The Hillside Singers

The Hillside Singers were an American folk pop group. The ensemble was created by advertising agency McCann Erickson to sing in a television commercial. McCann Erickson had written the jingle "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing " for Coca-Cola, and had sought to have the New Seekers sing it, but that group could not fit the project into their schedule and turned it down. McCann Erickson then got in touch with producer Al Ham, who put together a group of singers for the project. The commercial began airing in July 1971 and was extremely popular, convincing Ham to rewrite the song as "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" and to record an album and a Christmas record. The single hit No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, No. 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 58 in Canada, which convinced The New Seekers to issue it as a single as well. The Hillside Singers version of the song sold a million copies, earning a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA →