“Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast” by Wayne Newton and “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone also hit big thanks in part to heavy CKLW airplay. Not all the records Trombley helped break would be considered cool today. Producer Bob Ezrin always credited Trombley for hearing “I’m Eighteen” by Alice Cooper as a hit, and playing it before anyone did. She used her golden ears and instincts to identify, take chances and lead the way for an array of then-unproven artists.” He continued: “Most major market stations played it safe and only played the proven national hits. “She could hear a hit a mile away,” said her son, Tim Trombley, when he accepted the Walt Grealis Achievement Award on her behalf at Canada’s 2016 Juno Awards. She had such a good ear for what Detroit R&B stations were playing, that acts such as the Parliaments (later, Parliament-Funkadelic) and the Detroit Emeralds hit bigger than they would have, once CKLW was beaming their records out on its enormous 50,000 watt signal, heard in some 38 states, with a weekly cumulative audience in North America of over 3 million listeners. She had a posse of Detroit R&B disc jockeys and music directors on speed dial, and also kept up with what was being played in the Detroit clubs. Her most important research tool was the phone. Elton John credits her for forcing his record company to release “Benny and the Jets” as a single. Rosalie never took credit personally, but acts who give her credit for breaking them include Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Gordon Lightfoot, Aerosmith, the Guess Who (and later, Bachman-Turner-Overdrive). She was so adept at it, she was almost immediately promoted to her boss’ job as music director. In that job she was responsible for reading the trades and researching to see what the station might want to play. In 1963, she got a job working the switchboard at the Windsor radio station, typical of the kind of jobs women had to take in the 1960’s.īy 1968, Rosalie, a single mother of three, was CKLW’s music librarian. Ring My Bell has been covered by several artists, including Blood Sisters, Collette, and Tori Amos.Born in Leamington, Ontario, in 1938, she grew up listening to the first generation of rock ‘n’ roll on CKLW. Since Anita Ward was an unknown artist with only one hit song, the Blondie connection is probably a type of confabulation.Īnita Ward recorded two other albums, Sweet Surrender, also in 1979, and Wherever There’s Love in 1989. Hanging on the Telephone was released one year prior and the iconic Call Me was released only one year later, in 1980. However, there is something about the vocal styling of the chorus, “you can ring my bell, ring my bell” that calls Debra Harry to mind and I’m not surprised that people think it was a Blondie song.Īnother factor may be the two ‘telephone’ oriented songs that Blondie actually recorded. She certainly was nothing like the sultry Debra Harry.Ī close listen should reveal, of course, that Ward is not Harry, not to mention the music, which is nothing like the sort of arrangement that Blondie would have used. What’s more, she had never even stepped foot in a disco. She described herself as a naive and shy little church girl. The album, Songs of Love, sold very well, though.Īs for being a disco queen, Ward was nothing of the sort. She scored a minor hit later the same year with Don’t Drop My Love, which peaked at number 87. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 16, 1979, and spending 18 weeks on the chart. Released in 1979, the song was a smash hit, reaching no. He chose Ring My Bell since Stacy Lattisaw had signed to another label. However, after recording a number of slower songs, Knight realized they needed an up-tempo tune. The tune was an afterthought for Ward and was not originally intended to be recorded. He said of the song: “It was then a teeny-bopper type of song, about kids talking on the telephone.” Knight agreed to cut some records with her. Frederick Knight, songwriter, producer, and president of Juana Records discovered her when her manager sent him some photos, demos, and other materials. Even so, the lyrics are merely suggestive and not overtly sexual as the producer wanted to protect Anita Ward’s clean-cut Christian image. It was modified for Ward to sound more adult. The song was originally more suited for a young girl to sing.