The Archies

Another creation by rock impresario Don Kirshner, who unleashed The Monkees on an unsuspecting world, The Archies were never a group, in the commonly accepted sense of the word--the voices for this animated cartoon series were supplied by session singers (among them Andy Kim, who later went on to a respectable solo career) and the songs were written by well-regarded songwriters (among them Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, who also produced many of them). After some minor hits, the "group" blasted into the public eye with the surprise hit "Sugar Sugar", which for some reason shot to #1 in both the US and UK. A follow-up song, "Jingle Jangle", managed to break into the top 10 but didn't cop the #1 spot.