In the rock-and-roll era, especially after its first wave, songs emerged that would have comfortably fit into the pre-rock era. This is one of them; it's not really my thing. I wouldn't have finished it, except that The Blossoms sang backing vocals on it. The Blossoms - in particular, Darlene Love - are awesome.
Donnie Brooks (1936-2007) did a bunch of other things besides sing the occasional old-style pop song. At the start of his career, he recorded under a number of pseudonyms, including "Johnny Faire", under which name he sang the rockabilly song "Bertha Lou". Two separate versions of this song charted in Toronto in 1958.
"Mission Bell" was Brooks's fourth single release under his own name. It reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. The followup, "Doll House", reached #31 on the Billboard chart but didn't get airplay in Toronto (I could only manage 19 seconds of this). Subsequent singles went nowhere.
Later in his career, Brooks played Christ in a 1971 rock opera, Truth of Truths. He claimed in a 2006 interview that he was the voice for the opening theme to the cartoon series George of the Jungle, though I cannot verify this. (Watch out for that tree!) He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2003.
Created January 15, 2026.