BARRY LEVINE: In tune with Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day, a time when we honor our dad or our dad’s memories.

The special relationship that you have/had with your father is priceless, something you may not fully appreciate until you’re older.

On Mother’s Day, I took the letters of the alphabet and selected a maximum of three songs per letter with women’s names in the title.

For Father’s Day, I again took the letters of the alphabet, but this time selected a maximum of four male solo singers whose last names started with that letter and included one of their signature hits and the tune’s year.

As an example, for the letter “S,” I picked Neil Sedaka (2), “The Diary,” 1958; Del Shannon, “Runaway,” 1961, Albany’s Ray Stevens (2), “Ahab the Arab,” 1962, and Jimmy Soul, “If You Want to be Happy,” 1963. The number in parenthesis following some of the singers’ names indicates the number of children they had.

Call it a Father’s Day special.

Of the singers surveyed, Bill Haley had the most children, 10, with his four wives and was closely followed by Stevie Wonder with nine, and Frankie Avalon, Fats Domino, Kris Kristofferson and Dean Martin with eight each.

Here’s hoping some of the singers and their benchmark songs strike a chord on this special day.

A – Paul Anka (6), “Diana,” 1957. Frankie Avalon (8), “DeDe Dinah,” 1959. Louis Armstrong (1), “Hello, Dolly,” 1964. Jewel Akens, “The Birds and the Bees,” 1965.

B – Chuck Berry (4), “Maybellene,” 1955. Pat Boone (4), “Ain’t That a Shame,” 1955. Harry Belafonte (4), “Banana Boat Song,” 1957. Gary “U.S.” Bonds (1), “A Quarter to Three,” 1961.

C — Ray Charles (3), “What I’d Say,” 1957. Sam Cooke (3), “You Send Me,” 1957. Jimmy Clanton, “Just a Dream,” 1958. Chubby Checker (3), “The Twist,” 1960.

D – Fats Domino (8), Ain’t That a Shame,” 1955. Bobby Darin (1), “Splish Splash,” 1959. Dion (3), “Runaround Sue,” 1961. Neil Diamond (4), “Cherry, Cherry,” 1966.

E – Tommy Edwards, “It’s All in the Game,” 1958. Duane Eddy (3), “Rebel Rouser,” 1958. Preston Epps, “Bongo Rock,” 1959. Paul Evans, “Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Backseat,”1969.

F – “Tennessee” Ernie Ford (2), “Sixteen Tons,” 1955. Frankie Ford, “Sea Cruise,” 1959. Wayne Fontana, “The Game of Love,” 1965. Jose Feliciano (3), “Light My Fire,” 1968.

G – Charlie Gracie (2), “Butterfly,” 1957. Marvin Gaye (3), “Hitch Hiker,” 1963. Jimmy Gilmer, “Sugar Shack,” 1963. Bobby Goldsboro, “Honey,” 1966.

H – Bill Haley (10), “Rock Around the Clock,” 1955. Tab Hunter, “Young Love,” 1957. Buddy Holly, “That’ll Be the Day,” 1957. Johnny Horton (2), “The Battle of New Orleans, 1959.

I – Burl Ives (1), “A Little Bitty Tear,” 1961. Frank Ifield, “I Remember You,” 1962. Billy Idol, “Cradle of Love,” 1990.

J – Sonny James, “Young Love,” 1956. Stonewall Jackson, “Waterloo,” 1959. Jimmy Jones, “Handy Man, 1960. Billy Joel (2), “Piano Man,” 1973.

K – Buddy Knox (5), “Party Doll,” 1957. Ben E. King (3), “Stand By Me,” 1961. Chris Kenner, “I Like It Like That,” 1961. Kris Kristofferson (8), “Why Me,” 1973.

L – Jim Lowe, “Green Door,” 1956. Jerry Lee Lewis (7), “Whole Lotta Shaking Goin’ On,” 1957. Bobby Lewis, “Tossin’ and Turnin’,” 1961. Steve Lawrence (2), “Go Away Little Girl,” 1963.

