 On this day in 1959 {April 20} Tony Bellus performed "Robbin' The Cradle" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV weekday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...One week later on April 27 the song entered Billboard's Top 100 chart at position #87, sixteen weeks later it would peak at #25 {for 1 week} and it spent a half-year on the Top 100 {26 weeks}...
Tony Bellus, born Anthony J. Bellusci, celebrated his 82nd birthday three days ago on April 17 {2018}...
And from the 'For What It's Worth' department, on the day of Tony's appearance on 'Bandstand', exactly one year later on April 20, 1960 there was another 'Cradle' record on the Top 100, Johnny Preston's "Cradle of Love" was at #14, two weeks later it would peak at #7 {for 1 week} and it stayed on the Top 100 for fifteen weeks...Attempts at follow-ups were hampered when the original National Recording Corporation went bankrupt April 27, 1961.The company reappeared in 1962 under the aegis of Georgia theatre magnate Frederick Storey.