Rockabilly Rules Radio

Rockabilly Rules Radio Soon !!!

2011-03-28T08:08:00.001-07:00

Elvis Presley Biography

2011-03-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley may be the single most important figure in American 20th century popular music. Not necessarily the best, and certainly not the most consistent. But no one could argue with the fact that he was the musician most responsible for popularizing rock & roll on an international level. Viewed in cold sales figures, his impact was phenomenal. Dozens upon dozens of international smashes from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, as well as the steady sales of his catalog and reissues since his death in 1977, may make him the single highest-selling performer in history.

More important from a music lover's perspective, however, are his remarkable artistic achievements. Presley was not the very first white man to sing rhythm & blues; Bill Haley predated him in that regard, and there may have been others as well. Elvis was certainly the first, however, to assertively fuse country and blues music into the style known as rockabilly. While rockabilly arrangements were the foundations of his first (and possibly best) recordings, Presley could not have become a mainstream superstar without a much more varied palette that also incorporated pop, gospel, and even some bits of bluegrass and operatic schmaltz here and there. His 1950s recordings established the basic language of rock & roll; his explosive and sexual stage presence set standards for the music's visual image; his vocals were incredibly powerful and versatile.

Unfortunately, to much of the public, Elvis is more icon than artist. Innumerable bad Hollywood movies, increasingly caricatured records and mannerisms, and a personal life that became steadily more sheltered from real-world concerns (and steadily more bizarre) gave his story a somewhat mythic status. By the time of his death, he'd become more a symbol of gross Americana than of cultural innovation. The continued speculation about his incredible career has sustained interest in his life, and supported a large tourist/entertainment industry, that may last indefinitely, even if the fascination is fueled more by his celebrity than his music.

Born to a poor Mississippi family in the heart of Depression, Elvis had moved to Memphis by his teens, where he absorbed the vibrant melting pot of Southern popular music in the form of blues, country, bluegrass, and gospel. After graduating from high school, he became a truck driver, rarely if ever singing in public. Some 1953 and 1954 demos, recorded at the emerging Sun label in Memphis primarily for Elvis' own pleasure, helped stir interest on the part of Sun owner Sam Phillips. In mid-1954, Phillips, looking for a white singer with a black feel, teamed Presley with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. Almost by accident, apparently, the trio hit upon a version of an Arthur Crudup blues tune, "That's All Right Mama," that became Elvis' first single.

Elvis' five Sun singles pioneered the blend of R&B and C&W that would characterize rockabilly music. For quite a few scholars, they remain not only Elvis' best singles, but the best rock & roll ever recorded. Claiming that Elvis made blues acceptable for the white market is not the whole picture; the singles usually teamed blues covers with country and pop ones, all made into rock & roll (at this point a term that barely existed) with the pulsing beat, slap-back echo, and Elvis' soaring, frenetic vocals. "That's All Right Mama," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Baby Let's Play House," and "Mystery Train" remain core early rock classics.

The singles sold well in the Memphis area immediately, and by 1955 were starting to sell well to country audiences throughout the South. Presley, Moore, and Black hit the road with a stage show that grew ever wilder and more provocative, Elvis' swiveling hips causing enormous controversy. The move to all-out rock was hastened by the addition of drums. The last Sun single, "I Forgot to Remember Forget"/"Mystery Train," hit number one on the national country charts in late 1955. Presley was obviously a performer with superstar potential, attracting the interest of bigger labels and Colonel Tom Parker, who became Elvis' manager. In need of capital to expand the Sun label, Sam Phillips sold Presley's contract to RCA in late 1955 for 35,000 dollars; a bargain, when viewed in hindsight, but an astronomical sum at the time.

This is the point where musical historians start to diverge in opinion. For many, the whole of his subsequent work for RCA -- encompassing over 20 years -- was a steady letdown, never recapturing the pure, primal energy that was harnessed so effectively on the handful of Sun singles. Elvis, however, was not a purist. What he wanted, more than anything, was to be successful. To do that, his material needed more of a pop feel; in any case, he'd never exactly been one to disparage the mainstream, naming Dean Martin as one of his chief heroes from the get-go. At RCA, his rockabilly was leavened with enough pop flavor to make all of the charts, not just the country ones.

At the beginning, at least, the results were hardly any tamer than the Sun sessions. "Heartbreak Hotel," his first single, rose to number one and, aided by some national television appearances, helped make Elvis an instant superstar. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" was a number one follow-up; the double-sided monster "Hound Dog"/"Don't Be Cruel" was one of the biggest-selling singles the industry had ever experienced up to that point. Albums and EPs were also chart-toppers, not just in the U.S., but throughout the world. The 1956 RCA recordings, while a bit more sophisticated in production and a bit less rootsy in orientation than his previous work, were still often magnificent, rating among the best and most influential recordings of early rock & roll.

