It’s funny because since I started the Kiddie a Go-Go themed posts, this blog has been painfully unpopular, har har!
Well then…MOVING RIGHT ALONG…*is this thing on?*
Maybe this will shake things up: Kiki!
Kiki was a Belgian boy signed to Palette Records, the top Belgian label of the time.
Real name: Kiki Isaye, later to become the drummer for Belgian band Blue Rock. Photo here (please note: this info is taken from a thing called the interweb…MIGHT NOT BE ACTUAL FACT! What do you think?)
Kiki released a bunch of 45 singles, including one I’d love to get my dirty mittens on called “Vive les chansons yéyé”.
Here he is singing a fantastic song called “L’Agent secret”, in which Kiki tells us that what he reallys wants to be isn’t a yéyé singing star but a Secret Agent man! He would be so good at it that even James Bond would want him dead, he sings. This one is very much in the style of Nancy Sinatra’s “Last of the Secret Agents”.
And finally, another nice poppy yéyé track called “L’Affreux Jojo”, which has nothing to do with the Michel Polnareff song of the same name.
Alright, so I know I told you I would have nothing but the best in child singing stars on this blog, with this new “Kiddie a Go-Go” theme of mine. However because this is a special day, I thought I would give you all a little something equally, um…”special”. Ok, not as special as my Victoire Scott Christmas offering from last year, but still, I hope some of you will uh…enjoy…
Adapted from German girl group Die Sweetles’ “Ich wünsch’ mir zum Geburtstag einen Beatle” and from Quebec singer Tonia’s French version “Pour mon anniversaire je voudrais un Beatle” (“For my birthday I would like a Beatle”), here is little Manon Labrie, a young school girl from Québec who for some unknown reason, got a record contract. Perhaps whoever signed her had a hearing problem.
Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a while. I know anyone keeping up with this blog needs to show some serious patience, so my apologies.
I’ve been waiting for the right moment to continue on this idea I had, which was to post some rockin’ children’s songs from the 60s or other. In fact, I’ve been toying with the idea for several years now of producing a CD comp of garage/60s/punk/new wave children’s songs (as in: sung by children, from the time). The only problem is I wanted this comp to feature kids from around the world, not just focus on the U.S, the UK, France, etc. Quite a hefty mission. As you might guess, it hasn’t gotten me anywhere, but at least I have a few kick ass kiddie records lying around the house that could use a few blog posts. And, like I mentioned in my previous La Pendilla post – don’t let it scare you. It’s not like I’m gonna post René Simard or the Mini Pops. Trust.
Which brings us to post number 2. One could not talk about children recording stars without mentioning one of the most infamous child recording stars in US recording history: Keith Green.
Keith Green is well known today amongst Christian/Gospel music fans and is a posthumous member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Regardless of what your thoughts or opinions on Christian music are, he was a true artist and a musical prodigy. At the age of 11 in 1965, he was the youngest singer-songwriter to be signed to ASCAP.
From Wikipedia, about his late 70s period: “Green was signed to Contemporary Christian music label Sparrow Records in 1976 and worked on the album Firewind (1976) with Christian artists 2nd Chapter of Acts, Terry Talbot, John Talbot, and Barry McGuire. His first solo project, For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, was released in 1977 and his second solo release, No Compromise, followed in 1978. In 1979, after negotiating a release from his contract with Sparrow, Green initiated a new policy of refusing to charge money for concerts or albums. Keith and Melody mortgaged their home to privately finance Green’s next album, So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt. The album, which featured a guest appearance by Bob Dylan, was offered through mail-order and at concerts for a price determined by the purchaser. As of May 1982, Green had shipped out more than 200,000 units of his album – 61,000 for free. Subsequent albums included The Keith Green Collection (1981) and Songs For The Shepherd (1982).”
