# What pre Rock and Roll performer has had most recent hit?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pre-rock-and-roll-performer-has-had-most-recent-hit/692512>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 7, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pre-rock-and-roll-performer-has-had-most-recent-hit/692512 "2014-07-07T04:15:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pre-rock-and-roll-performer-has-had-most-recent-hit/692512/21 "2014-07-08T03:54:50Z")

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> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#):
>
> You need to have a #1 hit before July 9, 1955 to qualify, which Johnny Mathis and Henry Mancini never had. Mancini charted no singles before 1960, although his _Peter Gunn_ album was a #1 in 1959.
> 
> Sammy Davis Jr. is almost a winner, though. His recording of “Hey There” was a #1 on the Cashbox chart in 1954, but not in Billboard. This is sort of a technicality, however, since these were the days when different artists would release their version of a song simultaneously, causing ambiguity, and Billboard happened to credit Rosemary Clooney with a #1 for her contemporaneous version of the same song.

Interesting anomaly, but Davis’s version of “Hey There” did get an official chart position on _Billboard_ (#16). So he can’t really work. “Candy Man” was in fact his first #1.

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**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pre-rock-and-roll-performer-has-had-most-recent-hit/692512/22 "2014-07-08T04:23:31Z")

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> [@MentalGuy](#):
>
> A month or so ago, we were taking a trip and I was listening to the “70’s on 7” channel on satellite radio. They were playing an episode of _American Top 40_ from 1973. I was a little surprised when I heard Perry Como on the charts in that year. He was singing Don McLean’s “And I Love You So.”
> 
> This got me to wondering, what is the most recent hit by a performer who had a number one hit before the rock and roll era?
> 
> Actually, let’s make this a bit more specific. What performer that had a number one hit on the Billboard pop chart before July 9, 1955 has had the most recent:
> 
> A) top 40 hit?  
> B) top 10 hit?

For B, you almost answered your own question!

Perry Como, who had quite a few pre-1955 #1 hits, made it to #10 with “It’s Impossible” in 1971.

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**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pre-rock-and-roll-performer-has-had-most-recent-hit/692512/23 "2014-07-08T04:29:31Z")

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> [@MentalGuy](#):
>
> Actually, let’s make this a bit more specific. What performer that had a number one hit on the Billboard pop chart before July 9, 1955 has had the most recent:
> 
> A) top 40 hit?  
> B) top 10 hit?  
> C) number 1 hit?

And for C, I believe it’s the aforementioned Frank Sinatra, for “Somethin’ Stupid” with Nancy in 1967.  
So, in summary:

A) Nat ‘King’ Cole, “Unforgettable” (#14, 1991)

B) Perry Como, “It’s Impossible” (#10, 1971)

C) Frank Sinatra, “Somethin’ Stupid” (#1, 1967)  
In the case of A and C, IMHO the presence of the artist’s name on the record label is enough for me, regardless of any accompanying “and”'s or “with”'s.

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