Before they became The Carpenters, the clean-cut California siblings were called The Dick Carpenter Trio. And this was their first TV appearance in 1968.

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She might not be a household name but Jean Shepard was a pioneer for women in country music, with a staggering 73 singles in the country chart between 1953 and 1981.

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For some musicians, a tragic death elevates a mediocre career to legendary status. But it didn’t work out that way for Cowboy Copas.

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Sheer perfection. My Girl is a classic from the opening notes of James Jamerson’s opening bassline, echoed by Robert White’s electric guitar. And then there’s the dancing!

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Looking at a list of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s string of hits in the mid-1960s, I find I only know one of them… this summertime classic.

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Sixty years ago today… The Surfaris enjoyed their one and only hit with a hastily composed instrumental B-side called Wipe Out.

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Blues legend John Lee Hooker stretched out his already lengthy I Hate(d) The Day I Was Born to nearly 20 minutes in San Francisco in 1964.

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Tina Turner’s career might never have got started if a backing singer had not failed to turn up for a recording session of this song in 1960.

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Soul singers don’t come much better than Marvin Gaye and this deep cut comes from a session in 1967 – the year he brought us his best known tune, I Heard It Through The Grapevine.

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Soul singer Al Wilson had a hit with this anti-racist allegory before Donald Trump appropriated it 50 years later as an anti-immigration parable. Because he’s an idiot.

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