Throwing back to the week of August 30, 1975, we find Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds atop the Billboard Hot 100 with their sole chart-topping hit, ‘Fallin’ in Love.’

I often hear classic songs and have no idea who performed them. And I often learn who performed them and fail to recognize the artist’s name even a little bit. But Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds might just be the artist name with which I’ve had the least familiarity in all my life. I read it three times before registering that this was the actual band name and not some sort of coding glitch on Billboard.com.

Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were a Los Angeles soft rock trio who recorded during the first half of the 70s. The original band members were Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, and Tommy Reynolds. I’m not sure why they didn’t go with Hamilton, Carollo and Reynolds.

Confusing matters, Reynolds left the group in 1972 and was replaced by Alan Dennison, but the original name was maintained. So Reynolds had nothing to do with this #1 single despite having his name on the label.

I do know the song, of course, and like it well enough.

Another person who liked it well enough was Drake, as he sampled it (without permission) for his 2009 single ‘Best I Ever Had.’ The copyright owner sued and the lawsuit was settled with terms that were never disclosed. Dan Hamilton now has a songwriting credit on the track, which made it to #2 on the Hot 100.