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Fact #82496

When:

Short story:

The new No1 single in Billboard magazine's Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA is Tossin' And Turnin' by Bobby Lewis, which will stay on top for seven weeks.

Full article:

Jerry Blavat (radio DJ, WCAM, Philadelphia) : That song was written by Ritchie Adams, who was the lead singer of a group called the Fireflies. He wanted Jackie Wilson to sing it. Beltone Records grabbed it, gave it to Bobby, and the rest is history.

Bobby Lewis : I recorded Tossin' and Turnin' in New York, down on 33rd or 34th Street, in that area. This guy, (Beltone owner) Les Cahan, owned a radio station. We recorded it at a studio in the basement.

Jerry Blavat : I busted it in Philadelphia and South Jersey. I was the first to play it. I was on WCAM. Back in those days, WIBG was formatted; because of the payola scandal, they could only play Top-40 records. But I had the freedom to play whatever I wanted, which I still do today. So I'd play Sherry and Tossin' and Turnin' and He's So Fine by the Chiffons. I kept playing Tossin' and Turnin', and it got more and more popular, which forced 'Wibbage' (WIBG's nickname) to play it.

Bobby Lewis : I would go up to (Cahan's) office up on Broadway between 49th and 50th and I'd say, 'How we doin', Les? He said, 'Take a look here.' He had a little chart you'd get from the distributors. I said, 'Hey, Les ... I'm gettin' as happy as I can be here.' The next week, it's up to No. 80, and the next week, it's up to 70-something.

Les Cahan got me on Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand.

Well, that was it. The kids went ape over the song. And don't you know the following week — because of Dick Clark and some of the other DJs like Cousin Brucie (Morrow) and Alan Freed and Murray the K and Don K. Reed and Bobby Jay — it stayed at No. 1 for 10 weeks? That was unheard of in those days. Praise God.
(Source : interview with Mark Voger at NJ.com, 2011)