Always remember the intro to this record. Decca label as well. Good stuff.

He was born Richard Graham Sarstedt, 29 March 1941 in Delhi, India but returned to Britain as a child where he created some interest for his talent, with an advertising jingle for Cadbury's, called "Hot Chocolate Crazy", issued as a single by Pye Records. This was played almost as often as Horace Batchelor's football pools advertisement on Radio Luxembourg.

This was quickly followed in 1961, by his only number one hit in the UK Singles Chart - "Well I Ask You". Success continued with three further Top10 hits during the next twelve months. However, a couple of flops, financial problems, and a change in label (from Decca Records to Philips subsidiary Fontana Records) marked a decline similar to that of which most of the pre-Beatles UK stars experienced.

Like many of his teen idol peers, Kane sought to stave off chart oblivion by hitching a ride onto the beat boom bandwagon, teaming with a group with real Liverpool pedigree - Fontana labelmates Earl Preston and the TT's.  Kane's next release, a UK and Australia Top 10 comeback hit with "Boys Cry" in 1964, was just a hiccup on the general downward spiral and did little to sustain his career. However, he was arguably the last British solo star to succeed before the arrival of The Beatles, and his five chart singles all made the Top Ten.

After "Well I Ask You" made No 1 in June 1961, "Get Lost" reached No 10 in September 1961; "Forget Me Not" achieved No 3 spot in January 1962.  "I Don't Know Why" reached No 7 in May 1962, and finally "Boys Cry" made No 8 in January 1964.

Kane later moved to America and married journalist Charlene Groman (the sister of actress Stefanie Powers), whom he had first met while passing through the United States in the mid 1960s. He remained active in the entertainment business in the States, as a record producer.

The family was far from finished. His brother, Peter Sarstedt, got to number one himself in 1969, with "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)"; whilst the youngest brother Clive, who had earlier recorded under the supervision of Joe Meek as Wes Sands, later used his middle name to call himself Robin Sarstedt and reached the British Top 3 in 1976 with his cover rendition of the old Hoagy Carmichael song, "My Resistance Is Low".

In the mid 1970s all three brothers sang together briefly, but this did not create new chart action for Kane.On 20 June 1973, the brothers made their first joint appearance as a group at Croydon's Fairfield Halls.[Eden, Peter and Robin went on to win a joint BASCA Award for composing and songwriting. As of 2006, all three of the Sarstedt brothers are still active in the music industry and Eden has toured the UK several times with the 'Solid Gold Rock and Roll' tours.

Kane was a contract actor on the Star Trek team, and made many appearances in the TV series under his real name of Richard Sarstedt.

Hot Chocolate was a British pop band of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s formed by Errol Brown (a Briton who was born in Jamaica). They were originally named 'The Hot Chocolate Band' by Mavis Smith, who worked for the Apple Corps press office. This was quickly shortened to just Hot Chocolate.

Hot Chocolate started their recording career making a reggae version of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance", but Brown was told he needed permission. Much to Brown's surprise, he was contacted by Apple Records, discovered that John Lennon liked his version, and the group was subsequently signed to Apple Records. The link was short-lived as The Beatles were starting to break up, and the Apple connection soon ended.

The band became the only group, and one of just three UK chart acts, that scored a hit in every year of the 1970s. Considering the other two acts to do so were Elvis Presley and Diana Ross, that achievement put Hot Chocolate in very elevated company. The success did not stop there and they eventually had at least one hit, every single year, between 1970 and 1984. Critically they were often lambasted or simply ignored, and apart from compilations their albums such as Cicero Park sold modestly. But their string of successes points to the indisputable fact that they were well-loved and cherished by the bulk of the UK record buying public.

I think this is one of their best and instantly recognisable.

Always thought this was a bit special, one of those records that you get hooked on - and easily. Class effort.

Foreigner is a rock band formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald, along with then-unknown vocalist Lou Gramm (Louis Grammatico). Foreigner has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide including over 36 million in the United States alone).

Jones co-produced all of the group's albums and co-wrote most of their songs with Gramm. Tensions developed within the band during the early 1980s and were attributed to a difference in musical taste between Gramm who favoured a more hard edged rock as opposed to Jones' interest in synthesisers.

Gramm left the band in 1989 but returned in 1991. Also in 1989, Jones released his only solo album titled Mick Jones on the Atlantic Records label. Jones is the only person to play on every Foreigner album.

It's a long way from Telford to Workington. It helped that we had earned a good point but it's still can get a bit tedious.

I don't know who started, or how we got to it, but someone suggested we should think of all the records we kinew of with 'rain' in the title. Not in the first line or even buried in the song - but in the title.

This was the first I thought of, hence its inclusion here. It wasn'ty the start pof spomething big, however, as I finished a modest third behind the legend that is Derek Coyle and hot-foot from the Albert Hall and the Amy Lavere concert, Alec Graham.

If I told you we got about 28 can you jot a few down.

Incidentally we're off to Tamworth in a fortnight and the record title word will be 'sun' so at lease we've gpt a chance.

Great news today from Natural England that cash is to be given towards the conservation of rare natterjack toads in Cumbria. Check with our general news section for the full story.ort.

This video shows young natterjacks and the common newt crawling out of the water.

A little self indulging on my own birthday today - I give you the king, the greatest, my all-time favourite singer Dion.

There were dozens to pick from but I remember having to wait weeks for this one to come into Mrs Kovary's at Cockermouth. I thinkl she was sick of me going in asking if it had come in yet.

