"Wonderland By Night" #1 1/14/1961

#1 in January of 1961. One of those instrumentals TV stations used to play when they had "technical difficulties." Bert Kaempfert was a German trumpeter and composer who may be best known as the guy who first hired the Beatles for a recording session. They were playing the rowdy dives of Hamburg in the fall of 1961 when Herr Kaempfert brought them into the studio to back up Tony Sheridan on a couple of songs. A few months later, a fellow walked into a Liverpool record store operated by Brian Epstein and his family and asked for one of those 45's. They didn't have it, but Brian was intrigued by a local band making a record and sought them out. The rest, as they say, is history.