However, this is not the era I am interested in, obviously. Let us go back to 1965, when Keith Green was all but 11 years old, with already over 40 songs under his belt. His father, seeing green (geddit?) dollar bill signs in his son’s talent, knocked on DECCA records’ doors, requesting a session with a producer. None other than Gary Usher, producer of the Beach Boys, and co-writer of “In My Room”, among others, was commissioned to produce this shy young man, whom DECCA had high hopes for as their next teen idol star. Story has it that Gary Usher didn’t think much of Keith Green’s songs and that the DECCA big suits forced him into producing Green. Usher easily transformed Keith’s compositions into Beach Boys sounding material, with the help of Chuck Girard on backing vocals and “voilà”, here you have “A Go-Go Getter” and the A-side, “The Way I Used to Be”.
Two more singles were released until Donny Osmond came along and stole every young girl’s heart. Pffft!
Keith Green suffered a severe depression, until marrying and converting to Christianism in the late 70s, and started on a new, impressive recording career. He later died in a plane crash in 1982.
Here’s a fantastic clip of little Keith on “I’ve Got a Secret”. His secret being “I Just Signed a 5-Year Contract as a Rock and Roll Singer”.
So just the other day at work I was happily singing out loud “Un rayo de sol, woh-oh-oh! La la la la la, woh-oh-oh!” over and over, until my boss finally snapped and asked “What the HELL are you singing??”. I had no clue what to answer, even though I knew I was singing La Pendilla’s version of Un rayo de sol. What could I say? “Well, it’s this Spanish children’s album I have and uh….”. Oh no, trust me, I now know when to avoid the blank stares of complete incomprehension. So I just said “something to bring in the…uh…sun?” (since it’s been raining every day for a month here now anyway).
Last week I thought I should start posting more, and that’s when I decided I would start posting a new series of mp3s: kiddie a go-go! Before you cringe and decide to no longer visit this blog, ever, listen to La Pendilla’s “A-chi-li-pu”. It kind of kicks ass.
La Pendilla was the brainchild of Pepe Aguirre, and most of the band members were his children or nieces and nephews. The band was originally from Spain but was most popular in South America. I can’t say I know more about this cute bunch, so if anyone wants to chip in, please feel free.
Here’s “The In-Crowd” in French (“C’est le Go-Go”), sung by Québécoise Nicole Lord. I’ve had this 45 for years, and still know nothing about her. No photos, nothing. A little hard on the ears at times when Nicole tries to sustain a note (ouch!), but still a very cool record.
Pamela is a mystery to me. Her beautiful Vogue single from 1969 is one that has seemed to escape almost everybody, including L’Encyclopédie du Rock Français . It’s even absent from Vogue’s catalogue (at least the online one).
Poor Pamela, it seems no care went into the design of her record sleeve. The record’s cover is shocking in its dullness; Pamela’s facial features are hard to make out, the cheap black and white photo makes it look like a photocopy and the back only lists the songs, with no credits or the label’s usual plugs for other Vogue artist releases. I am just baffled. Maybe this copy was a promo release? Who knows.
Too bad because the record is very nice. Sure, Pamela didn’t have the greatest voice but the arrangements are pretty and she does a remarkable cover of Antoine’s beautiful “Une autre autoroute”.
(Which reminds me: I should do a giant post about all the Antoine covers I have and invite people to post theirs!)
If anybody has any info on Pamela, I would love to know. Tell me!
Les Costa are 2 brothers, George and Michel, who started writing music together at a young age, strongly influenced by The Beatles and the British pop sounds of the time. They were only 16-17 when they released this first single on Gemini and it is just sublime, with beautiful melodies and harmonies. The song “Ce soir je veux rester chez moi” (Tonight I want to stay home) is just so wonderfully poppy and sweet that I can’t help but feel good every gosh darned time I hear it.
Their harmonious brotherly vocals led Les Costa to a successful career as back up singers for big names like Michel Sardou and Johnny Hallyday, and in the late 80s they started their own company specialising in commercial jingles. They are also employed by Disney in France as musical directors for the dubbing of songs to French.
I recently wrote to Les Costa (their email is available through their website) just to tell them I had this early 45 and how much I loved it. They wrote back in less than 24 hours, thanking me for writing. They said my email made them happy and that this was their first record and the beginning of their “musical adventures”. As short and sweet a correspondence as it was, it made me smile to know that people can openly write to them, even if only to say “bonjour” and that they take the time to respond, with a smile and a “merci”. Now that’s class!
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