Jingle Bell Rock Jingle Bell Rockwas the result of a collaboration between two men from non-music professions. Joseph Carleton Beal was a public relations man from Atlantic City, NJ while James Ross Boothe was an advertising writer from Texas. That the song is this high on the ASCAP chart is quite amazing as only two versions have garnered the majority of airplay, the original by Bobby Helms and the 80s version by Daryl Hall and John Oates. Helms was a singer who moved to Nashville in 1956 to try and break into country music. His fourth single, Fraulein (1957), established his career, hitting number 1 on the Country chart and 36 on the Pop Singles. He followed the same year with My Special Angel (#7 Pop / #1 Country). In late-1957, Helms released Jingle Bell Rock, moving from his normal country to a rockabilly style. Noted Nashville studio musician Hank Garland came up with the infamous opening riff and, later in his life, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit claiming that he and Helms had actually written the song. Helms told a story that supported the claim to the Indianpolis Star in 1992, saying I really didnt want to cut it because it was such a bad song. So me and one of the musicians worked on it for about an hour putting a melody to it and we put a bridge to it. The record became a favorite on American Bandstand, propelling the song to number 6 on the Billboard charts. The single we rereleased each year by Decca, putting it back on the charts each of the next five years (1958 / #35, 1959 / #36, 1961 / #41, 1962 / #56). Over the years, Helms rerecorded the song numerous times for Kapp (1965), Little Darlin (1967), Certron (1970), Ashley and Black Rose Records (1983). Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker were the only other artists to get the record on the Hot 100. Their collaboration went to 21 in 1961 and 92 in 1962. The record did chart four times on the Country Singles by George Strait, Aaron Tippin, Rascal Flatts and Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. The second most played version, by Daryl Hall and John Oates, was never released as a commercial single but was, instead, included as a bonus promotional item to those that purchased their greatest hits album Rock and Soul, Part 1 in 1983. The single had Hall singing lead on one side and Oates on the other although it is Daryls version that receives airplay today. The duo also made a promotional video for the song which received heavy airplay on MTV. https://youtube/watch?v=6scK5HLdh1o
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 13:10:25 +0000
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