Elvis' (and Colonel Parker's) aspirations were too big to be limited to records and live appearances. By late 1956, his first Hollywood movie, Love Me Tender, had been released; other screen vehicles would follow in the next few years, Jailhouse Rock being the best. The hits continued unabated, several of them ("Jailhouse Rock," "All Shook Up," "Too Much") excellent, and often benefiting from the efforts of top early rock songwriter Otis Blackwell, as well as the emerging team of Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller. The Jordanaires added both pop and gospel elements with their smooth backup vocals.

Yet worrisome signs were creeping in. The Dean Martin influence began rearing his head in smoky, sentimental ballads such as "Loving You"; the vocal swoops became more exaggerated and stereotypical, although the overall quality of his output remained high. And although Moore and Black continued to back Elvis on his early RCA recordings, within a few years the musicians had gone their own ways.

Presley's recording and movie careers were interrupted by his induction into the Army in early 1958. There was enough material in the can to flood the charts throughout his two-year absence (during which he largely served in Germany). When he re-entered civilian life in 1960, his popularity, remarkably, was at just as high a level as when he left.

One couldn't, unfortunately, say the same for the quality of his music, which was not just becoming more sedate, but was starting to either repeat itself, or opt for operatic ballads that didn't have a whole lot to do with rock. Elvis' rebellious, wild image had been tamed to a large degree as well, as he and Parker began designing a career built around Hollywood films. Shortly after leaving the Army, in fact, Presley gave up live performing altogether for nearly a decade to concentrate on movie-making. The films, in turn, would serve as vehicles to both promote his records and to generate maximum revenue with minimal effort. For the rest of the '60s, Presley ground out two or three movies a year that, while mostly profitable, had little going for them in the way of story, acting, or social value.

While there were some quality efforts on Presley's early-'60s albums, his discography was soon dominated by forgettable soundtracks, mostly featuring material that was dispensable or downright ridiculous. In time he became largely disinterested in devoting much time to his craft in the studio. The soundtrack LPs themselves were sometimes filled out with outtakes that had been in the can for years (and these, sadly, were often the highlights of the albums). There were some good singles in the early '60s, like "Return to Sender"; once in a while there was even a flash of superb, tough rock, like "Little Sister" or "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame." But by 1963 or so there was little to get excited about, although he continued to sell in large quantities.

The era spanning, roughly, 1962-1967 has generated a school of Elvis apologists, eager to wrestle any kernel of quality that emerged from his recordings during this period. They also point out that Presley was assigned poor material, and assert that Colonel Parker was largely responsible for Presley's emasculation. True to a point, but on the other hand it could be claimed, with some validity, that Presley himself was doing little to rouse himself from his artistic stupor, letting Parker destroy his artistic credibility without much apparent protest, and holing up in his large mansion with a retinue of yes-men that protected their benefactor from much day-to-day contact with a fast-changing world.

The Beatles, all big Elvis fans, displaced Presley as the biggest rock act in the world in 1964. What's more, they did so by writing their own material and playing their own instruments; something Elvis had never been capable of, or particularly aspired to. They, and the British and American groups the Beatles influenced, were not shy about expressing their opinions, experimenting musically, and taking the reins of their artistic direction into their own hands. The net effect was to make Elvis Presley, still churning out movies in Hollywood as psychedelia and soul music became the rage, seem irrelevant, even as he managed to squeeze out an obscure Dylan cover ("Tomorrow Is a Long Time") on a 1966 soundtrack album.

By 1967 and 1968, there were slight stirrings of an artistic reawakening by Elvis. Singles like "Guitar Man," "Big Boss Man," and "U.S. Male," though hardly classics, were at least genuine rock & roll that sounded better than much of what he'd been turning out for years. A 1968 television special gave Presley the opportunity he needed to reinvent himself as an all-out leather-coated rocker, still capable of magnetizing an audience, and eager to revisit his blues and country roots.

The 1968 album Elvis in Memphis was the first LP in nearly a decade in which Presley seemed cognizant of current trends, as he updated his sounds with contemporary compositions and touches of soul to create some reasonably gutsy late-'60s pop/rock. This material, and 1969 hits like "Suspicious Minds" and "In the Ghetto," returned him to the top of the charts. Arguably, it's been overrated by critics, who were so glad to have him singing rock again that they weren't about to carp about the slickness of some of the production, or the mediocrity of some of the songwriting.

