Lonnie Donegan :: Charts & Sales History

[blackcat]

Very very important figure to the British music scene in particular, I feel that he deserves a thread on here.

First on all, some information about the man, here's his official website:

http://www.lonniedoneganinc.com/

More information on this website:

http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirl/lonnied.htm

As stated in the official site, he was the first British artist to have a gold record with a debut single, the first artist to get e.p's and albums into the British singles chart, the first British artist to have a major rock single success in the USA, with Rock Island Line.

In addition, kingofskiffle has kindly sent me an excel list of all his hits - bit of a lengthy list, though! Thanks kingofskiffle, I think the best thing for me to do is to quote some facts and figures from it, but also to ask anyone who wants the full list to private message kingofskiffle about it - I am sure that he will then email you back the full list.

With reference to kingofskiffle's data, Lonnie Donegan had no less than 24 top 30 UK hits between January 1956 and August 1962, including 3 number one singles. These singles/e.p's spent no less than 244 weeks in the British charts when their chart runs were combined, so an average of about 10 weeks per disc, a great achievement.

His albums, according to kingofskiffle's list, spent 73 weeks in the official UK album charts, with his biggest hit album, Lonnie Donegan's Showcase, reaching number two in the charts.

According to kingofskiffle's data, Lonnie also had 2 top ten hits in the States - remember, this was BEFORE the Beatles! - and spent over 20 weeks in the USA singles chart. He was the first British male singer to have two top ten hits in the USA.

A very, very important artist, in my view, as important to the early British rock scene as Elvis, Cliff, or Buddy Holly. He popularised the skiffle craze in Britain, so many major British bands started out as skiffle bands, including the Beatles, The Who, The Kinks. Even some seventies icons, like David Bowie, tried skiffle in their formulative years.

Lonnie and his band were a self-contained unit, writing, playing and recording a great many of their own songs, hence a big big influence on sixties bands like The Beatles. And the fact that they had a breakthrough in the American charts was, again, so very important to the British bands of the sixties beat boom, a basic introduction to America of British rock music, if you like.

His first number one, Cumberland Gap, was the first "skiffle" number one, his second number one, Putting On The Style/Gamblin' Man, was the first ever double A-sided number one in Britain. His third number one, My Old Man's A Dustman, was a novelty record recorded in Bristol, one of the first rock novelty records to make top spot in Britain.

Unit sales are difficult to estimate, maybe as many as 20 or 30 million around the World.

Some youtube links are in order here, this record, also a bit of a novelty song, was one of his biggest Worldwide sellers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJtaqXEVHXg&feature=fvst

Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight, a big hit for Lonnie in the States, and British accents evident on this record - again, that's important, when the record was made in the fifties, many British artists were putting on American accents when singing.

The late great dj John Peel was a big fan of this Lonnie special:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKotu3lrjKA

Of course, this is an old standard, but what a great vocal performance of Frankie and Johnny by Lonnie Donegan, no wonder it appealed so much to John Peel.

Lonnie was very important, a pioneer to the early British music rock and roll scene, he deserves a thread on here.

Thanks again to kingofskiffle for the data, let's tip our hats to Lonnie, a big seller of singles in Britain especially, and, in my view, an unsung influence on rock music's development.

[blackcat]

No interest in this? Of course, its Sunday, so quiet on here!

One more youtube link, then, a Lonnie Donegan song he wrote himself, very catchy record:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeonJHR1jyE

Everybody have a drink on me!

[fiesta]

As you say Blackcat, he was an important influence in the development of rock n roll for sure. Though his music has not stood the test of time very well unlike alot of the acts he influenced. And as you pointed out has not been in the British charts for nearly 50 years. So maybe there shouldnt be alot of surprise if there isnt alot of interest in this thread, but still deserves his own thread even so.

[blackcat]

As you say Blackcat, he was an important influence in the development of rock n roll for sure. Though his music has not stood the test of time very well unlike alot of the acts he influenced. And as you pointed out has not been in the British charts for nearly 50 years. So maybe there shouldnt be alot of surprise if there isnt alot of interest in this thread, but still deserves his own thread even so.

