Brian Hyland - The Joker Went Wild [Philips]

Biography:

Hyland studied guitar and clarinet while singing in his church choir. At the age of 14 he co-founded a harmony group, The Delfis, which recorded a demo they sent to various New York record labels. Hyland ultimately signed as a solo artist to Kapp Records, and in late 1959 issued his debut single, "Rosemary." For the follow-up, "Four Little Heels (The Clickety Clack Song)," the label paired him with the Brill Building songwriting duo of Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance, and when the single proved a minor hit, Pockriss and Vance set to work on the follow-up.

Thus in 1960, Hyland scored his first and biggest hit single at the age of 16, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", written by Vance and Pockriss. It was a novelty song that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold over two million copies.

After a move to ABC Records, Hyland partnered with the songwriting and production team of Gary Geld and Peter Udell for the hits "Let Me Belong to You" and "I'll Never Stop Wanting You."

Hyland's other major hit during this period was 1962's "Sealed with a Kiss," which reached #3 in 1962 on both the American and UK Singles Chart. It stayed on the U.S. pop chart for eleven weeks. In 1975, "Sealed With a Kiss" was reissued as a single in the UK and became a surprise #7 hit (the song, revived by Australian Jason Donovan, charted #1 in the UK in 1989). Another 1962 hit was "Ginny Come Lately," which reached #21 on the U.S. chart and #5 in the UK. With 1962's Top 30 hit, "Warmed-Over Kisses (Leftover Love)," Hyland introduced elements of country music into his sound, an approach he explored on singles including "I May Not Live to See Tomorrow" and "I'm Afraid to Go Home" and culminating with the 1964 album, Country Meets Folk. Hyland forged on, teaming with producer Snuff Garrett and session men J. J. Cale and Leon Russell to score a pair of surprise Top 30 hits, "The Joker Went Wild" and "Run, Run, Look and See." ...

Word c/o http://en.wikipedia.org
Read on at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Hyland

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• Brian
• Hyland
• The
• Joker
• Went
• Wild
• Philips

[wfarrar69]

one of many songs that i like by him.

[fistjedi]

Awesome song! i never heard it before!

[pianorman]

@titostacos: I think that's Leon Russell (aka Russell Bridges) playing the glockenspeil on this, too! (He was part of "The Wrecking Crew" at this time, as well as part of "The Shindogs" on SHINDIG!!!!

[professordumbledorf]

In the deep south where I grew up this song was hugely popular. The stations used to play it five or six times a day.

[andrez03]

We REALLY need some pop radio outlet which gives equal airplay to these "ULTRA-RARITIES" rather than rely upon the "Top-1000" A-list golden oldies we can all name right off the top of our head!

[titostacos]

THAT GLOCKENSPIEL FUCKIN ROCKS!  ...sorry. Got kind of excited...

[jarofants1]

I wish some one would upload the song on the other side of this record. The name of it was I Can Hear The Rain, I havent heard it in 40 years and been wanting to.

[soulguy10306]

It was a decent sized hit in the New York area also

[vandywilliam]

This only reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 (in the summer of 1966), but it was a much-bigger hit in the Rocky Mountain area, on stations such as KATI and KDAB in the Denver area, KRAE in Cheyenne and KATI in Casper. Great memories!

[centralparocker]

just a great song, baby!!!!