In The Mood was originally made popular in 1940 by Glenn Miller And His Orchestra. Ernie Fields followed-up his version with other instrumental remakes, but his version of In The Mood was a top 20 one hit wonder.
Instrumental song The Theme From A Summer Place won the Grammy Award for Record Of The Year and became the top song of the year and the top song of the 1960s. Percy Faith and others recorded various instrumental and vocal versions. This song was from the movie A Summer Place. This song was written by Max Steiner.
The instrumental song Tracy's Theme was the only top 20 song for Spencer Ross and a one hit wonder. He did not receive mentionable radio airplay with any other solo song. This song was written by Robert Ascher.
Bill Black took his instrumental remake of White Silver Sands to number 13. The vocal version of White Silver Sands was a 1957 number 11 hit for Don Rondo.
This instrumental version of Look for A Star was a top 20 near miss here, but made #13 Cashbox and #19 Billboard. The song was from the movie Circus Of Horrors. This song was written by Tony Hatch.
Theme From The Apartment was originally titled Jealous Lover. The name was changed when the instrumental song was used for the movie The Apartment. This song was written by Charles Williams.
Never On Sunday was an instrumental from the movie Never On Sunday. It was a top 20 one hit wonder. A few weeks earlier, Don Costa had a top 20 near miss with another instrumental movie score, Theme From The Unforgiven (The Need For Love).
The full artist title for Calcutta was Lawrence Welk And His Orchestra Featuring Frank Scott On Harpsichord. It was performed on the popular TV program The Lawrence Welk Show. This song was written by: Hans Bradtke, Heino Gazel, Lee Pockriss, Paul Vance.
Number 7 hit instrumental song Wheels was a top 20 one hit wonder for The String-A-Longs. The group followed-up with other instrumentals that received moderate airplay. Wheels was written by Richard Stephens and Jimmy Torres.
In 1960, The Shadows had a UK number one instrumental song with Apache. Jordan Ingmann brought the song to the US, and reached number 2. He became a top 20 one hit wonder, but followed up with many instrumentals that received airplay, including Anna. Apache was written by Jerry Lorden.
Instrumental song Asia Minor was based on Piano Concerto in A Minor by Edvard Grieg. Kokomo was actually Jimmy Wisner, hiding his identity from other classically trained musicians. Kokomo was a top 20 one hit wonder, but Jimmy Wisner received some airplay with other songs as Jimmy Wisner Trio also. The 1970s group Kokomo was unrelated.
You Can't Sit Down was an instrumental top 20 one hit wonder. The 45 RPM single had parts one and two on its sides. Part two was more famous. This was the most popular song by Philip Upchurch Combo, later known as Phil Upchurch. He received slight radio airplay with other songs, like Softly, and played guitar on many records for decades to come.
Although instrumental song Mexico was a top 20 one hit wonder for Bob Moore, he received some airplay in 1963 with another regional instrumental, Kentucky. Mexico was written by Boudleaux Bryant.
This instrumental version of Moon River won the Grammy Award for Record Of The Year. The song was from the album Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes, and from the movie Breakfast At Tiffany's. This song was written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer.
Tuff was a top 20 one hit wonderinstrumental for Ace Cannon. The follow-up, Blues (Stay Away From Me) was fairly popular too. Ace Cannon was a saxophone player for Bill Black's Combo, whose group played on solo records by Ace Cannon too. The song Tuff was from album Tuff-Sax. This song was written by Ace Cannon.
Instrumental song Percolator (Twist) was a top 20 one hit wonder for Billy Joe And The Checkmates. He followed-up with Rocky's Theme, which received slight play. Billy Joe was actually Lew Bedell, a record producer, a New York radio and TV star, and comedian. The Checkmates here are not related to the Emile Ford Checkmates nor to The Checkmates, Ltd. This song was written by Lou Bideu and Ernie Freeman.
