Reelin' and Rockin' at #40 – it's the DC5!

Singing drummer Gary Lewis is the eldest of the six sons of Jerry Lewis, who had once formed half of a comedic double-act with Dean Martin. Gary founded the Playboys while still in his mid-teens and they successfully auditioned for a summer season at Disneyland in 1964. The Playboys were David Costell (bass), guitarists Al Ramsey and John West, and David Walker on keyboards.

This Diamond Ring was a US million-seller that never charted in the UK nationals. Surprisingly, Gary's father Jerry had fared better with his revival of Al Jolson's Rock-a-Bye Your Baby (With a Dixie Melody) which hit the UK #12 in 1957.

This Diamond Ring was Al Kooper's biggest hit as a songwriter. He and co-writers Bob Brass and Irwin Levine had penned it with the Drifters in mind. (The trio also wrote this week's #11, I Must Be Seeing Things.) Gary pipped Elvis and Frank Sinatra to the post as Cash Box magazine’s 1965 Male Vocalist of the Year.

Official band website; Gary and Jerry on stage in 2007; Gary with Al Cooper in 2007.

The glamorous Kathy Kirby (Kathleen O'Rourke) took I Belong (written by Peter Lee Stirling and Phil Peters) to the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest in Naples, where it gained second place for the United Kingdom. (The winning country was Luxembourg, with a ditty about a doll, written by 'Monsieur Je T'aime' – Serge Gainsbourg.)

I Belong had competed for BBC viewers' approval against five other Eurovision hopefuls. All six finalist compositions (penned by top songwriters of the day) were performed by powerful vocalist Kathy, during a January TV special hosted by David Jacobs. I Belong received the highest number of postal votes, beating One Day (writer Chris Andrews) My Only Love (Tom Springfield) I'll Try Not To Cry (Les Reed and Barry Mason) Sometimes (Leslie Bricusse) and I Won't Let You Go (Tony Hatch) to become the 1965 UK Song for Europe.

Although the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Naples on March 20th, only one day before this week's Fab was announced, I Belong was already on its way out of the fast-changing Big L chart. The British public apparently liked the song sufficiently to vote for it, but not to buy it. Despite its TV exposure, the second-placed song failed to climb higher than #36 in the Nationals, and I Belong was to be Kathy's final chart entry. It did fare far better in the Fab Forty, but one week after coming second in Eurovision, I Belong was gone.

In the early Sixties, songwriter Peter Lee Stirling (then known as Peter Green) had been a member of Tommy Bruce's backing band The Bruisers and another Birmingham outfit, the Beachcombers. He then craved his niche as a songwriter, scoring big hits for the Merseybeats and others. Peter's own recording The Sweet And Tender Hold Of Your Love, was a Big L climber for two weeks running, in June '66, but failed to get into the Fab 40. Greater chart success came in the Seventies, when he recorded under the name of Daniel Boone and scored with Beautiful Sunday and Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast.(Note for arch-Anoraks: Peter Lee Stirling also co-wrote (with David Cumming) both sides of the Kenny and Cash single, Knees and this week's #21, Where Am I.)

'I Belong' is one of 38 tracks on a 2-CD compilation, The Collection, released in 2005. Click on the sleeve photo for full track listing and information.

The Official Kathy Kirby website, with many photos from Kathy's personal collection, is here.