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Music (Songs) - The song
"Orange Colored Sky" written by orchestra leader Milton DeLugg was the first
song to become a major record hit because of its television exposure. Delugg
played it many times on NBC's BROADWAY OPEN HOUSE in the early 1950s.
Another example of TVs ability to make a top selling record came on April
10, 1957 on THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET episode "Ricky the Drummer."
Seventeen-year-old Ricky Nelson had been pestering his father, Ozzie to let
him sing on the show and to make a record. Why?: He wanted to impress a girl he'd
been dating who had laughed at him when he suggested he could record a song.
Approving his son's idea, Ricky performed the Fats Domino "Hit I'm Walkin'"
and it immediately went to the top of the charts. In one week his version
had sold one million copies. On the 1/2/58 episode he sang "Traveling Man."
On
a January 1962 episode of THE DONNA REED SHOW/ABC/1958-66, Paul Peterson,
who played Jeff, the teenage son of the Stone Family sang a novelty song "She
Can't Find Her Keys" as part of a dream sequence in which he was a recording
star. The national exposure via television made it a major hit.
In the 1970s,
John Sebastian and Rhythm Heritage were the only two musical stars to ever
reach a No. 1 spot on Billboard top 60 with TV themes songs. The theme song
for the police drama SWAT/ABC/1975-76 performed by Rhythm Heritage climbed
to No. 1 in 1975 and the theme song for education comedy WELCOME, BACK KOTTER/ABC/1975-79 performed by John Sebastian hit No. 1 in 1976.
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