This week in 1966
1 Distant Drums Jim Reeves
2 Bend It! Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
3 I’m A Boy The Who
4 You Can’t Hurry Love The Supremes
5 Little Man Sonny and Cher
6 Winchester Cathedral New Vaudeville Band
7 Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadows The Rolling Stones
8 Too Soon To Know Roy Orbison
9 All I See Is You Dusty Springfield
10 Guantanamera
Sandpipers
Jim Travis Reeves did not live to witness his first UK number one - he died, aged 40, in a plane crash on July 21, 1964. Texan Reeves, who is credited with helping to give country music a worldwide market for the first time, had a string of US hits in the fifties, and achieved huge international popularity in the sixties. ‘Distant Drums’ did not reach number one in Ireland, but he did score three number ones here during 1963 and 1964 and had 11 songs in the Irish charts from 1962 to 1967, his popularity boosted by an extensive tour of Ireland in 1963. Sharing the bill with local showbands, Reeves visited most counties on a tight schedule. He loved Irish audiences, but complained in interviews at the time about the condition of the pianos provided by many of the concert venues.