Whistling Jack Smith

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Whistling Jack Smith (born February 2, 1946 in Liverpool , real name Billy Moeller ) is a British singer . He had a top five hit in Great Britain and Germany in 1967 with the one-hit Wonder I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman .

Career

Moeller is the younger brother of Thomas Moeller, the former singer of the band Unit 4 + 2 , and worked for the group as a roadie . In 1967 he released a single under the stage name Coby Wells , but had no commercial success.

The songwriter duo Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway wrote the song I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman . The piece has no lyrics, but is whistled by a studio musician . The Mike Sammes Singers were also involved in the recording of I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman . The first publication of I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman reached No. 5 in the UK Top 40 and No. 4 in Germany in April 1967 . Because of this success, the producers were looking for a face to the title the promotion . They found this in Billy Moeller. There was a re-release of the single with the face of Moeller and live appearances as Whistling Jack Smith . The song reached number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in May 1967 . As Whistling Jack Smith Moeller recorded the studio album Around the World With Whistling Jack Smith and other singles. The publications could not place themselves in the charts.

In the early 1970s, Moeller was next to Buster Meikle, a former member of Unit Four Plus Two , a member of the duo Bill & Buster . With the single Hold On To What You've Got released by A&M Records , they reached the top 40 in the Netherlands and France in 1971 . A German version of the song was published via BMG Ariola under the title Hol dir den Sonnenschein . The duo broke up around 1972, nothing is known about Moeller's further life.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
I was Emperor Bill's Batman
  DE 4th 
gold
gold
05/01/1967 (11 weeks)
  AT 3 07/15/1967 (16 weeks)
  UK 5 03/04/1967 (12 weeks)
  US 20th 04/29/1967 (7 weeks)

as Coby Wells

as Whistling Jack Smith

  • I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman (single, 1967, Deram)
  • Around The World With Whistling Jack Smith (1967, Deram)
  • Only When I Larf / Early One Morning (Single, 1968, Deram)
  • Ja-Da / Sans Fairy Anne (single, 1968, Deram)

with Bill & Buster

  • Hold On To What You've Got (Single, 1971, A&M Records)

literature

  • Terry Rawlings: Then, now and rare British beat 1960-1969 . Omnibus Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7119-9094-4 , pp. 175 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit balance sheet. German chart singles 1956–1980. Taurus Press, Hamburg 1990, p. 191
  2. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT UK US
  3. ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 446 .
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Whistling Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moeller, Billy (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Liverpool