But Elvis' voice did sound good, and he returned to live performing in 1969, breaking in with weeks of shows in Las Vegas. This was followed by national tours that proved him to still be an excellent live entertainer, even if the exercises often reeked of show-biz extravaganza. (Elvis never did play outside of North America and Hawaii, possibly because Colonel Parker, it was later revealed, was an illegal alien who could have faced serious problems if he traveled abroad.) Hollywood was history, but studio and live albums were generated at a rapid pace, usually selling reasonably well, although Presley never had a Top Ten hit after 1972's "Burning Love."

Presley's 1970s recordings, like most of his '60s work, are the focus of divergent critical opinion. Some declare them to be, when Elvis was on, the equal of anything he did, especially in terms of artistic diversity. It's true that the material was pretty eclectic, running from country to blues to all-out rock to gospel (Presley periodically recorded gospel-only releases, going all the way back to 1957). At the same time, his vocal mannerisms were often stilted, and the material -- though not nearly as awful as that '60s soundtrack filler -- sometimes substandard. Those who are not serious Elvis fans will usually find this late-period material to hold only a fraction of the interest of his '50s classics.

Elvis' final years have been the subject of a cottage industry of celebrity bios, tell-alls, and gossip screeds from those who knew him well, or (more likely) purported to know him well. Those activities are really beyond the scope of a mini-bio such as this, but it's enough to note that his behavior was becoming increasingly instable. His weight fluctuated wildly; his marriage broke up; he became dependent upon a variety of prescription drugs. Worst of all, he became isolated from the outside world except for professional purposes (he continued to tour until the end), rarely venturing outside of his Graceland mansion in Memphis. Colonel Parker's financial decisions on behalf of his client have also come in for much criticism.

On August 16, 1977, Presley was found dead in Graceland. The cause of death remains a subject of widespread speculation, although it seems likely that drugs played a part. An immediate cult (if cult is the way to describe millions of people) sprang up around his legacy, kept alive by the hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to Graceland annually. Elvis memorabilia, much of it kitsch, is another industry in his own right. Dozens if not hundreds make a comfortable living by impersonating the King in live performance. And then there are all those Elvis sightings, reported in tabloids on a seemingly weekly basis.

Although Presley had recorded a mammoth quantity of both released and unreleased material for RCA, the label didn't show much interest in repackaging it with the respect due such a pioneer. Haphazard collections of outtakes and live performances were far rarer than budget reissues and countless repackagings of the big hits. In the CD age, RCA finally began to treat the catalog with some of the reverence it deserved, at long last assembling a box set containing nearly all of the 1950s recordings. Similar, although less exciting, box sets were documenting the 1960s, the 1970s, and his soundtrack recordings. And exploitative reissues of Elvis material continue to appear constantly, often baited with one or two rare outtakes or alternates to entice the completists (of which there are many). In death, as in life, Presley continues to be one of RCA's most consistent earners. Fortunately, with a little discretion, a good Elvis library can be built with little duplication, sticking largely to the most highly recommended selections.

Whirlwind Biography

2011-03-10T17:13:00.000-08:00

Whirlwind was a rockabilly revival band from the U.K. during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Composed of members Nigel Dixon, Chris Emo, Phil Hardy, and Mike Lewis. They helped establish a link between the roots rock community and the punk rock community during this time, opening for the likes of The Clash, Elvis Costello, and Ian Dury. After the band called it quits after two albums, Nigel Dixon went on to form Havana 3 a.m. with Paul Simonon, formerly of The Clash.

The Chop Tops ''On Tour'' Biography

2011-03-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Their Story-
Sinner began The Chop Tops back in 1995, he had tried a range of other musical styles, only to return to what came naturally to him…rockabilly music! Sinner had played guitar, bass, and piano while performing as lead vocalist for his group. But it wasn’t until he went back to his child-hood favorite the drums (standing no less) that he had found his true call, still soulfully covering his ground as lead vocalist. Sinner next teamed up with grestch guitar extraordinaire Shelby after seeing one of his blistering guitar performances. Shelby shared Sinner’s passion for a frantic rock’n’roll beat and was quickly welcomed as the bands guitarist. Last, but not least, came the search for an upright bassist that would glue The Chop Tops stompin’ vocalist/drummer and live-wire guitar slinger together into one red-hot rockin’ act. And their prayers were answered when Brett joined adding the finishing touch to the ‘Revved-Up Rockabilly’ trio - The Chop Tops. Brett had perfected his wild stage shows while performing upright slap bass with tons of LA groups! A few years later, the band really began to make a name for themselves playing supporting sets for rock’n’roll legends, but with all the showmanship and excitement of the evenings headliner! The Chop Tops continue to tour their ‘Revved-Up’ breed of rockabilly music through the entire United States.