I think, if memory serves, records then were 6 shillings and eight pence. They seemed to be that for a long time. I wonder how much that would equate to in today's prices.

A quiz question tonight sparked a search for the Teddy Bears. The question was something like - "To know him is to love him" was written afrter an engraving on a tombstone had inspired someone - whom?

Well the answer apparently was Phil Spector and Wikipedia tells us, by way of confirmation,that following graduation from Fairfax high school in Los Angeles, California, Spector became obsessed with a song, "To Know Him Is to Love Him", he had written for his group, The Teddy Bears.

After a hasty audition at ERA Records who offered to finance a studio session, The Teddy Bears - Spector, Marshall Leib, lead singer Annette Kleinbard, and last minute recruit, drummer Sandy Nelson - recorded the song at Gold Star Studios at a cost of $75. Released on ERA's Dore label in August 1958, it took two months before "To Know Him Is to Love Him" began to get airplay.

The record stayed in the Billboard Hot 100 for 23 weeks, in the Top Ten for 11 of those weeks, and commanded the number 1 chart position for three weeks. A

t 17, Spector had written, arranged, played, sung, and produced the best-selling record in the country. Although subsequent releases by the Teddy Bears on the Imperial label were well-recorded soft pop, they did not sell, and within a year of the debut, Spector disbanded the group.

Spector was not the only Teddy Bear who went on to a career after the group broke up. Annette Kleinbard continued to write and record songs, and changed her name to Carol Connors. Among her credits are the Rip Chords hit "Hey Little Cobra" and the Academy Awards nominated Rocky theme song "Gonna Fly Now," co-written with Ayn Robbins.

Bobby Vee (born Robert Thomas Velline, April 30, 1943, Fargo, North Dakota, United States) is an American pop music singer. According to Billboard magazine Vee has had 38 Hot 100 chart hits, 10 of which hit the Top 20.

Vee's 1961 summer release "Take Good Care of My Baby" went to No.1 on the Billboard U.S. listings and number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. Known primarily as a performer of Brill Building pop material, he went on to record a string of international hits in the 1960s, including "Devil or Angel" (U.S. 6), "Rubber Ball" (1961) (U.S. 6), "More Than I Can Say" (1961), "Run To Him" (1961) (U.S. 2), "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (1963) (U.S. 3), and "Come Back When You Grow Up" (U.S. 3).

Vee recently concluded a long running engagement at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theatre in Branson, Missouri. He performed in the 8:00pm 'Original Stars at American Bandstand' show along with Fabian, Chris Montez, Brian Hyland, and The Chiffons.

In October 2007 he was on tour performing in 'The Last of the Big Rock Shows' along with Lesley Gore and Billy "Crash" Craddock in Australia.

Whenever I hear this record I think of Juke Box Jury. It was a record which, I believe, was given a big hooter on the show and went on to become Faith's first hit in 1960.

He was unaware his surname was Nelhams-Wright until he applied for a passport and obtained his birth certificate. He was known as Terry Nelhams.

Adam Faith became one of Britain's significant early pop stars. At the time, he was distinctive for his hiccupping glottal stops and exaggerated pronunciation.

He did not write his own material, and much of his early success was through partnership with John Barry and songwriter Les Vandyke, whose arrangements were inspired by Don Costa's pizzicato arrangements for Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore".

Faith's twee pop became less popular in the mid-1960s in competition from The Beatles. After a final single in 1968 he parted company with EMI and concentrated on acting.

While a musician he had appeared in films such as Beat Girl (1961), Never Let Go, and television dramas such as Rediffusion's, No Hiding Place, but now he concentrated on repertory theatre. After a number of small parts, he was given a more substantial role in Night Must Fall, playing opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike. In autumn 1969 he took the lead in a touring production of Billy Liar.

In the 1970s, he went into music management, managing Leo Sayer among others.

He starred as the eponymous hero in the 1970s television series Budgie, about an ex-convict, but his career declined after a car accident in which he almost lost a leg. He restarted with a role as the manipulative manager of rock star David Essex, in Stardust. He was nominated for a BAFTA award. In 1980 he starred with Roger Daltrey in McVicar and appeared with Jodie Foster in Foxes.

From 1992-1994, Faith appeared in another TV series, Love Hurts starring with Zoe Wanamaker, and in 2002 he appeared in the BBC series, The House That Jack Built.

In 1986, he was hired as a financial journalist, by the Daily Mail and its sister paper The Mail on Sunday.

He had had heart problems since 1986 when he had open heart surgery.

In the 1980s, Faith became a financial investments advisor. He had a financial involvement with television's 'Money Channel'. But the channel proved unsuccessful and closed in 2001. Faith was declared bankrupt owing a reported £32 million.

He became ill after his stage performance in the touring production of Love And Marriage at Stoke-on-Trent on the Friday evening, and died at North Staffordshire Hospital of a heart attack early on Saturday 8 March 2003.

British tabloid newspapers reported his last words as "Channel Five is all shit, isn't it? Christ, the crap they put on there. It's a waste of space". Although it is not certain these were his words, it has become a popular myth.

No arguments this had to be the clip of the day - September 29th, 2008 is my dad's 90th birthday. A western fan since way back, a Desert Rat wounded in 1941 at the Battle of Sidi Rezegh, a travelling salesman for West Cumberland Farmers for over 40 years; as politically incorrect as you can be (and none the worse for that) and a top man. This is his choice today.

I actually got him the Magnificent Seven collection - four DVD's on a boxed set so I imagine they'll get some hammer.

He's looking for Joel McCrae next so that's my target over the next few weeks, tracking down a few DVD's by Joel.