FATHER AND SON
Fred:
With the debut of “Bridging the Gap” by Nas featuring Olu Dara on the Hot 100, the chart is once again experiencing a parent and child together on a single. Olu Dara is an accomplished musician in his own right amongst jazz circles, playing guitar, harmonica and trumpet and touring the world.
I’m sure this list isn’t exhaustive, but I can only recall these parent/child acts having made the chart: the Staple Singers, Natalie and Nat King Cole, Frank and Nancy Sinatra and the Cowsills.
Kevin Martin
New York
Dear Kevin,
You’ve got a sharp eye for the charts. There have been a lot of instances where parents and children have charted separately (like Rick Nelson and Nelson, Cissy Houston and Whitney Houston, Shannon (a.k.a. Marty Wilde) and Kim Wilde), but it’s much rarer for a parent to chart with a child, as in the case of Nas and Olu Dara.THE WAY WE COUNT
Fred,
What is Billboard’s policy concerning singles culled from second editions of an album? I’m curious if Usher and Alicia Keys’ “My Boo” — only included on the recently released expanded edition of “Confessions” — is counted by Billboard as being the fourth No. 1 single from the album?
And if so, would this make “Confessions” the first album since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut to yield four No. 1 singles, or has there been an album since then that’s done the same? If memory serves me right, would “Confessions” be the sixth album of the rock era (following the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack, “Bad,” “Whitney,” “Rhythm Nation 1814” and Carey’s debut) to yield four or more No. 1 hits?
And just to give you an update of an older letter you printed, my lost-Billboard-top-40-hits-of-the-’70s-through-’90s radio show is officially back up and going, fortunately! I’d ideally like to take the concept to satellite radio one day, but I have managed to take my show to the Internet now, so anyone who wants to can still listen in.
It’s on Tuesday nights at 8:05 PM EST at Radio Six International’s web site, and if anyone would like to send song requests my way (I’d love to know what everyone’s favorite “lost” hits are!) or has any questions about the show, you can e-mail me at the address below.
Jeff Fiedler
soundsfromthelostandfound@hotmail.com
Dear Jeff,
Thanks for the update on your radio show. I’ll take a listen. As for your question about counting singles from revised editions, there is no official Billboard policy. By that, I mean this is considered chart trivia and is fodder for my column, so it’s not something that would require a policy decision, unlike chart rules about eligibility or assigning bullets.
I guess that means it’s up to me to make the call when I write about something like this in Chart Beat. I would be guided by how our chart department treats the album. Since the original and revised editions of “Confessions” are considered the same album for chart purposes, I would make the same decision about all of the singles coming from the same album.‘FEVER’ PITCH
Fred,
On the November 13, 2004 Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks, Gretchen Wilson enters at No. 60 with “Redbird Fever.” What some fans may not know, however, is that the track, which is an exclusive download at the moment, is actually a remake of her No. 1 breakthrough smash, “Redneck Woman,” making it the first time there has been an original and remake by the same artist in the same calendar year.
The track was created as a tribute to Ms. Wilson’s favorite baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals, who advanced to the 2004 World Series last month.
John Maverick
Omaha, Neb.
Dear John,
It might be the first time if you’re just counting the country chart. On the Hot 100, Los Del Rio had three versions of “Macarena” on the chart in 1996. There was the Bayside Boys Mix, which debuted in 1995 and returned to become a No. 1 hit in 1996, the original Spanish version of the song and “Macarena Christmas,” the same song done up holiday style.
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