{"id":325,"date":"2025-07-14T16:51:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T16:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/?p=325"},"modified":"2025-07-14T16:51:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T16:51:03","slug":"todays-hit-for-your-pool-party-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/?p=325","title":{"rendered":"Todays Hit for your Pool Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forever No. 1: Dave \u2018Baby\u2019 Cortez\u2019s \u2018The Happy\u00a0Organ\u2019
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Forever No. 1<\/a><\/u> is a <\/em>Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer \u2014 a Billboard Hot 100<\/a><\/u> No. 1 single \u2014 by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Dave \u201cBaby\u201d Cortez, who had the first instrumental hit to top the Hot 100, the appropriately titled \u201cThe Happy Organ.\u201d The reclusive Cortez died in 2022 at age 83, but his death was just recently reported.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Happy Organ\u201d may be one of the most accurately descriptive titles ever on a pop hit. From its opening notes, Dave \u201cBaby\u201d Cortez<\/a>\u2019s rollicking recording is a happy, exuberant, organ-based instrumental. It reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in May 1959, becoming the first instrumental hit to top the chart, which Billboard<\/em> had introduced nine months previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Happy Organ\u201d was one of the first contemporary pop instrumentals to feature an electronic organ as its primary instrument. This helped transform the instrument, typically associated with Sunday church services, into a mainstay of contemporary pop instrumentation. Subsequent No. 1 hits that feature a Hammond organ include The Beatles\u2019 \u201cCome Together\u201d (1969), Janis Joplin\u2019s \u201cMe and Bobby McGee\u201d (1971) and Manfred Mann\u2019s Earth Band\u2019s \u201cBlinded by the Light\u201d (1977).<\/p>\n

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\n\tCortez, his frequent collaborator Kurt Wood and celebrity photographer James J. Kriegsmann are the credited composers of \u201cThe Happy Organ,\u201d which borrows from the traditional American folk song “Shortnin’ Bread,\u201d which dates back at least to 1900.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrgan\u201d originally had lyrics, and was intended to be sung. Cortez recorded a vocal, but he wasn\u2019t satisfied with it. In what can only be described as a \u201chappy\u201d accident, he spotted a Hammond electric organ sitting unused in the corner of the studio. At the time, they were almost exclusively used in gospel recording sessions. Cortez decided to try it out. Everyone liked what they heard. The copy on the single read \u201cFeaturing at the organ, Dave \u2018Baby\u2019 Cortez.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cortez also brought in studio drummer Gary Hammond, who provided percussion. Session musician Wild Jimmy Spruill played the guitar solo. That interlude, which appears at the 1:13 mark, brought some needed variation to the record, and allowed it to connect with rock & roll fans at the time.<\/p>\n

Most smash instrumentals prior to \u201cThe Happy Organ\u201d were easy listening fare, such as Roger Williams\u2019 \u201cAutumn Leaves\u201d (1955) and Morris Stoloff\u2019s \u201cMoonglow and Theme From \u2018Picnic\u2019\u201d (1956). \u201cOrgan\u201d was one of the first smash hit instrumentals \u2013 along with The Champs\u2019 \u201cTequila,\u201d which hit No. 1 on a pre-Hot 100 Billboard<\/em> pop chart in March 1958 \u2013 that was pitched to a younger audience. In the wake of these two recordings, hit instrumentals were more evenly balanced between records that primarily appealed to young audiences (Santo & Johnny\u2019s \u201cSleep Walk\u201d and The Tornadoes\u2019 \u201cTelstar\u201d) and ones that were primarily geared toward older fans (Percy Faith\u2019s \u201cThe Theme From \u2018A Summer Place\u2019\u201d and Mr. Acker Bilk’s “Stranger on the Shore”).<\/p>\n

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\n\tCortez was born David Cortez Clowney on Aug. 13, 1938 in Detroit. He made his first record in 1956 under his own name, and also sang with two doo-wop groups, the Pearls and the Valentines. Neither group made the Billboard <\/em>charts, either pre- or post-Hot 100.<\/p>\n

