Major Lance

Mississippi-born and Chicago-raised singer Major Lance hit the Top 20 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart with each of his first four charting singles.  The first of those singles, “The Monkey Times,” peaked at number 8, and exactly 50 years ago, his third charting single, “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um,” was in its second week of a two-week run at number 5.  That peak position of number 5 makes “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um” the biggest hit of Lance’s career.

Lance would hit the Top 40 two more times, hitting number 24 with “Rhythm” later in 1964 and then hitting number 40 with “Come See” in 1965.  Lance passed away in 1994 at the age of 55.