In our last Battle, our two singers, Wendolina and Lauren Koval, went head-o-head on the Johnny Mercer-Barry Manilow standard, "When October Goes." It was a very tight battle…

Wendolina – 4

• Dan
• Birgit
• Willow
• Eugi

Lauren Koval – 5

• Arlee
• Stephen
• Diedre
• Jack
• Debbie

A very good battle, and kudos to both singers, but especially congratulations to Ms. Koval on her win.

My next battle will either be next Monday, May 15 or Thursday, June 1, depending on whether I can get my act together by next Monday. See you then!

I was reading up on Johnny Mercer, the great lyricist, the other day, and one of the things I learned was that he was a fan of Barry Manilow, primarily because Barry had done the song "Mandy" and that was the name of Johnny’s daughter. After Mercer died in 1976, his widow, Ginger Mehan Mercer, gave a number of Johnny’s incomplete songs to Manilow, hoping that he could finish the lyrics and add music to them. One of those songs was "When October Goes." Manilow set Mercer’s lyrics to music and first recorded it on his 1984 album Paradise Café. It’s become a standard in the 40 years since then. I’ve picked versions by a couple of women singer who I hadn’t heard of up until now as the basis for this battle.

Wendolina

Lauren Koval

Those are our contestants for this round. I’d really like to know what you think, so please consider voting this round. There’s no need to run a Battle of the Bands yourself, all you need is a discerning ear and an opinion. Here’s what you need to do:

Voting ends next Monday, May 8 at noon Eastern (US) Daylight time. I’ll tally the votes and announce the winner Monday afternoon.

The lines are now open. Good luck, Wendolina and Lauren!

Stephen was just talking about how tricky it is to put these battles together, and how tough it is, because you have to anticipate how people are going to hear the song. I clearly haven’t mastered that, because I had a great turnout, which ended up a great blowout victory…

Billy Joe Royal – 3

• Birgit
• Ed
• Max

Johnny Rivers – 16

• Paula
• Debbie
• Lynn
• Stephen
• Willow
• Arlee
• John Howell
• Mary B
• Cathy
• Bluebird
• Dan
• Diedre
• Jack
• Eugenia
• Fandango
• Robin

Congratulations to Johnny Rivers, and a pat on the back for Billy Joe Royal for being a good sport about it.

Thanks to all of you who voted this time around, and I guess congratulations are in order for those who went with Johnny Rivers.

My next battle will be next Wednesday, March 15. I’ll be taking April off for the A to Z Challenge, and hope to see a lot of you there!

Neil Diamond wrote "Solitary Man" and recorded it on BANG records as his first single in 1966. It reached #55 that time. As Neil’s popularity grew on Uni records, BANG decided to re-release the single in 1970. That time, it reached #21 on the Hot 100 and #6 on the Easy Listening chart, #31 on the Canadian pop chart and #24 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart. It’s been covered by many artists since then. Here are two of them.

Billy Joe Royal

From his 1982 album Makin’ Believe.

Johnny Rivers

From his 1973 album Blue Suede Shoes.

Those are our contestants for this battle. I hope everyone reading this votes in this battle, even if you’ve never voted before. It’s simple:

Voting for this round ends next Wednesday, March 1 at 12:00 noon, so make sure I have your vote by then.

The lines are now open. Good luck to Billy Joe and Johnny!

In last week’s battle, two smooth jazz chanteuses, Patti Austin and Diane Schuur, faced off on their interpretations of George and Ira Gershwin’s "How Long Has This Been Going On." Voting was a little light, but not bad for a mid-month battle. Anyway, here are the results…

Patti Austin – 2

• John
• Cathy

Diane Schuur – 5

• Dan
• Yvette
• Stephen
• Birgit
• Eugenia

Congratulations to Diane Schuur and a hearty "well done" to Patti Austin. They’re both fine singers who’ve recorded a number of successful albums, a lot of which are available on YouTube, Spotify, and wherever great streaming is available.

Our next battle will be next Monday, March 1. See you then!