Thanks fiesta!

[blackcat]

Lonnie Donegan was probably my first introduction to pop music, actually - my mum and dad had a copy of "The Golden Age of Lonnie Donegan", and I loved listening to that album.

[borderwolf]

Thanks for this thread!

[blackcat]

Thanks for this thread!

Thanks, borderwolf.

[blackcat]

No one interested in this? I know its a very old artist, of course.

Very important one, though.

[AutomaticBR]

Thread has been added to the Chart Analysis Artists Index thread

[blackcat]

Thanks, automatic!

[blackcat]

Wanted kingofskiffle to come on this thread - nevermind, I know that he said that he rarely gets involved on here............

[kingofskiffle]

Well, yes, I do rarely get involved, but I am now.

I got to meet him once, which was very nice. I was 5, and he'd done a fantastic show near where I lived. At the interval, he came out to sign a few things and I looked up at hinm and prodly announced I was a real Lonnie (He only borrowed the name, of course, from Lonnie Johnson).

One of the things that continualy annoys me is that his contribution is largly overlooked - or at least it was in his lifetime. He, for example, inspired John Lennon to form a skiffle group that eventually morphed into the Beatles. He also inspired every guitarist going.

The other thing to annoy me is that his sales - and indeed many from the 1950's and 1960's are nopt really properly added up. I have two sources that say 'My Old Man's A Dustman' was a million seller in the UK, but nobody has ever said 'yes it is' or 'no it's not'. He did get three Gold Discs in the early 60's, one being for sales of Rock Island Line (worldwide it went past 3 million, but almost certainly nowhere close to a million in the UK), and one for sales of Guitars by the guitar industry. The last was for My Old Man's A Dustman. His record company didn;t think much of his stuff, so getting a gold disc must have meant that he was a million seller.

But then, so many 1950's/1960's acts are not listed as big sellers when they clearly where. And of course we'll never know whether it was a million seller, or not because nobody will put the right figures out

But either way - he was a great performer!

[blackcat]

Well, yes, I do rarely get involved, but I am now.

I got to meet him once, which was very nice. I was 5, and he'd done a fantastic show near where I lived. At the interval, he came out to sign a few things and I looked up at hinm and prodly announced I was a real Lonnie (He only borrowed the name, of course, from Lonnie Johnson).

One of the things that continualy annoys me is that his contribution is largly overlooked - or at least it was in his lifetime. He, for example, inspired John Lennon to form a skiffle group that eventually morphed into the Beatles. He also inspired every guitarist going.

The other thing to annoy me is that his sales - and indeed many from the 1950's and 1960's are nopt really properly added up. I have two sources that say 'My Old Man's A Dustman' was a million seller in the UK, but nobody has ever said 'yes it is' or 'no it's not'. He did get three Gold Discs in the early 60's, one being for sales of Rock Island Line (worldwide it went past 3 million, but almost certainly nowhere close to a million in the UK), and one for sales of Guitars by the guitar industry. The last was for My Old Man's A Dustman. His record company didn;t think much of his stuff, so getting a gold disc must have meant that he was a million seller.

But then, so many 1950's/1960's acts are not listed as big sellers when they clearly where. And of course we'll never know whether it was a million seller, or not because nobody will put the right figures out

But either way - he was a great performer!

Yes, that that's the thing that annoys me as well. Not only did he inspire the Beatles to first form, but also The Who started off as a skiffle group, and The Kinks - Lonnie was Ray Davies's main influence, reportedly.

And David Bowie started out in a skiffle group, I believe!

So put all those names together - Beatles, Who, Kinks, David Bowie - and then try and evaluate how much influence those names have had on rock and pop music over the years. And who inspired all those influential artists to start performing? Lonnie Donegan.

And Lonnie was the first British rock artist to have chart hits in America.

Very very influential, and a lot of hits for such a short chart career.

So let's hail Lonnie - the all too forgotten influence on British rock.