Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

rob_mac wrote:

buzfluhart wrote:I read somewhere that Mr. Acker Bilk's single, Stranger on the Shore, was also #1 in the U.S. making him the first Brit to hit number one in America. True?

FALSE!! This honour goes to ''Auf Wiedersehn Sweetheart" by Vera Lynn in summer 1952. It was the first record by a British artist to top the US charts, doing so for nine weeks.

From Rob

Vera Lynn. She had an incredible voice and that song was so haunting. I loved that song. When I listened to an artist like her when I was a child, it made me want to join their fraternity.

Rob: Thanks for setting the record, straight. Vera was a first rate vocalist.

Whilst Rob is correct the charts were different as I understand till about 1955.

A lot was based on radio play sheet music, I'll stand corrected but Billboard did not publish a top 100 till 1955.

Charts in UK did not really start till 52/53 hence reason Vera Lynn is only listed as having 9 hits.