Ask the News - Sept. 15
Sep. 14—After reading about Jimmy Gilmer's death, remembering he recorded at the Norman Petty Studio here in Clovis, I wondered how many Top 10 hits came from the Clovis studio?
Eight Billboard magazine Top 10 hits came from the Norman Petty Studio in Clovis from 1957 to 1967.
Buddy Knox hit the top of the top 10 in February 1957 with the No. 1 song, "Party Doll," the first Petty Studio song to hit the Billboard chart.
August 1957 found Buddy Holly at No. 1 with "That'll Be the Day," produced in Clovis.
Buddy Knox's Petty-produced "Hula Love" made it to No. 9 on the Top 10 in September 1957.
Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" made it to the top of the chart in November 1957.
"Oh Boy," a Holly song produced by Petty, made it to No. 10, also in November 1957.
The Plainview band, The String-A-Longs, came to Clovis to record with Petty and had a No. 3 hit with "Wheels" in January 1961.
It would be another two years, in September 1963, when another Petty-produced song would be in the top 10, and at the top position: Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs had a No. 1 hit with "Sugar Shack."
The last time a Petty-produced song showed up on the top 10 was four years later, in December 1967, when The Fireballs' song "Bottle of Wine" made it to No. 9.
Chart information source: "Clovis, New Mexico: The First 100 Years" published by The Clovis News Journal in 2007.
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