The week one singer dominated the top ten
This top ten from 50 years ago is remarkable because of the input of prolific session singer Tony Burrows.
Not only was he lead vocalist on huge hit ‘Love Grows ( Where My Rosemary Goes)’, he also featured as a session singer on White Plains’ ‘My Baby Loves Lovin’ and also sang lead vocals on ‘United We Stand’ as part of the original pre-Eurovision Brotherhood of Man line-up.
Burrows, from Devon and now aged 78, also contributed lead vocals to one-hit wonder The Pipkins’ novelty song ‘Gimme Dat Ding’, a No. 6 hit in the UK in May 1970, and he popped up again in 1974 fronting the First Class hit ‘Beach Baby’.
‘Love Grows ( Where My Rosemary Goes)’ was first recorded but not released by Birmingham’s Geoffrey Turton, performing under the name Jefferson.
Tony Burrows - possibly the most prolific session singer of all time - came on board when a studio group was put together to record the song. Edison Lighthouse did not exist when this version was released in early 1970 and started a rapid rise up the charts .
When Edison Lighthouse were invited to appear on Top Of The Pops, soft rock band Greenfield Hammer (with Burrows on vocals) stepped into the role and a week later appeared on TOTP as Edison Lighthouse to mime to the fastest climbing No. 1 hit in history.
Burrows mimed ‘Love Grows ( Where My Rosemary Goes)’ on Top Of The Pops for four separate weeks and on each show also appeared singing lead for either The Brotherhood of Man (‘United We Stand’) or White Plains (‘My Baby Loves Lovin’), who also had hits during that same month-long stretch.
Tony Macaulay, Barry Mason and Sylvan Whittingham share songwriting credits on ‘Love Grows ( Where My Rosemary Goes)’. In a two year court case, Whittingham (Mason’s ex-wife), the daughter of Bond film Thunderball screenwriter, Jack Whittingham, claimed she had written half the lyrics of the number one hit and several other songs. The case was settled out of court on June 4, 1985.
Though she has never been registered as the third writer of the song by the publishers, she is legally entitled to claim a writing credit. This has never been disputed by either Mason or Macaulay.