Music Mysteries: The Curious Case of "Ready 'n' Steady" From 1979

    Welcome to our second Music Mystery! Today we have a mystery involved with the chart gods, Billboard. Way back in 1979, an unknown song popped up on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 Chart for 3 weeks called "Ready 'n' Steady." It was credited to an artist with the initials of "D.A." 

    I actually remember watching a documentary on this song. Though I'm not sure where to find it at now. But! I did find key players from the documentary including the main investigator. Music historian, Joel Whitburn, was featured on it. And that man is crazy insane, guys. He has collected every Hot 100 and Bubbling Under record to ever hit the chart. We're talking thousands upon thousands of records! All except for "Ready 'n' Steady." I get testy when I lose my AirPods and can't find them, so I can't possibly imagine a years-long search for a record. For decades "Ready 'n' Steady" was thought to be a "phantom record" that possibly did not exist. 

    The song debuted at number 106, then rose up to 103, and then finally to 102. Then it dropped off the chart the following week. Back in 1995, Whitburn gave an interview where he stated he had neither seen nor heard of the record. At the time, he believed it was a female rock group from Chicago called DA! They denied any involvement with the song. He managed to track down the record label called Rascal (how fitting), and this label was apparently ran out of some guy's house in Detroit. By the time they got to the house, it was boarded up and vacant. 

    Mr. Whitburn published various books on the charts, and a 2005 book stated that the existence of the song, artist, and record were in question. The quoted price for the record was $150. A 2009 edition didn't even mention D.A. at all. In a later interview, Mr. Whitburn said he didn't think the record existed. He also stated he thought it could have been a "copyright trap" by Billboard. Which in and of itself is interesting. 

    At the time when I saw the documentary, I don't think they had found the song yet. Well, this is one mystery that was solved. As the record was found and surfaced in July of 2016. 

    How was "Ready 'n' Steady" found? Through copyrights! The musicians, D.A. Lucchesi and Jim Franks registered it in 1986 with a creation date of 1979. Mr. Lucchesi was a mortgage broker by day, part-time musician by night who performed locally by the name of "D.A. and the Dukes."

    In 2016, investigation into the copyright registration by a man of the name Paul Haney, under Mr. Whitburn's Record Research Inc., led to Jim Franks. Mr. Franks provided Mr. Haney with a recording of the song.

    According to Mr. Haney, Steve "The Colonel" Cropper had recorded the song, but it was never released. 

    So how did "Ready 'n' Steady" make it to the charts? It had zero sales, zero airplay, and zero records of any of these factors. Mr. Haney said a record promoter for a major label took an interest in the band and got the song on the charts. With no sales or airplay. This makes "Ready 'n' Steady" the only song to ever appear on Billboard without getting released commercially. The label, Rascal, existed only on paper and was owned by a relative of the band. The label would go on to release a couple of independent singles, though nothing more by D.A. 

    Mr. Haney appeared on a radio show, Crap from the Past, and played the song on the air for its first and only time. The show also contacted Mr. Franks for personnel that recorded the song. 

    I think this is a pretty cool mystery, and it's awesome that it eventually got solved though it took decades. The advancement of technology probably helped the mystery become solved as well. I'm glad Mr. Whitburn was alive to see the record be found and add it to his collection. That had to be a relief! It's also interesting to see that the Billboard charts could be so easily manipulated even back in the day. They get flack for labels involvement in fudging charts, but some record promoter somewhere literally was just like "I like your song. Let's get it on a chart." And made it happen. How crazy.

    I have a many ideas for this column. I have to do a great amount of investigating (thank you, Wikipedia), but I'm looking forward to more Music Mysteries! Have a great day, everybody!