Sunny Gale - Greatest Hits

Greatest Hits

By Sunny Gale

Very Good Condition

One thing becomes obvious when glancing through the CDs available on Sunny Gale and that is, none offer anywhere near even a modest compendium of her hit singles, even this one from the Belgian outlet, Marginal Records, which blares "Greatest Hits." Some among the contents shown above may indeed have been hits in Europe at the time, in which case it may have some interest in that regard for her European fans, but just one, Teardrops On My Pillow, was a North American hit, reaching # 12 in January 1953 on RCA Victor 20-5103. Even the flipside, A Stolen Waltz, became a hit here, finishing at # 18 in February, but that's not included.

Born Selma Segal in Clayton, New Jersey on February 20, 1927, but raised in Philadelphia, she did some touring as band vocalist with the Hal McIntyre orchestra as Sunny Gale before hooking up late in 1951 with Eddie Wilcox in time to record Wheel Of Fortune for the small independent Derby Records of New York City, for which Wilcox acted as arranger. Billed as Eddie Wilcox & His Orchestra with Sunny Gale, and released on Derby 787 b/w You Showed Me The Way, it began a rather remarkable climb, considering the limited promotional capacity of the label, up the national charts early in 1952 when cover versions soon came out by Kay Starr for Capitol (# 1), Bobby Wayne on London (# 6), The Bell Sisters on RCA Victor (# 10), Dinah Washington on Mercury (# 3 R&B), and The Cardinals on Atlantic (# 6 R&B). Even so, the Wilcox/Gale rendition finished at a respectable # 13 Pop and, surprisingly, scored higher at # 2 on the R&B charts.
After Derby later ran into financial difficulties, Sunny moved to RCA Victor and there, from late 1952 to 1956, she would chalk up 11 more hit singles. Unfortunately, this so-called Greatest Hits release offers just one of them, instead giving us a couple of failed 1955 North American releases such as Constantly/A Little You (RCA Victor 20-6160) and Certainly Baby/Soldier Boy (RCA Victor 20-6227). Nice tunes, as are the rest, and presented in excellent sound reproduction, but they really mean nothing to North American audiences looking for her more familiar hits on this side of the Atlantic.

What we need is a proper anthology providing Wheel Of Fortune and its flipside, together with I Laughed At Love (RCA Victor 20-4789 - # 14 in September 1952 b/w Father Time and the afore-mentioned Teardrops On My Pillow and A Stolen Waltz, each done with the backing of the Ralph Burns Orchestra, as well as Love Me Again (RCA Victor 20-5424 - # 22 in September 1953 b/w Before It's Too Late - # 27 in October, both with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra, Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight (RCA Victor 20-5746 - # 26 in July 1954 b/w Call Off The Wedding, both with Joe Reisman & His Orchestra, and Smile (RCA Victor 20-5836 - # 19 in September 1955 b/w An Old Familiar Love Song, also with the Winterhalter aggregation.

Then there are her four charted hits from 1955/56, registered in the teeth of the first wave of the coming storm known as Rock & Roll, beginning with Let Me Go, Lover, a # 17 in January 1955 on RCA Victor 20-5952 b/w Unsuspecting Heart, itself a # 14 on the brief Honor Roll Of Hits charts in February (both with the Winterhalter orchestra), C'est La Vie, a # 85 in December b/w Looking Glass on RCA Victor 20-6286, and Rock And Roll Wedding, a # 66 in April 1956 on RCA Victor 20-6479 b/w Winner Take All, the last four with the Joe Reisman orchestra.

And although that would be her last charted hit, Sunny Gale would go on recording well into the 1970s for a variety of labels, including Decca. Perhaps Ace of London, Proper Records, Jasmine Records, Eric Records or some such distributor noted for their thoroughness could give us a decent anthology. She certainly warrants such treatment.

Original Recordings - Limited Edition Pressing!

Track Listing;

1) A Little You

2) Constantly

3) Certainly Baby

4) Soldier Boy

5) Let's Be Friendly

6) I Really Loved Him So

7) Where Have You Been All My Life?

8) Come Go With Me

9) Don't Worry 'Bout Me

10) Near You

11) Devotion

12) Just One Look

13) He's So Fine

14) Be My Baby

15) Hot Dog That Made Him Mad

16) Three O'Clock

17) A Meeting Of The Eyes

18) Blacksmith Blues

19) Just Friends

20) Honey Mooning

21) Teardrops On My Pillow

22) Dance With A Dolly

23) The Man I Love

24) Ain't Misbehavin'

25) Lover Man

26) On The Sunny Side Of The Street

27) Mad About The Boy

28) I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

29) One Kiss Led To Another

30) Everybody Loves My Baby

Product details