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DANIEL BOONE

“BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY”

(DANIEL BOONE, R. McQueen)

Mercury 73281

No. 15   September 76, 1972

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Like many other young lads, Peter Stirling was given piano lessons.   At age 13, while laid up with an

illness, the Britisher took to strumming a guitar; three years later, he was playing in the Beachcombers.

In 1963, just as the world was being overtaken by Beatlemania, Peter was a member of a pop group

named the Bruisers, who had a medium-sized hit in England with “Blue Girl.”   The group were unable to

be a part of the British Invasion, and after a few more singles on Parlophone, the Bruisers disbanded.

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In 1965, Stirling began his career as a session musi­cian with songwriter Les Reed, and reportedly played

on many Tom Jones sessions (including the one that produced “It’s Not Unusual”).   The Merseybeats and

Kathy Kirby were among the first artists to record Peter’s early songwriting efforts.   Larry Page–

producer of the “Wild Thing”-Troggs and founder of Page One and Penny Far­thing Records–took a demo

Stirling had created on “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast,” sweetened the thing with strings, credited the

track to “Daniel Boone,” and released it on his Penny Farthing label.   The recording made the Top 20 in

the U.K., but Wayne Newton’s cover rendition stole Stirling’s glory by making the Top 10 stateside.

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Peter’s moment, however, was at hand.   The very next release was the infectious and bouncy “Beautiful

Sunday.”   The world could not get enough of this tune; but the world also did not take kindly to any

future recordings Peter ever made, either as Daniel Boone or as Peter Lee Stirling.   By July, 1972, Pete’s

high point had sold a million copies worldwide.   Two years later, pro­ducer Page rereleased the

recording, and sales continued.   Two more years passed, and “Beautiful Sunday” was picked up as the

theme song for a popular Japan­ese TV program.   Another million copies were sold, and the tune

remained number one on the Japanese charts for four months–reportedly becoming one of the top­

selling records in Japanese pop history.