Don Grady ("My 3 Sons", "Yellow Balloon")1944-20

[Rob Durkee]

Don Grady, best known as Robbie in the TV show "My Three Sons," died of cancer Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Thousand Oaks. He was 68. Among Grady's early entertainment roles was as a Mouseketeer on "The Mickey Mouse Club."

One of his lesser known achievements was as the drummer for the one-hit-wonder group Yellow Balloon, whose only Top 40 hit was CALLED..

"Yellow Balloon."

Yup, the song and act were the same...but not totally unusual. Mandrill, Living In A Box, Kool And The Gang, Bad Company, the Chairmen Of The Board and the Sweet Inspirations did it, too. Well, the Sweet Inspirations' hit was "Sweet Inspiration," but only one letter off.

Dick St. John of Dick and Deedee fame co-write "Yellow Balloon"--and here's another bit of irony. The B side of "Yellow Balloon" was "Noollab Wolley." The only other major top 40 hit that I can think of like that was the B side of "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Napoleon XIV" from 1966.

Additions to either list welcomed via posting a response to this bit of news.

[bestmusicexpert]

Many of The Ohio Express and 1910 Fruitgum company records had a song backwards on the flip. Only one or two was the A-Side backwards though, most times it was an instrumental jam pressed backwards to discourage DJ's from playing the non-plug side.

[at40petebattistini]

Jun 28, 2012 10:48:31 GMT -5 Rob Durkee said:

Yup, the song and act were the same...but not totally unusual. Mandrill, Living In A Box, Kool And The Gang, Bad Company, the Chairmen Of The Board and the Sweet Inspirations did it, too. Well, the Sweet Inspirations' hit was "Sweet Inspiration," but only one letter off.

Additions to either list welcomed via posting a response to this bit of news.

There's the Stars On 45 medleys. And a slight variation is "In The Court Of The Crimson King" by King Crimson.

[Rob Durkee]

An addition to the one list: "Voices That Care" by Voices That Care from 1991. Many thanks for radio friend Toby Petty for that addition!

[mstgator]

Chairmen Of The Board is also one letter off, as their hit was singular: "Chairman Of The Board".

[mrjukebox]

I e-mailed Barry Scott the other day & asked if he would consider playing "Yellow Balloon" on his show "The Lost 45's"-Haven't gotten a response yet but I'll keep my fingers crossed.