The Bands - Gene to Mary

Gene Pitney made his name initially as a song writer with many hits to his credit. His own records were, more often than not, penned by other writers. His first UK hit came in 1961 but the run of ten top ten hits that established him started in early 1964 with "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" and carried on to the end of 1967. During that time he had a couple of number two singles but never made the top spot. 

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George Harrison

There were no Beatles in 1971 but George Harrison launched a solo career and his number one single "My Sweet Lord" was the biggest hit of the year. He followed this with top ten success "Bangla Desh" while enjoying top five album success with "All Things Must Pass" in 1971 and "Living In The Material World" in 1973. After 1973 his singles no longer reached the charts until the Eighties.

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A jazz and R&B singer and keyboard player of great skill, Georgie Fame enjoyed a run of chart hits from 1964 - 69. He had a trio of number one hits with "Yeh Yeh", in 1964, "Get Away", in 1966, and "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967.

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Gerry and The Pacemakers

Merseyside group, Gerry and The Pacemakers, had a spectacular 1963 and had hits through to 1965. Like the Beatles, the band were managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin. Their first three singles, "How Do You Do It", "I Like It" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" were all number one hits. This achievement established a new record for a UK performer.

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Gilbert O'Sullivan had a distinctive singing style and appearance that gave him a series of top twenty hits during the years from 1970 - 75. His number one singles were "Clair", in 1972, and "Get Down", in 1973. He reached the top ten on another five occasions and also topped the album charts in 1972 with "Back To Front".

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Gloria Gaynor

Perhaps the feminist anthem of the Seventies was 1979 chart topper "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor. She had been a top disco performer since her number two hit of 1975, "Never Can Say Goodbye" although he chart career did not extend into the Eighties.

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Helen Shapiro

This Helen Shapiro Friends' Club site, created by John Williams, includes a tour through the singing career of the 14 year old pop star who became a jazz singer before moving on to gospel. Full of plenty of material from 1961, when it all started. Her two number one hits came out that year: "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness". Her last singles chart entry came in 1964.

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Manchester band Herman's Hermits were even more successful in the USA than Britain during the mid-Sixties. They even gave the Beatles a run for their money in the American charts. Following their debut hit, "I'm Into Something Good" in 1964 - their only number UK one - they were rarely out of the top twenty until the end of 1970.

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Hollies

The Hollies were part of the huge wave of bands that took the UK and then the world-wide charts by storm at the same time as the Beatles. Their run of singles hits started in 1963 and by 1974 - when "The Air That I Breathe" reached number two spot - they had enjoyed 17 top ten hits. They were stopped at number two four times and managed the top spot only once (at least during that era) with "I'm Alive" in 1965. The Manchester band also had a number of top five albums, particularly with a variety of "Greatest Hits" releases from 1968 - 77.

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Hot Chocolate had their first top ten single in 1970 and spent the rest of the decade consistently in the charts. Although their only number one was "So You Win Again" in 1977, their best known hit is "You Sexy Thing", a number two in 1975 that reached the UK top ten again in both the Eighties and Nineties.

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Jackson Five

The Jackson Five, later called the Jacksons, were regulars in the UK top ten from 1970 to the early Eighties. They hit the UK charts with a bang in 1970. None of their singles reached number one but all four were strong top ten contenders including "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There". Things were quieter for the band in the mid-seventies but they returned for a strong showing at the end of the decade with their only number one, "Show You the Way to Go", in 1977.

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Jet Harris and Tony Meehan

Riding high in the charts of 1963 were instrumentalists Jet Harris and Tony Meehan, formerly members of the Shadows. They had a number one with "Diamonds" (rare in that Jet played bass guitar on the lead) and top five hits with "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Applejack". The duo broke up after Jet was seriously injured in a car crash late in 1963.

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Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull had a series of top ten hits from 1969 - 71, including "Living In The Past" - a number three in 1969. However, the band's principal output was on albums. They were regulars in the album top twenty throughout the Seventies - indeed on to the Nineties. The biggest Jethro Tull LP hit was "Stand Up" which reached number one in 1969.

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Jimi Hendrix was very influential both in his time and following his death in 1970 since when a legend has developed around the man. His remarkable guitar style was better showcased on albums than singles. He did, however, make the UK singles top ten five times from 1966 to 1970 when he enjoyed his only number one hit, "Voodoo Chile". His album output included a number two with his first, "Are You Experienced", in 1967 and many more albums have been sold since his death.

