Benny Wills

Your Hit Parade – was a 41-volume series issued by Time-Life during the late 1980s and early 1990s, spotlighting popular music from the pre-rock era years of 1940-1954, and non-rock and roll songs from 1955 through mid-1960s.
Much like Time-Life's other series chronicling popular music, volumes in the "Your Hit Parade" series covered a specific time period, including single years in some volumes and stylistic trends in others.

Songs That Won The War, Vol. 3: Swing is a 1995 compilation CD released by LaserLight Digital. It focuses on music from World War II and the energy of the greatest generation. The project was originally produced by Rod McKuen for his Stanyan label.

This CD is part of a comprehensive study of the early influences of rock & roll. The blues and rhythm & blues sound created by African American artists, as well as a few crossover Anglo musicians, in the late '30s, '40s, and the '50s, laid the foundation for what was to become rock & roll. It was a sound characterized by a throbbing drumbeat and sensual notes on piano and horns, often with lyrics to match its earthy quality. Volume six collects some notable recordings of the year 1950, just before the big rock & roll explosion caused by artists such as Bill Haley & His Comets and Elvis Presley. The compilation makes clear the great musical debt these artists, who became rich and famous, owed to earlier artists, many of whom remained poor and obscure…