Editing Billy J. Kramer (section)

==Success==
With record producer [[George Martin]], the song "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" was a number two [[UK Singles Chart]] [[hit record|hit]] in 1963,<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book
| first= David
| last= Roberts
| year= 2006
| title= British Hit Singles & Albums
| edition= 19th
| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
| location= London
| isbn= 1-904994-10-5
| page= 307}}</ref> (but number one in some charts) and was backed by another tune otherwise unreleased by the Beatles, "[[I'll Be on My Way]]". After this impressive breakthrough another Lennon/McCartney pairing, "[[Bad to Me]]" c/w "[[I Call Your Name]]", reached [[List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1960s|number one]].<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/> It sold over a million copies and was awarded a [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book
| first= Joseph
| last= Murrells
| year= 1978
| title= The Book of Golden Discs
| edition= 2nd
| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd
| location= London
| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/161 161]
| isbn= 0-214-20512-6
| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/161
}}</ref> "[[I'll Keep You Satisfied]]" ended the year with a respectable number four placing.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/>

Kramer was given a series of songs specially written for him by Lennon and McCartney which launched him into stardom. "I'll Keep You Satisfied", "[[From a Window]]", "I Call Your Name" (recorded by The Beatles themselves) and "Bad to Me" earned him appearances on the television programmes, ''[[Shindig!]]'', ''[[Hullabaloo (TV series)|Hullabaloo]]'' (hosted by Beatles manager Epstein) and ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''. (Kramer had also been offered Lennon/McCartney's "I'm in Love" and recorded a version in October 1963. In the end, it was shelved and the song was instead given to [[the Fourmost]]. In the 1990s, a Kramer [[compilation album]] included his version, as well as some recording studio banter on which Lennon's voice could be heard).

The Dakotas enjoyed Top 20 success in 1963 on their own with the Mike Maxfield composition "The Cruel Sea", an [[instrumental]] retitled "The Cruel Surf" in the US, which was subsequently covered by [[The Ventures]] as The Cruel Sea. This was followed by a George Martin creation, "Magic Carpet", in which an [[echo]]-laden piano played the melody alongside Maxfield's guitar. But it missed out altogether and it was a year before their next release. All four tracks appeared on an [[Extended play|EP]] later that year.

The three hits penned by Lennon and McCartney suggested that Kramer would always remain in the Beatles' shadow, unless he tried something different. Despite being advised against it, he turned down the offer of another Lennon/McCartney song, "[[One and One Is Two]]", and insisted on recording the [[Stateside Records|Stateside]] chart hit "[[Little Children (song)|Little Children]]". It became his second chart topper and biggest hit.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/> In the United States, "Little Children" was backed with "Bad to Me". This was the only debut single of an act on the Hot 100, each of whose sides separately reached that chart's The Top 10 (No. 7 and No. 9, respectively). "From a Window", a Lennon/McCartney composition, was his second and final UK single of 1964 and became a [[Record chart|Top Ten]] hit.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/>