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Jim Reeves

This fan-operated, non-profit website honours country music singing legend Jim Reeves. It includes rare photos, fan forum, Q&A, and RealAudio. He had his biggest hit without ever reaching number one with huge seller "Distant Drums" (1966) shortly after his early death in 1964.

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Johnny Nash was one of the earliest exponents of reggae in the UK charts, reaching the top ten half a dozen times from 1968 - 75. His final significant hit was also his biggest - "Tears On My Pillow" reached number one in 1975.

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Ken Dodd

The Liverpudlian comic was one of the unlikely chart successes of the Sixties. During the early Sixties he had enjoyed a series of lower top fifty entries, however, in 1965 he burst to the top with "Tears", the number two single of the year and a million seller. He would continue to enjoy top twenty success until the early seventies.

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The hey-days of London band the Kinks, lasted from 1964 -72 when they had over a dozen top ten entries in the singles charts and five in the album chart top ten. Their output included three number ones: "You Really Got Me", in 1964; "Tired of Waiting For You", in 1965; and "Sunny Afternoon", in 1966. They also hit the number two spot with three other singles: "All Day And All Of The Night", "Waterloo Sunset" and "Lola".

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Led Zeppelin

As album sales grew during the Seventies, a number of acts concentrated on making LPs only. Led Zeppelin were stars in this format, hitting the top spot on the UK album charts no less than eight times throughout the Seventies. They followed their first number one album, "Led Zeppelin II" in 1970, with a string of well-crafted discs until "In Through The Out Door" - their last number one album in 1979.

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Leo Sayer had a steady run of top ten hits from 1973 and into the early Eighties both in the UK and USA. His only British number one was "When I Need You", in 1977. He was equally at home in the album charts with six top ten entries during the same period culminating in a three week run at the number one spot for "The Very Best of Leo Sayer" in 1979.

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Lonnie Donegan

Ted Barbers' website is dedicated to Glasgow-born skiffle legend Lonnie Donegan. He had been charting very successfully since 1956 but 1960 saw his biggest hit with the quirky "My Old Man's a Dustman". His final top ten entry was in 1962 but he remained a regular performer until his death in 2002.

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Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was born New Orleans in 1901 and died 1971. Known around the world as Satchmo, he is widely recognized as a founding father of jazz. However, his biggest selling record didn't come until the age of 67 when his single "What a Wonderful World" was a number one for a month in 1968.

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Love Affair

Love Affair had a short burst of pop glory from early 1968, when debut single "Everlasting Love" made number one, through to the end of 1969. In between, Steve Ellis's band managed another three top ten singles including "Rainbow Valley", "A Day Without Love" and "Bringing On back the Good Times".

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Like many performers who started young (Glaswegian Marie Lawrie had her first hit as Lulu at the age of fifteen with "Shout") Lulu has kept going strong and is still a top performer. Her best period was from 1964 - 69 when she reached the top ten half a dozen times culminating in "Boom Bang-a-Bang" - Eurovision Song Contest winner in 1969 and a number two hit. She returned to the charts in 1973 with top three hit "The Man Who Sold The World".

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Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann were singles chart regulars from their first hit, "5-4-3-2-1" in early 1964. They had thirteen top ten hits up to "Ragamuffin Man" in 1969 including three number ones with "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Pretty Flamingo" and "Mighty Quinn". The band was relaunched in 1971 as Manfred Mann's Earth Band to reflect a more sophisticated music style. The group managed a further three top ten hits from 1973 - 78 under its new guise.

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Scottish band Marmalade had their spell at the top from 1968 - 76 after a tough apprenticeship during the early Sixties when the hits failed to come. Their eight top ten hits included a number one - a cover of the Beatles' album track "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" in 1968. The band also made the top three in 1969 with "Reflections Of My Life" and in 1970 with "Rainbow".

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Marvin Gaye

The Tamla Motown star was number one on both sides of the Atlantic with "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" in 1969 but he had been releasing a series of minor top fifty entries onto the British charts since 1964. Marvin Gaye managed a succession of smaller hits during the Seventies and up to his death in 1984 - often dueting with stars like Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross. The biggest hit with Tammi Terrell was top ten single "Onion Song" in 1969 and with Diana Ross was top five hit "You Are Everything" in 1974.

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Mary Hopkin

Mary Hopkin whose number one, "Those Were the Days" became the second biggest single of 1968, was produced by Paul McCartney after winning TV talent show "Opportunity Knocks". She had three more top ten records from 1969 - 70 before her chart career ended, including a number two with both "Goodbye" and "Knock Knock Who's There".

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