Don't normally listen to Zoomer Radio otherwise known as AM 740 very much.  But out in the car today I heard a promo for a Sunday afternoon program called Vintage Favourites which is on from 2-4:30pm.  The show is hosted by radio veteran and musicologist Gene Stevens. 

The promo caught my attention since today's program talked about the 60th anniversary of the so called Toronto Sound.  It was on this week 1963 that the first local Toronto recorded song reached number one on the CHUM chart.  The tune was Charlena by Ritchie Knight and the Mid-Knights. This also marked the first of Toronto Sound music that would come out over the next 9 or 10 years.

The Toronto Sound was a mix of rock and roll, R&B, folk and soul. Sort of a melting of the sounds heard from the many live bands that would play in the bars on Yonge, Bloor, King and Yorkville Village.

Robbie Lane joined Gene for part of the program and had fascinating stories about that era.  Lots of talk but also great songs from Mandela, David Clayton Thomas, Jackie Shane, Shirley Matthews, Little Caesar & The Consuls, Ronnie Hawkins and of course Robbie Lane and the Disciples. 

What is interesting is that some of these Toronto Sound songs actually made it on the CHUM chart.  This was when the Beatles, Stones, Supremes, Beach Boys, Motown and The British Invasion were at their peak. 

Shirley Matthews song Big Town Boy first charted on the CHUM chart December 2 1963 the same day as The Beatles and She Loves You.  But Matthews still had a hit in Toronto eventually reaching #4 on CHUM..
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