Over the years there have been a few artist who have gone just by one name. The 60′s artist Donavan and from the 80′s Madonna and Prince. Beginning in the late 1960′s and even into today, Melanie is one of those one name artist.

She was just a young singer when she was invited to perform at the Woodstock festival in 1969 but by the end of it she was better known.

The song Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) which she recorded in 1970 with the Edwin Hawkins Singers was inspired by the events at Woodstock. It reached a top spot of Number 6 on the charts.

And as an added bonus Melanie performing the same song 20 years later.

Note:The following was originally published at 6 Things To Consider. We thank Steve Atkinson for allowing us to republish this.

It was on Friday the 13th, February 1970 that the album that many consider the first Heavy Metal album was released. It was released in the United Kingdom. The debut album of a band from Birmingham England. The band and the album shared the name Black Sabbath.

The album had seven tracks. Five were original songs written by the group and two covers.

Black Sabbath consisted of Tony Iommi on guitar, Ozzy Osbourne sang lead, Terry “Geezer” Butler was the bassman, and Bill Ward at drums.

The album was a commercial success reaching number 8 on the UK Albums Chart, and following its US release in May 1970 reached number 23 on the Billboard 200 staying on the charts for over a year. It was widely panned by critics partly because it was so much different than what had been heard before.

A few months later the band would record their second album. From that recording came two of the most popular and most familiar songs done by the group. The album’s title song, Paranoid and the album’s second single Iron Man.

The term Heavy Metal wasn’t used until a number of years after the album’s released. Once it did become a term for music with a heavy rock beat, it was determined that this album was the first.

The 1970s began just like the 60s ended, at least at the top of the charts. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head sung by B.J. Thomas, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent 4 weeks at Number 1. The first week was the last week of 1969 then topping the charts for the first 3 weeks of 1970.

It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Burt Bacharach’s score won for Best Score.

The song about infidelity, first by the wife of the singer and then the singer himself towards his secretary Maria.

The song reached Number 2 on the Billboard charts towards the end of 1969 and really shouldn’t be classified as a song of the 1970s. But it was a favorite of this author’s and I always sat back to listen to it when it played on the radio. Still do.

It was Greaves only hit record. He had a couple of more low charting singles in the early 1970s including a remake of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” and Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale”.

Greaves was a nephew of the late great Sam Cooke.

The song One Tin Soldier was written by the songwriting team Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. It was recorded in late 1969 by the Canadian group The Original Caste and was a minor hit in the United States, but a big hit, reaching Number 1, in Canada.

Most people will remember the version of the song done for the 1971 film Billy Jack as recorded by Jinx Dawson and listed with her group Coven. Even though she sang it with the film’s orchestra she requested that the credit would be to the group and not in her name. Coven’s version would chart again in 1973 and 1974.

The obvious Anti-war song would be one of the most requested songs on American Radio in the early 70′s

On the Sonny and Cher show, the song as sung by Cher, was played in front of a cartoon.

Two clips of Edwin Starr singing his 1970 war protest song War. One is from the 70′s. Not sure when the second one is from, but it’s obviously much later than the first.

The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. It was Edwin Starr’s most successful song as well as the most successful anti-war song. It reached the number 1 spot in 1970.

The song was also recorded by the Temptations, although their version was slightly less intense than Starr’s. Motown was debating whether or not to release the Temptations version as a single when Starr volunteered to re-record the song. Motown had been afraid that it could hurt the Temptation’s career.

Starr’s version was more in a James Brown inspired Soul-Shout and the song instead of hurting his career gave him a successful one.

Bruce Springsteen had the song as part of his concert and it was recorded as part of the Live/1975-85 album. Springsteen released his live version as a single and once again it was a big seller, reaching Number 8 on the charts.

“War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin’!” The line is just as meaningful in 2009 as it was in 1970. It’s surprising that someone hasn’t re-recorded it. At least the Starr and the Springsteen versions are still being played.

I have seen Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson listed as a One-Hit wonder. While it may be true that this was the only song that may have crossed over to the Pop charts to any one who was listening to Country Music in the late 60′s and early 70′s she sure wasn’t a One-Hit artist.

The song was a Number 1 hit on the country charts for five weeks and managed to reach as high as Number 3 on the Pop charts.

This was also the name of an album she released in 1971. Until Shania Twain’s 1997 album Come On Over, it was the biggest selling album by a country female singer.

Anderson won the Grammy for Best Country Female singer in 1971 for this song.

She was also a horsewoman winning 16 National Championships, eight World Championships and several celebrity championships.

Joni Mitchell was not at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival, but she composed the song that many consider the anthem of the festival. Her manager felt that it was more important to be at a taping of the Dick Cavett Show and was afraid had she gone to the festival she would not have been able to make it.

While the festival was taking place she sat in her New York hotel room watching reports and began writing the song. She was also in a relationship with Graham Nash, who was there as part of Crosby Stills and Nash, and she heard from him his first hand experiences.

About a month after the festival she performed Woodstock at at the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival. That’s where this comes from.

The song later went on to be hits for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Matthews Southern Comfort

1969 is technically not the 70s, but every once in awhile I like to include some of the songs from that year since in some ways there is little difference between 1969 and 1970. At least in my opinion.

Rich Evans, the Evans of the duo, wrote the song in 1964 and it was originally released in 1967. It sat seldom played until a radio station in Odessa Texas popularized the song. RCA picked it up for nationwide release.

The song is full of warnings about the dangers of technology and the ways that the human race is dehumanized. It ends after 10 thousand years only to begin again in the Year 2525.

The song reached Number 1 in July of 1969 and was at that position when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

Denny Zager was the name of the other member of the duo. He is also the man behind Zager “EZ-Play” Guitars.

RCA proclaimed the group the next big thing, but In the Year 2525 was their only Top 40 hit. They are the only act to have their single Top 40 hit reach Number 1 in the US as well as in the UK.

It was the summer of 1970 and everyone around the world was singing this little tune written by Ray Dorset and just thinking about the joys and the carefree days of summer.

The song was a Number 1 hit in their home county of England and peaked at Number 3 in the United States.

The group is considered a One-hit wonder, which in the US is true since other than a few low charting singles after this one, this was Mungo Jerry’s and Ray Dorset’s biggest hit.

Ray Dorset still continues to record and appear as Mungo Jerry.

The name Mungo Jerry comes from a character in T.S Eliot’s ‘Book Of Practical Cats’