Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Bruce Channel

Artist:Bruce Channel

Song:Hey Baby

Album:Ultimate Dirty Dancing

This 1962 one hit wonder is another song revived by the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. Bruce Channel never had another pop hit but he has had a long songwriting career. He was born Bruce McMeans Nov. 28, 1940 in Jacksonville, TX. Channel was performing on the Louisiana Hayride radio show when he got together with harmonica player Delbert McClinton. Channel had been performing Hey Baby for a couple of years when a demo landed in the hands of Fort Worth record producer Major Bill Smith. After the song had some regional success on Smith's LeCan label, he licensed it for national distribution to Smash Records and Hey Baby was #1 on the pop singles chart for three weeks in March 1962. Of course everyone recognizes Delbert McClinton's harmonica in the intro and in fact John Lennon was a big fan of the song. Channel & McClinton toured England and met The Beatles and Lennon acknowledged the influence of Hey Baby on his harmonica break in Love Me Do. The song seemed to be more popular in England and The Heartbeats had a hit with Hey Baby too. Channel was never able to recreate the magic of Hey Baby but Dirty Dancing has kept a lot of oldies alive. Bruce Channel went on to be a major songwriter in Nashville and wrote several country hits in the 70s & 80s. Delbert McClinton has had a significant solo career and I may look at him at another time. Here's a video clip of Bruce Channel & Delbert McClinton discussing the influence of Hey Baby on John Lennon.