"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single on November 3, 1955. The words and music were created by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and management. The Great Pretender reached the number one position on both the R&B and pop charts in 1956

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"Cry Me a River" is a popular American torch song, written by Arthur Hamilton, first published in 1953 and made famous in 1955 with the version by Julie London.

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Rock and roll became mainstream this year (1955).

Rock and roll became mainstream this year (1955).

Yes it did! That's when the "Rock Era" is said to have begun. Particularly with the release of Bill Haley & The Comets' "Rock Around The Clock."

Yes it did! That's when the "Rock Era" is said to have begun. Particularly with the release of Bill Haley & The Comets' "Rock Around The Clock."
Assisted with the release of the film "Blackboard Jungle"

"Mambo Italiano" is a popular song written by Bob Merrill in 1954 and was released by Dean Martin in 1955.

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Hank Snow's version ("Let Me Go, Woman") went to No. 1 on the country music charts in 1955, based on the song 1954 hit "Let Me Go, Lover!", written by Jenny Lou Carson and Al Hill.

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1955 - definitely something of a watershed year as far as encroaching RnB was concerned - all were successful to a point, but the majority of the sales went to the 'sanitised' covers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v128Si2p7lQ
Dear ol' Pat (or young Pat, as was then!) Concerned with the bad grammar, he seriously wanted to cover this as 'Isn't It A Shame'!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txN5riTnDPU


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56o9h7tdRWg
One that seriously teed the originator (LaVern Baker) off - so much so, that she tried to get her Congressman to 'force' white artists to cease covering RnB songs!

"Three Coins in the Fountain" is a popular song which received the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1955. The melody was written by Jule Styne, the lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was written for the romance film, Three Coins in the Fountain and refers to the act of throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome while making a wish. Each of the film's three stars performs this act. Cahn and Jule Styne were asked to write the song to fit the movie, but were unable to either see the film or read the script. They completed the song in an hour and had produced a demonstration record with Frank Sinatra by the following day. The song was subsequently used in the film soundtrack, but in the rush 20th Century Fox neglected to sign a contract with the composers, allowing them to claim complete rights over the royalties. The song was subsequently recorded by The Four Aces (backed by the Jack Pleis Orchestra), who had a number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard pop chart in 1954, while the Sinatra recording topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in September and October that year.

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"There Will Never Be Another You" is a popular song with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mack Gordon for the Twentieth Century Fox musical Iceland (1942) starring Sonja Henie and John Payne. The songs in the film featured Joan Merrill accompanied by Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra. The song was published in 1942, and is at least since the 1950s and Chet Baker's 1954 recording one of the widely known and performed standards of the jazz repertoire. Nat 'King' Cole released a cover of this song in 1955.

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"Innamorata" is a song written in 1955. The music was written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Jack Brooks. It was written for the 1955 Martin and Lewis film, Artists and Models. In Italian, the word innamorata means "in love". The biggest selling recording of the song was sung by Dean Martin (issued as Capitol Records catalog number 3352), reaching #27 on the Billboard magazine chart in 1956. Jerry Vale also had a major recording (Columbia Records catalog number 40634) of the song in the same year, which peaked at #30.

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"Sixteen Tons" is a song written by Merle Travis, was first released in July 1947, is about a coal miner, based on life in coal mines in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. A 1955 version recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford reached number one in the Billboard charts, while another version by Frankie Laine was released only in Western Europe, where it gave Ford's version competition. On March 25, 2015, Ford's version of the song was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry.

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"Dueling Banjos" is an instrumental composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was released in 1955 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos," which contained riffs from "Yankee Doodle."

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"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock-and-roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955. It is considered one of the first rockabilly records, incorporating elements of blues, country, and pop music of the time. Perkins' original version of the song was on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles list for 16 weeks and spent two weeks in the number two position.

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"(The) Rock and Roll Waltz" is a popular song with music by Shorty Allen and lyrics by Roy Alfred in 1955, although the identity of the lyricist is in dispute. Other sources cite a Dick Ware, Dick Wise, or Dick Wine. As the title suggests this novelty song is a waltz in triple metre, but it also contains a bass riff that is reminiscent of typical boogie woogie and rock and roll riffs. The Kay Starr recording of the song, made in 1955, reached number one on the Billboard singles chart in 1956, staying there for six weeks. The track also spent one week at No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1956.

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