M – Dean Martin (8), “Memories are Made of This,” 1955. Johnny Mathis, “Chances Are,” 1957. Guy Mitchell, “Singing the Blues,” 1957. Barry McGuire, “Eve of Destruction,” 1965.

N – Ricky Nelson (4), “I’m Walkin’” 1957. Wayne Newton (2), “Danke Schoen,” 1963. Aaron Neville, “Tell It Like It is,” 1966. Johnny Nash, “I Can See Clearly Now,” 1972.

O – Johnny Otis, “Willie and the Hand Jive,” 1958. Tony Orlando (2), “Halfway to Paradise,” 1961. Roy Orbison (3), “Running Scared,” 1962. Gilbert O’Sullivan, “Alone Again,” 1973.

P – Elvis Presley (1), “Heartbreak Hotel,” 1955. Lloyd Price, “Stagger Lee,” 1959. Johnny Preston (4), “Running Bear,” 1960. Ray Peterson (7), “Tell Laura I Love Her,” 1960.

Q – None.

R – Bobby Rydell (2), “Kissing Time,” 1959. Tommy Roe, Sheila,” 1962. Otis Redding, “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” 1968. Smokey Robinson (3), “Cruisin’,” 1979.

S – Neil Sedaka (2), “My Diary,” 1958. Del Shannon, “Runaway,”1961. Ray Stevens (2), “Ahab the Arab,” 1962. Jimmy Soul, “If You Want to be Happy,” 1963.

T – Conway Twitty (4), “It’s Only Make Believe,” 1958. Sammy Turner, “Lavender Blue, 1959. Johnny Thunder, “Loop De Loop,” 1963. B.J. Thomas (3), “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” 1970.

U – Usher (2), “Nice & Slow,” 1998. Keith Urban (2), “But for the Grace of God,” 2000.

V – Ritchie Valens, “Donna,” 1959. Bobby Vee (5), “Take Good Care of My Baby,” 1961. Bobby Vinton (5), “Roses are Red,” 1962. Frankie Valli (5), “Can’t Take My Eyes off You,” 1979.

W – Andy Williams (3), “I Like Your Kind of Love,” 1957. Sheb Wooley (2), “Purple People Eater,” 1958. Stevie Wonder (9), “Fingertips Part 2,” 1963. Lenny Welch, “Since I Fell for You,” 1963.

X – None.

Y – Neil Young (3), “Heart of Gold,” 1971. Weird Al Yankovic (1), “White and Nerdy,” 2006.

Z – John Zacherle, “Dinner with Drac,” 1958. Frank Zappa (4), “Valley Girl,” 1982.

This week in rock history: Guitarist Danny Cedrone died on June 18, 1954, following a stairway fall one month after he had recorded the lead guitar solo on “Rock Around The Clock” with Bill Haley & His Comets. … Pat Boone had his sixth and final No. 1 hit with “Moody River” on June 19, 1961. … Also on this date, Ben E. King had his biggest hit as “Stand By Me” reached No. 4. The same song would re-appear on the Hot 100 in 1986, reaching No. 9. … Bobby Darin’s “Splish Splash” entered charts on June 21, 1958, where it would reach No. 3.

Fabian’s biggest hit, “Tiger” entered the charts on June 22, 1959, where it topped out at No. 3. … Smokey Robinson appeared in concert for the last time with The Miracles on June 23, 1972. After enjoying 27 Top 40 hits with the group, Robinson had nine more as a soloist. … The beginning of the end came for The Lovin’ Spoonful on June 24, 1967, when guitarist Zal Yanovsky quit after a show in New York. One year later, John Sebastian left the band to go solo.

Barry “The Old Rocker” Levine is an entertainment writer for The Albany Herald. He can be reached at [email protected].