The 1960s were a great time for getting experimental and creative with one’s music. Sadly, far too many artistic musicians from the 60s couldn’t quite make it to the mainstream charts more than once. Let’s take a look at just a few obscure musicians from the 60s who enjoyed some charting success, and then promptly disappeared from the mainstream charts within a couple of years.
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These musicians are considered one-hit wonders by most, but their non-charting releases were more than deserving of charting success back in the day.
Bobby Hebb
Bobby Hebb was a talented R&B and soul musician who found some mainstream success with his 1966 song, “Sunny”. The tune made it all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year.
Sadly, Hebb’s subsequent two singles didn’t chart at all, though he did manage to make it to the Hot 100 again with the songs “A Satisfied Mind” and “Love Me”. But once 1966 wrapped, Hebb had disappeared from the charts. Personally, I think much of his music from the 70s, especially Love Games from 1970, deserved more charting success.
Walter Wanderley
Remember Walter Wanderley? This bossa nova singer from Brazil enjoyed quite a bit of success in 1966 with the song “Summer Samba (So Nice)”, which hit No. 26 in the US. His follow-up single, “Amanha”, made it to the US Adult Contemporary chart, but his subsequent releases didn’t chart in the US at all.
Wanderley was an enormous talent on the organ and piano, and it’s quite impressive that any instrumental song would do so well in the US. Sadly, he struggled with alcohol abuse, which impacted his career. He passed in 1986 from cancer at the age of 54.
R. B. Greaves
R. B. Greaves makes it to our list of obscure musicians from the 60s for his groovy R&B and soul-pop stylings. Greaves saw some hefty success in 1969 with the single “Take A Letter, Maria”, which hit No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart. He continued his success with the 1970 song “(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me”, which hit No. 27. Greaves dished out a few hits through 1972 that made it to the Hot 100, but by that year, his mainstream success had run out.
Greaves remains somewhat of a mysterious figure. I couldn’t find out much about his life and career, outside of moving between labels throughout the 70s and his ultimate passing in 2012 at 68 years old. While enigmatic, his work remains, and everything outside of “Take a Letter, Maria” is quite underrated.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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