The Big Four, no. 11 - Frankie Vaughan, Kaye Sisters, Shirley Bassey, Marty Wilde

This EP was released in May 1959, and featured four hits from 1958 and 1959. My reason for buying this EP is obviously the appearance of Marty Wilde with his hit 'Donna', but there are a few more gems on this: a young Shirley Bassey who sings 'Kiss me, honey honey, kiss me' and Frankie Vaughan with 'Venus' (not the Shocking Blue song). The Kaye Sisters deliver a dreamy version of 'Goodbye, Jimmy, goodbye'.

There have been 20 of these 'big four' EP's between 1956 and 1960, and Marty appears on number 9, 11, 14, 17 and 20. That should make an interesting subcollection, don't you think? Watch this space...

My collection: 7" single no. 6671
Found: Discogs.com, received 30 March 2022
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'Venus' (Frankie Vaughan), 'Goodbye, Jimmy, goodbye' (The Kaye Sisters) / 'Kiss me, honey honey, kiss me' (Shirley Bassey), 'Donna' (Marty Wilde)

The same old way - Frankie Vaughan

Frankie Vaughan was born on February 3, 1928. He made a name for himself singing easy listening and traditional pop music, starting with 'The old piano roll blues' in 1950. Between then and the end of the Eighties, he released more than 80 singles. In 1955, he recorded what was to become his trademark song, 'Give me the moonlight, give me the girl'.

One of his singles, released in 1959 was 'The same old way', which like most of his singles after 1958 didn't become a hit. But I didn't buy this single for that song, I wanted to have it for the B-side, which was written by Marty Wilde and Ronnie Scott: 'You can't stop me dancing'. Vaughan died from heart failure in Oxford in 1999.

My collection: 7" single no. 5802
Found: Discogs.com, received October 28, 2015
Cost: £ 1
Tracks: 'The same old way' / 'You can't stop me dancing'

Listen to the song