This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Oh Babe What Would You Say’ (#1 1972) by English singer ‘Hurricane’ Smith. Norman ‘Hurricane’ Smith (1923-2008) served as an RAF glider pilot during World War II. After an unsuccessful career as a jazz musician (trumpeter), he joined EMI as an apprentice sound engineer in 1959 and began working at Abbey Road studios in North London. He was the engineer on all of the EMI studio recordings by the Beatles (almost 100 songs) until the autumn of 1965 (Rubber Soul) when he was promoted from engineer to producer. He went on to produce albums by Pink Floyd and Barclay James Harvest. While working with The Beatles on 17 June 1965, he was offered £15,000 by the band’s music publishing company, Dick James Music, to buy outright a song he had written. ‘Oh Babe What Would You Say’ went on to become a smash hit internationally including the U.S. & U.K.
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