Chart Beat Chat

BY ANY OTHER NAME

Dear Fred,

Pablo Nelson’s letter last week about No. 1 acts with colors as part of their names was excellent. However, there was one act that he missed: David Rose and his Orchestra.

Blair Buchta
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Dear Blair,

Certainly there are rose-colored glasses, so it’s only fair to count rose as a color as well as a flower.


SOPHIE B. HAWKINS DAY

Hello Fred,

I love your column and have been a fan for quite a few years. In last week’s Chart Beat, you wrote about the Hot 100 singles with the most longevity, stating that there were only 12 artists who lasted 55 weeks or more. Didn’t Sophie B. Hawkins rack up more than 55 weeks with her hit single “As I Lay Me Down” from her second album “Whaler” in 1996? I thought at the time she broke a record for the longest running Hot 100 single, with 67 weeks.

Also, can you shed any light on what happened to Hawkins and if she has any new material coming out in the immediate future. Hope to hear from you!

All the best,

Stan Sabin

Dear Stan,

Sophie B. Hawkins just played a Boston date on May 11, and news of her tour schedule for this year and 2008 can be found at her website: www.sophiebhawkins.com.

You have some correct figures, but for the wrong chart. “As I Lay Me Down” debuted on the Hot 100 the week of June 3, 1995. The song peaked at No. 6 and was on the chart for 44 weeks.

Over on the Adult Contemporary tally, “As I Lay Me Down” debuted the week of May 20, 1995, and went on to rule the chart for six weeks. The song spent 67 weeks on the AC list, which is why you remember that number.


RAISING A QUESTION

Dear Fred,

I’m curious about the song “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban. This single is No. 76 on the Hot 100 this week after re-entering the chart last week.

Will the weeks on chart be accumulated with the total weeks of the song’s chart life a few years ago when the song first charted on the Hot 100?

Thanks.
Raditya Gunardisurya
Jakarta, Indonesia

Dear Raditya,

The version of “You Raise Me Up” that moves 78-76 this week for Josh Groban & the African Children’s Choir is a new recording of the song, issued on a different label, so the weeks on chart won’t be added in with the original release.

Groban’s initial recording of the song was a solo effort, released on David Foster’s 143 imprint through Reprise. The current single is a digital track issued under the Fremantle banner, one of two production companies involved with “American Idol.” Groban sang “You Raise Me Up” with the African Children’s Choir on “Idol Gives Back,” a special charity edition of the popular TV series.

By charting with two versions of the same song, Groban joins a small club of artists that includes Neil Sedaka (who went to No. 1 with the pop version of “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” and made the top 10 with the song done as a ballad) and Elton John (who peaked at No. 2 with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” and then had a No. 1 hit with the same song recorded as a duet with George Michael).