Perhaps the strangest hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 was
Dominique by Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile). Incredibly, in December, 1963, this French-language ballad of Domingo Félix de Guzmán, a thirteenth-century Spanish evangelist, diplomat, crusader and persecutor of heretics shot past all the rock and roll songs, dance tunes and surfer anthems of the day to park itself at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for four weeks.
“Dominique by Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile).”
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She had a sad life, ending in suicide. “Dominique” came out at the right time, it was after JFK was killed and I think the country needed a soothing break before the Beatles hit the US the following February. It was an crazy time to be a kid.