an amazing story about how he secretly sang part of the lead vocal on someone else's hit. It was so secret that even the artist probably doesn't know!
Explaining the late Richard Street's story may be challenging. He wasn't one of the original members of The Temptations, but he was there when the group began. For a time he sang for them "secretly", then joined fulltime to record such classics as "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". Richard Street also worked for Motown Records - a job which gave him some great hit stories!
In a fascinating interview the singer/songwriter who made pina coladas famous with his song "Escape" tells the true story behind the song. Rupert Holmes also explains that he produced and played keyboards on a hit for a British band in the 70's, gave Michael Jackson advice early in his career and worked closely with Barbra Streisand....and that's just the start of his story!
Would you believe that a music genre was named after two cousins? Ian Keenan had never heard the story before and it's just one of the incredible recollections that Rocky Burnette has to tell. He re-lives the event which supplied the inspiration for his hit "Tired Of Toeing The Line" plus also shares some heartwarming memories of his father, the late rock'n'roll legend, Johnny Burnette.
"Heart-throb" and "guitar hero" were common descriptions for Peter Frampton in the 70's. He also created the biggest selling "live" album of the decade! Here Peter recalls the day he wrote two of his biggest hits, how he recorded with George Harrison on the epic "All Things Must Pass" plus tells what led to him playing on a famous movie theme.
Quote: "If vocal talent equalled financial success, Paul Carrack would be a bigger name than legends such as Phil Collins or Elton John." Paul has often been a quiet achiever as a session keyboard player as well as singer with bands such as Ace and Mike & The Mechanics. Here he chats about his career and explains the meaning behind the hit "How Long".
In Part 1 Justin Hayward explains how he began his professional career and signed a contract which gave someone else the rights to some of his best known songs. You'll hear the stories behind many of the Moody Blues hits and you'll also want to listen to Part 2 to hear about his involvement with "Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds".
