Record charts can be strange things, but few things are weirder than the tale of a 1979 song called “Ready’n’Steady” recorded by an artist only known as “D.A.” What makes it weird is that it reached number 102 on the American singles charts without ever being released. Then it disappeared.
This was unprecedented. The origin and fate of “Ready’n’Steady” and D.A. were mysteries for decades. In 2016, a chart researcher named Paul Haney cracked the case. D.A. was Dennis “D.A.” Lucchesi, a part-time musician and mortgage broker in California. Through murky means, a record promoter was able to get it on the Billboard charts without a single copy ever appearing in stores.
The only time we know of it being played on the radio was on July 8, 2016, 37 years after it was charted and 11 years after D.A. died. “Ready’n’Steady” remains the only song to ever hit the charts without being released.
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