Brooklyn Bridge, "Blessed Is the Rain"

Rock 'n' roll heaven got a bit more crowded over the past week: first, Alex Chilton - who's a topic for another day - and today, Johnny Maestro, whose fame came in two acts spaced a decade apart. As one of the Crests, he scored at the end of the '50s with "Sixteen Candles" and other soppy oldies; a decade later, his then band the Del Satins got together with a group called the Rhythm Method (ahem) to form the Brooklyn Bridge. (So named because the 11-piece unit that resulted from the merger was said to be "as easy to sell as the Brooklyn Bridge.")

The BB are best known for their Top 5 rendition of Jimmy Webb's forlorn wedding-bell blues "Worst That Could Happen," but today I'd like to spotlight one of their forgotten follow-ups. From the same year, here's the big Bklyn bunch singing "Blessed Is the Rain", a #45 charter that deserved better. (Ignore the YouTube poster's mistitling of the song as "Yesterday the Rain.") RIP, Johnny.