One-hit wonder Vaughn Meader

A really different kind of one-hit recording wonder was New Englander Vaughn Meader, whose 1962 comedy album The First Family was a breathtaking success, selling more than 7 million copies--that is, until the assassination of the record's "target," President John F. Kennedy.

Meader began his entertainment career singing and playing piano, then tried his hand at standup comedy. Born in Maine, he had roughly the same accent as that of the patrician John Kennedy, and even looked a bit like the president. From gigs in Greenwich Village in New York, he landed a spot on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on television. He began impersonating the president's accent, which already had so fascinated the rest of America. With Naomi Brossart doing a wonderfully breathy imitation of Jacqueline Kennedy, Meader did his cleverly written album, which was an immediate hit. Meader quickly came out with a second album, The First Family Volume Two. His sudden success just as quickly vanished, however, when record stores removed the albums from their shelves as a gesture of respect after the assassination of Kennedy in Dallas. Suddenly , imitations of JFK, however well done, were out.

Meader did some more singing, mostly in Maine, and joined impressionist Rich Little in a parody of President Ronald Reagan, The First Family Rides Again. Meader died of pulminary disease in 2004 at age 68.