Cortez adopted his stage name in 1958, after which things fell quickly into place. Even though he had knocked around for a while, he was still just 20 when \u201cThe Happy Organ\u201d became a smash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Happy Organ,\u201d released on the independent, New York-based Clock Records label,\u00a0 was the top new entry on the Hot 100 at No. 68 in the issue dated March 16, 1959. The title was shown as simply \u201cHappy Organ\u201d in its first three chart weeks. The title was corrected in Week 4, when the record sprinted from No. 35 to No. 25. The record reached No. 1 in its ninth week, in the issue dated May 11, 1959. It dethroned The Fleetwoods<\/a>\u2019 pretty ballad \u201cCome Softly to Me,\u201d which had spent the previous four weeks on top. After one week in pole position, \u201cThe Happy Organ\u201d was toppled by Wilbert Harrison\u2019s \u201cKansas City.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Happy<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cThe Happy Organ\u201d clocked in at just 2:02, making it the briefest No. 1 hit of 1959. Among all 22 instrumentals that have hit No. 1 in Hot 100 history, only David Rose\u2019s bawdy 1962 burlesque smash \u201cThe Stripper\u201d had a shorter running time (1:53).<\/p>\n

Cortez remained in the same vein for his follow-up single, \u201cThe Whistling Organ,\u201d which peaked at No. 61. He returned to the top 10 in 1962 with \u201cRinky Dink,\u201d which peaked at No. 10. All eight of his Hot 100 hits were instrumentals, the final one being \u201cCount Down\u201d in 1966. In 1973, Cortez reached No. 45 on what was then called Hot Soul Singles with \u201cSomeone Has Taken Your Place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tCortez subsequently left the music industry. He led an extremely private life over the ensuing decades, variously in New York City and Cincinnati, where he was a church organist for a time. In 2009, Norton Records co-founder Miriam Linna tracked him down and persuaded him to return to recording. In 2011, following a 38-year hiatus, Cortez returned with a new album on Norton Records, Dave \u201cBaby\u201d Cortez<\/em> With Lonnie Youngblood and His Bloodhounds<\/em>. It was his 11th and final album.<\/p>\n

In his final years, Cortez lived in the Bronx, New York. He had a daughter with whom he was not in regular contact, owing to his being so reclusive. He died at his home on May 31, 2022, at the age of 83 and was interred in the potter’s field at Hart Island. His daughter only later learned of his death through BMI, which handled his songwriting royalties.<\/p>\n

With the belated news reports confirming Cortez\u2019s death, a dwindling number of solo artists who had No. 1 hits in the 1950s are still living. Just two solo artists who topped the Hot 100 in 1958-59 are still with us. Frankie Avalon, who hit No. 1 in 1959 with both \u201cVenus\u201d and \u201cWhy,\u201d is 84. Paul Anka<\/a>, who topped the chart in 1959 with \u201cLonely Boy,\u201d is 83.<\/p>\n

Anka had also topped a pre-Hot 100 Billboard<\/em> pop chart in 1957 with \u201cDiana.\u201d Three other solo artists who had No. 1 hits on Billboard<\/em> pop charts before the inception of the Hot 100 are likewise still living. Pat Boone<\/a>, who had several No. 1 hits starting with a cover version of Fats Domino’s \u201cAin\u2019t That a Shame\u201d in 1955, is 91. Johnny Mathis<\/a>, who topped the chart in 1957 with \u201cChances Are,\u201d is 89. And Laurie London, who as a 14-year-old hit No. 1 in 1958 with \u201cHe\u2019s Got the Whole World in His Hands,\u201d is 81. Boone and Mathis subsequently had No. 1 hits on the Hot 100, while London never returned the pop chart after \u201cHands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trumpeter Ray Anthony didn\u2019t quite land a No. 1 hit \u2013 he climbed as high as No. 2 on pre-Hot 100 pop charts in Billboard <\/em>with \u201cAt Last\u201d (later famously covered by Etta James) and \u201cDragnet.\u201d The musician, the last surviving member of the famed Glenn Miller Orchestra, is still living at 103.<\/p>\n

As for \u201cHappy\u201d songs at No. 1 on the Hot 100, there have been several others across the decades including Jimmy Soul<\/a>\u2019s \u201cIf You Wanna Be Happy\u201d (1963), The Turtles<\/a>\u2019 \u201cHappy Together\u201d (1967), Bobby McFerrin<\/a>\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Worry Be Happy\u201d (1988) and Pharrell Williams<\/a>\u2019 \u201cHappy” (2014).
Happy songs, apparently, never go out of style.   <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Dave<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDave ‘Baby’ Cortez, Pop Music Pioneer, Died at 83 in 2022, Label Just Learned\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\t07\/11\/2025\t<\/p><\/div>\n

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from Billboard https:\/\/ift.tt\/zj1VQ4B
\nvia IFTTT<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forever No. 1: Dave \u2018Baby\u2019 Cortez\u2019s \u2018The Happy\u00a0Organ\u2019 Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer \u2014 a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single \u2014 by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of … <\/p>\n

Read more “Todays Hit for your Pool Party”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,5],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-billboard","tag-ifttt"],"featured_media_urls":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myclassicpool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}