Ready 'N' Steady (found D.A. song; 1979)

A mockup of the single’s cover.

Status: Found

Date found: 08 Jul 2016

Found by: Paul Haney, and Joel Whitburn

"Ready 'N' Steady" is a 1979 record by recording artist D.A., which appeared on several charts. The single was released by Rascal Records.

History

"Ready 'N' Steady" first landed on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot the 100 charts at number 106. In the next issue, it climbed higher to 103, before reaching a peak listing at number 102 the issue after that. The single's time on the chart was short, and the limelight was a brief three weeks for the single. The song has never been listed since, and many rumours and doubts as to its existence have circulated, with music historian Joel Whitburn, having collected 45s of every song to hit the charts except for this one, has tried searching desperately for proof of its existence in 1995.^[1]

The exact identity of the artist was a mystery. For a while, it was assumed that the song was made by Chicago-based female punk rock band DA!, who were active during the single's release. Further backing this up was that the alleged label, Rascal, was advertising in a Punk Rock magazine, based in Detroit; the label has been long gone since, being based out of a residential home. However, DA! later publicly stated that they never made such a record.

For years, it was presumed the record was false or may have been a misprint Billboard. The 2002 edition of Jerry Osbourne's Official Price Guide to Records, listed it as being worth $75-$125.

Rediscovery

The United States Copyright Office had listed a registration for the record, dating back to 1986, with the creation date of 1979, providing evidence that the song did indeed exist.

The artists of the song turned out to be Dennis Armand "D. A." Lucchesi (1945-2005), a California-based mortgage broker and amateur musician, and Jim Franks. Franks is still alive, and willingly gave Paul Haney (on behalf of Whitburn) a recording of the song. It was played on July 8th, 2016, on the Crap from the Past radio show on KFAI in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. According to Haney (who appeared on Crap from the Past, explaining the history behind the song), he had spoken with Franks, who told him that the song (as well as three or four other songs) was recorded in 1979 after a major label representative witnessed the band play live. He offered the band studio time and promised that he would help the band get a song on the Billboard charts. Despite its appearance on the charts, the song was never pressed onto vinyl. Because of this, it is unknown if the song even received radio play at the time of its recording.