The BossHoss 'On Tour' Biography

2011-03-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

The BossHoss are seven people from Berlin, Germany.
Alec „Boss Burns“ Völkel, Sascha „Hoss Power“ Vollmer, Ansgar „Frank Doe“ Freyberg, Malcolm „Hank Williamson“ Arison, André „Guss Brooks“ Neumann, Stefan „Russ T. Rocket“ Buehler and Tobias „Ernesto Escobar de Tijuana“ Fischer specialise in covering pop, rock and hip hop songs in country style.

The band was founded in Berlin 2004 by Boss and Hoss, named after the well known song “Boss Hoss” by The Sonics.

With their cover version of “Like Ice in the Sunshine” they became famous with the Langnese (the famous “heart-brand” ice cream) TV and cinema advertisements in 2005. Their first album “Internashville Urban Hymns” sold over 100,000 copies.

Rusty and the Dragstrip Trio Biography

2011-03-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

From the wild west… comes Rusty & the Dragstrip trio!

Forming in Perth, Western Australia, in 2001, this four piece rockabilly outfit geared itself towards a traditional 50s look and sound. With energetic live performances Rusty and the boys never fail to deliver the goods. You’ll surely be boppin’ and a-hollerin’ for more.

These cats will take you back to the cool and dangerous sounds of the 1950s, playing songs from the vaults of the Sun Studio with early Elvis, to those rockabilly obscurities that you can’t hear anywhere else. They will also pull back with spooky ballads and real gone blues. But this is not just a 50s cover band…

Rusty & the Dragstrip Trio have no shortage of originals, as proven on their debut album “Playing for you” recorded live at The Satellite Studio, Perth, W.A., and their second release, “I ain’t ready” recorded live at Revolver Sound Studio, Perth, W.A., released on the “Wild Records” label, Hollywood, C.A. Due to popular world-wide demand, both CDs have been re-released in Australia, USA, and Europe. If you don’t have one …get one and see what all the fuss is about!

Over the years, Rusty & the Dragstrip Trio have played at many incredible places across the world. Locally, The Mustang bar in Perth had Rusty and the boys playing every week from 2001 to 2007. The international Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Festival hosted the band on their main stage, twice (both times the band received raving reviews). In Los Angeles at many Wild Record Shows in L.A., the boys played alongside other great rockabilly acts. Back in Australia, Queensland’s Wintersun Festival and Melbourne have also seen the Dragstrip Trio. They have done festivals all around their home town as well as played in many local bars and clubs.

They have had the pleasure of supporting Chris Isaak twice. Chris accidentally discovered the Dragstrip Trio when he walked past The Mustang Bar where they were playing at the time. He jumped on stage, jammed with the band, and invited Rusty to sing with him and his band at the Burswood Casino.

In 2007 the Dragstrip Trio took a break. Now in 2009, demand for the band has pulled them out of retirement. During the two year break, Rusty started the Rusty Pinto Combo, specialising in 40s and 50s rhythm and blues. These days both bands play regularly, each having their own sound and style.

Rusty & the Dragstrip Trio reformed with the original members Rusty (vocals), Richie (bass), Matt (guitar), and welcome their new drummer Matt.

Restless Biography

2011-03-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

Restless was formed in 1978 by Mark Harman (g/v), Paul Harman (b) and Ben Cooper (d). The band name was borrowed from a Carl Perkins song. In 1981 “The Restless” EP was issued-limited to 400 copies. Once ‘Why Don’t You Just Rock!’ was out, the boys were pretty much doing the regular Rock ‘n’ Roll circuit throughout England. Restless played their own style of Rock ‘n’ Roll and are arguably one of the most influential British Neo-Rockabilly bands. One time they played a 50´s Rockabilly standard just to follow with a pure Psychobilly song.

Jeff Bayly replaced Paul in 1984 and Restless hit the UK Independent Charts with “Mr. Blues”. In 1986 Restless optioned for a second guitar and added Mick Malone. After the departure of Bayly & Cooper, Restless wanted to quit. But the addition of ex-Frenzy/ ex-Shark Steve Whitehouse (b) brought them back in business. In 1989 Rob Tyler (d) ,one of the better known Rockabilly drummers, also joined his old fellow Mark Harman.

1998 Restless played their “last” show in London just to be back in 2002 with the original lineup, that has split in 1984.

Ray Campi Biography

2011-03-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Ray Campi (b. 1934 in Yonkers, New York) is a distinguished musician often called The King of Rockabilly. Campi’s trademark is his white double bass, which he often jumps on top of and “rides” while playing.

