FORGOTTEN HITS: Tuesday This And That

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Tuesday This And That

SAYING GOODBYE:

Boy, they’re not even dying in 3’s anymore …

This past week has been absolutely brutal in the way of celebrity deaths, making January, 2023, one of the toughest months in recent memory … and we’re still not completely thru it yet.

Hockey great Bobby Hull, The Golden Jet, passed away at the age of 84. Hull led The Chicago Blackhawks to great success for 15 years, joining the club in 1957 and making the 1960’s a very exciting time to be a hockey fan here in Chicago. (Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, Chico Maki, Phil Esposito, Tony Nesterenko … man, what a team they had back then!!!)

He was the first NHL Player to score 50 or more goals in a single season … and went on to do so five times. (He scored 54 goals in the 1965-66 season … and led the NHL in goals seven times during his career.) His 31 goals and 25 assists in the 1960-61 season helped The Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup Championship for the first time in 49 years. His 604 career goals remains a franchise record to this day. He was also a 12-time NHL All-Star. His son Brett followed him on the ice … and scored 714 goals in his own career.

After leaving The Blackhawks (and the National Hockey League), Hull played for The World Hockey Association, signing a ten-year, million contract (unheard of at the time) to play for the Winnipeg Jets. In the 1974-75 season, Hull scored 77 goals in 78 games! A couple of other amazing career stats: He was once clocked at skating 29.7 mph without the puck and 28.3 mph with it … and his slap shot was once timed at 118.3 mph … you do NOT want to get in the way of that!!!

We saw reports on Sunday regarding the passing of Barrett Strong, who had Motown Records’ first official hit when “Money” went to #14 in Cash Box Magazine in early 1960. (It peaked at #23 in Billboard … and was a #2 R&B Hit.)

While this was Strong’s only hit on the pop charts, he became quite a successful songwriter for The Motown Team, penning the hits “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone,” “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next To You” and “Just My Imagination” for The Temptations … the #1 Hit “War” for Edwin Starr … the #1 Hit “Smiling Faces Sometimes” by The Undisputed Truth and the TWO-TIME #1 Hit “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” which topped the charts for both Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight and the Pips.

“Money” (which he didn’t write … but label founder Berry Gordy did) was covered by a number of artists over the years, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones … and charted again for The Kingsmen (#16, 1964) and The Flying Lizards (#34, 1980) kk

From Tom Cuddy ...

RIP: Barrett Strong, Who Had the First Hit for Motown, with "Money (That's What I Want)," Was 82
https://www.showbiz411.com/2023/01/29/rip-barrett-strong-who-had-the-first-hit-for-motown-with-money-thats-what-i-want-was-82

And then Monday Night came the news that Cindy Williams, of "Laverne and Shirley" and "American Graffiti" fame, had passed away at the age of 75. (Co-Star Penny Marshall passed away in 2018.) Without specifics, Williams' family said that she died after a brief illness.

Also leaving us was Three Dog Night Drummer Floyd Sneed, an integral part of the band during their existence. Although it was always the three singers out front, EVERYBODY knew who Floyd Sneed was! (Sneed’s sister was at one time married to Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame … and it was she who bought him his first drum kit.)

Sneed played on all the band’s hits thru 1974 … and rejoined them in 1980 when they got back together for a short-lived reunion. He was 80 years old.

A highlight of a Three Dog Night concert back in the early ‘70’s was when the singers would step off stage for a moment to give The Three Dog Night Band a chance to play something on their own. A favorite showcase for the band was “Chest Fever,” which wound up on the B-Side of their 1969 single “One.”

And Lisa Loring, who played Wednesday Addams on the hit ‘60’s television series “The Addams Family,” also passed away during these past few days.

Later landing on a television soap (and posing for Playboy!), Loring’s acting career never really sustained the popularity she attained as a child actor on the hit TV comedy. She was only 64.

And news came earlier this past weekend that actress Annie Wersching, who kept us entertained on “The Rookie,” “Bosch” and “24” had passed away at the age of 45 from cancer. (She just kept right on working right up to the end.)

LISA MARIE:

Lisa Marie has been back in the news these past few days.

First came word that Priscilla was contesting an amendment to Lisa Marie's will, naming her children as executors of her estate. (Priscilla maintains that the will was changed in 2016 without her knowledge ... but that those changes were forged and not really Lisa Marie's true wishes.)

Then on Monday came word that Lisa Marie had been taking opioids in an effort to lose weight quickly and, in the past month or so, shed 40-50 lbs ... which just may have been too much for her heart.

Neither story is anywhere near complete at this stage ... so we're sure there's more to come on both fronts.

Now THAT’S INTERESTING!

Imagine my surprise when reading this this morning in “Ultimate Classic Rock” regarding Bob Seger …

Bob Seger is closely associated with the music of Detroit, one of the great R&B centers in the U.S., but he was actually obsessed with the soul sounds of the Deep South. They filtered up from radio stations like Nashville's WLAC-AM, whose signal could and often did reach Seger and his friends in Michigan. “I always preferred the Stax-Volt and Southern stuff to the repetitive Motown 'cement beat' in the '60s, though I know Motown had some great musicians," Seger told Musician in 1980. "But me and my friends, like [Detroit buddy and future Eagles founder] Glenn Frey would send away for these singles, and then it was like, 'Listen to this one … Let this one pin your ears back.'"

Justin Bieber is the latest music star to sell the rights to their back catalog for big bucks.

Rumored to be a $200 million pay out, Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of Bieber’s publishing rights, artist royalties from his master recordings and any and all neighboring rights. The sale covers all 290 songs that Bieber released before December 31^st, 2021, including his most recent album Justice.

And Mick Jagger is launching his own brand of harmonicas! Available beginning February 8^th, Jagger’s new line of ten-key harmonicas will be available thru the Lee Oskar Harmonica Company.

Running $60 each, the harmonicas will boast BOTH their names on the inscription.

From Our LAUGHTER’S THE BEST MEDICINE DEPARTMENT …

Keep 'em coming, Mr. Chuckles! I need the humor, and laughter is a really good extender of life.

WAIT? Does that mean that Keith is laughing at US? (with a wink)

Shelley J Sweet-Tufano

My understanding is that Keith Richards is an avid Forgotten Hits Reader …

When he remembers to do so.

(Sometimes it takes a coconut to the head to remind him!) kk

OK, Kent!

That video of Dad and Young Daughter singing along with Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns' Top Ten Forgotten Hit, “Don’t You Just Know It!” that you featured was so Good!

I ran it through my Official “CB Cuteness Factor Analyzer” and ~~~