This features a trumpet and choir-like backing vocals. It's oddly wistful and somewhat weird. I've never heard anything quite like it; finding stuff like this is why I spend far too much time on this site!
Teddy Mertens, also known as Theo Mertens (1932-2003), was from Belgium. He released a few singles as "Teddy Mertens" throughout the early and mid 1960s but doesn't appear to have charted significantly anywhere. "Velvet Night" appears to have originally been released as a B-side, and I'm not sure it charted anywhere but Toronto. The A-side, "Reverie For Johnny", isn't available on the internet as far as I know.
Mertens appears to have played trumpet on various releases in his native country as least as recently as 1998. The Discogs website, where I got what biographical information I could find, sternly warns its readers, "Do NOT confuse with songwriter, singer, guitarist Théo Mertens." Rest assured that I have not made this mistake.
Created August 17, 2026.