Wednesday's Forgotten Oldie...

Today's tune is "Fever" by the McCoys. The McCoys were a sometimes four, sometimes five-man rock band from Indiana that had two top-ten hits in 1965, "Hang on Sloopy" which went to number one, and the follow-up "Fever" which went to number seven. The song "Fever" was published in 1956 and originally recorded by Little Willie John, whose version of "Fever" was a number one hit for three weeks on the R&B chart, and also as an early Rock'n'Roll song peaking at number twenty-four. In 1958, Peggy Lee's cover version was even more popular, peaking at number eight on the US pop charts. It's interesting that Peggy Lee's signature song was actually beat by the McCoys' version in chart position as well as sales. Despite similarities to "Sloopy", "Fever" is an excellent song. It's sung by a young Rick Derringer, who went on to sing and play lead guitar for both Johnny and Edgar Winter as well as Steely Dan.