Search - Jo Ann Campbell :: I'm Nobody's Baby

Maybe There Are Copyright Problems

09/01/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Not only are there precious few Jo Ann Campbell CDs on the market, but the only two are from my least-favourite distributor, Collectables, and neither contains any of the four songs she put onto the singles charts during her heyday in the mid-1960s: one for ABC-Paramount, two for the Cameo label and one for Atlantic. Helloooooo.



Here Collectables gives us 15 selections that never went anywhere in terms of chart success. That's not to say it isn't a nice gathering of some her offerings, nor can I follow my usual line of critique by dumping all over it for not containing any of her hits, since it doesn't claim to be "her best" or "greatest hits." Could it be that there are copyright problems with her hits?



Born in Jacksonville, Florida on July 20, 1938, this one-time dancer and drum majorette recorded unsuccessfully for the Gone and Eldorado labels before scoring with the novelty offering Kookie Little Paradise for ABC-Paramount in August 1960. It wasn't a huge hit, only reaching # 61 Billboard Pop Hot 100 b/w Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, and when nothing else worked there she moved on to Cameo in 1962.



Just in time to capitalize on Claude King's monster pop/country hit Wolverton Mountain with a humorous "answer" song (I'm The Girl On) Wolverton Mountain, which made it to # 10 Adult Contemporary/# 24 Country and # 38 Hot 100 in September b/w Sloppy Joe [note: some pressings of the 45 show the title as (I'm The Girl From) Wolverton Mountain]. It looked, for a while, that she was destined to be a one-hit wonder there too as nothing else charted until May 1963 when Mother! Please peaked at # 88 Hot 100 b/w Waitin' For Love. But that was it insofar as solo hits were concerned.



Around Christmas 1964 she resurfaced briefly for Atlantic in a duet with husband Troy Seals, the country-singer brother of Dan Seals, under the billing Jo Ann & Troy, to take I Found A Love Oh What A Love to # 67 Hot 100 b/w Who Do You Love? That it was shut out completely on the Country charts is strange given that her voice has a very definite country quality.



Jo Ann made appearances in the movies Go, Johnny, Go! [1958] and Hey, Let's Twist [1961]. What she's doing now is anyone's guess, but isn't it time for some outfit like Rhino or Ace to pull together all her charters plus the B-sides? In the meantime, this is a nice sampling of her style which, on some cuts, notably Wait A Minute, evokes comparisons to Connie Francis."