As of this writing, Drake has lodged more songs in the Top 10 than any other artist in Billboard Hot 100 history. The first song in that imperial reign was “The Best I Ever Had.” The central motif in Drake’s breakout swells courtesy of the string arrangement of Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds’ “Fallin’ in Love.” It took such a circuitous route for the cheesy 70’s soft rockers to record their fluke chart-topper that by the time they did, their ungainly name no longer made sense.
In 1959, Sascha Burland scored an improbable top 40 hit with The Nutty Squirrel’s “Uh-Oh.” Shockingly, Burland could not pay the bill by pretending to be a jazz scatting rodent. He moonlit writing advertising jingles. Digestive aid company Alka-Seltzer asked Burland to compose a musical accompaniment for their commercial showcasing various torsos. The backing track was so popular that he released it as the standalone single, “No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach Is In)”. Session musicians were recruited to play under the impromptu name The T-Bones. Blindsided by the instrumentals runaway top 10 success, a band of low tier Liberty Records signees were commissioned to turn the T-Bones into a real band. This sham arrangement was made up of Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, and Tommy Reynolds.
Hugh Heffner signed the act to the short-lived Playboy label. The American public was apparently reluctant to buy music from a pornography distributor, because the enterprise folded after only releasing a handful of songs. After Tommy Reynolds renounced his hedonistic lifestyle to become a preacher, the group replaced him with Alan Dennison. It was that configuration of recruits from singing rodent turn gas relief pitchman and a porno mag entrepreneur that helped launch the most popular musician of the 21st century.
