The rock & roll era officially begins in July of 1955 when Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock” hits #1 on the Billboard Bestsellers chart. The full effect of the musical changing of the guard wasn’t immediately apparent, however; not like when The Beatles and other British acts arrived a decade later and seemingly wiped all other artists off the face of the earth in the blink of an eye. No, it wasn’t until Elvis and Little Richard topped the charts in the spring of 1956 that rock & roll truly took the reins and galloped all over the musical landscape for the rest of the century.
But, just for pub trivia sake, what was the last #1 song of the pre-rock era? I’m glad you asked. You didn’t? Well, I’m telling you anyway.
Perez Prado was born in Cuba in 1916 and studied classical piano as a child. In 1949 he moved to Mexico City and quickly gained fame as an orchestra leader and arranger, known throughout the country as “The King Of The Mambo.” Already a popular attraction in Mexico, he proceeded to sell out venues during American tours as well.
In 1953, Prado recorded a song titled “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White,” written a few years before by French composer Louiguy (who also wrote the music for “La vie en rose” just FYI). Arranged in the style of a cha-cha-cha, with a high-flying, woozy trumpet fanfare (if Dean Martin’s speaking voice was a trumpet it would sound like this), the single was a massive hit that year in Mexico.
But it wasn’t until December of 1954 that someone at RCA Victor decided to release “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” in the US (and featured it in the movie Underwater! starring Jane “Cross Your Heart” Russell), where it eventually topped the Bestseller chart for 10 weeks before giving way to the unstoppable rock of Bill Haley and The Comets.
So everybody cha-cha-cha… with Perez Prado.
More trivia: in 1958, Billboard simplified their convoluted multi-chart system, switching to one chart to rule them all — known forevermore as the Hot 100 — and in the process decommissioned the Disc Jockey chart and the Top 100 chart (a prototype of sorts for the Hot 100). The last #1 song on those two charts? “Patricia” by Perez Prado.
1 2 3 o' clock 4 o' clock Rock 
Back from hols, and who’d have thought the cha-cha-cha would be stepping through my AirPods. What’s even more surprising is — I remember both of those songs. 1954?! For goodness sake, I was only 3 years old then … so how can I remember those songs? All good with you and yours?
I think Prado’s music was probably everywhere in the 50s…you might have absorbed those songs by osmosis! I hope you had a lovely holiday. All is well here as we try to survive a minor heatwave and await the beginning of 8th grade for our daughter in a couple of weeks. Time does fly.