Australian singles chart:
Telstar entered the Kent charts on 13 October 1962 and peaked at #2. It was #9 on the Top 100 of 1962.
Album:
The song is on The Tornados’ 1962 album The Original Telstar – The Sounds of The Tornadoes.
Composer:
Joe Meek
Producer:
Joe Meek
Record label of Australian release:
Decca
Songfacts:
An instrumental with space sound effects, this song is about the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched in 1962, shortly before this song was written.
Producer Joe Meek was intrigued by the sound of the organ on Dave “Baby” Cortez’ #1 hit, The Happy Organ. He tried to duplicate it with the Clavioline keyboard on Telstar, which was played by a studio musician named Geoff Goddard, who also supplied the humming vocal at the end of the song.
Telstar was the first song by a British group to hit #1 in the US. This did not happen again until The Beatles I Want To Hold Your Hand in 1964.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/the-tornados/telstar
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