After his family moved to Austin, Texas in 1944, Campi began a lifetime of performing and recording music in numerous American genres, including folk, country, and rock and roll as well as rockabilly. He rarely concentrated on his musical career exclusively, working a wide variety of jobs, notably twenty-five years spent as a high-school teacher in Glendale, California.

Campi worked with many of the most prominent pioneers of rock and roll music, including Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, and Gene Vincent. He has fiercely criticized the mainstream music industry, in particular its connections with drug culture.

Ray Campi is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion Biography

2011-03-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work up a plausible old-school sound these days—a few twangy guitars, a pile of echo, a sneering lead vocal on top, and presto, you’re ready to rumble. There’s a difference, however, between a true vintage-tinged update and another in a series of Eddie Cochran copycats. Which brings us to Hillbilly Moon Explosion, Zurich-based rock revivalists who’ve spent the past few years touring Europe, issuing a pair of acclaimed releases (2002’s Introducing The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, 2004’s Bourgeois Baby) while watching their fan base grow by leaps and bounds. Mind you, this is no quaint Sun Records send-up; at their best, HME— bassist/vocalist Oliver Baroni; rhythm guitarist/vocalist Emanuela Hutter; guitarist Duncan James and drummer Luke Weyermann—come across like a Sam Phillips-produced soundtrack to a Sam Raimi shock flick, a furious bed of slap bass and pounding snare underpinning layers of menacing guitar lines, wailing background vocals, and eerie keyboard flourishes, with front-woman Hutter providing the perfect aural/visual focal point, fishnet stockings and all.

When it came time to lay tracks for a third independent effort, head Hillbillies Baroni and Hutter eventually headed for the US and wound up at the door of producer-engineer Mark Neill, owner of San Diego’s Soil of the South Studios, where it’s all-analog, all the time. One could not imagine a better match-up: Neill, a rockabilly bred Southerner whose client list includes The Paladins, Los Straitjackets and Old 97s, is a rock archeologist of the highest order and vast collector of choice old-school audio tools, who knows how to nail it down in just a few takes using as few tracks possible (the way it was before we all had too much time and tracks on our hands). In order to provide Baroni and Hutter with the proper instrumental framework, Neill enlisted the support of cohorts like guitarist Eddie Angel (of Los Straitjackets fame), sax man Archie Thompson and drummer Craig ‘Flash’ Packham, with Neill himself overlaying lead and rhythm guitars. The result is All Grown Up, a faithfully prepared (and mainly mono-mixed) amalgam of unbridled rock tracks that clock in at a Ramones-like two-and-a-half minutes apiece, featuring Baroni’s saxes-with-axes classic “Live the Life,” Hutter’s sensually exotic take on “House of Bamboo,” not to mention a tour-de-force rendering of Mel Larson’s “Little Lil,” with Baroni’s lead vocals authentically distorting like a Little Richard 45. And in case anyone’s forgotten what real country is supposed to sound like, there’s the Baroni-penned “Brown Eyed Boy,” a lilting Loretta Lynn pastiche that belies the murderous intent described within.

Hi-Voltage Biography

2011-03-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

Featuring a classic rockabilly sound, Hi-Voltage hails from Edinburgh, Scotland. Formed in 1999, the band tours internationally, playing at music festivals such as Rhythm Riot in the U.K. and Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender in the U.S. The band’s latest release is I Gotta Gun from Rollin Records, 2008.

Band members:
Keith Turner - Vocals
Paul Paterson - Lead Guitar
Matt Curtis - Doghouse Bass
Ian Morris - Drums/Vocals
Kenny Tomlinson - Sax

Guana Batz Biography

2011-03-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

The Guana Batz were formed in 1983 in Feltham, Middlesex.

The groups initial line up consisted of Pip Hancox (vocals), Stuart Osbourne (guitar), Dave ‘Diddle’ Turner (drums) Mick Wigfall (Double Bass). This line up didn’t relase any material and so Stuart told Mick he favoured an electric bass at that time and that’s how Mick White replaced him. Then in 1984, the Guana Batz opted for a double bass player again, which was Sam Sardi.

In May 1987, Diddle decided to quit the band as he had decided by then that the hectic touring schedule was beyond him, and elected to dedicate his life to the pursuit of ‘love and money’ (his building job and his girlfriend). He was replaced by former Get Smart sticksman, Johnny Bowler, who now plays Slap Bass for the band, with John Buck on drums.

Diddle sadly died in the summer of 2001 from a stroke, he is sadly missed by all his friends and family.

Johnny Bowler now plays bass for the band, having started out as their drummer. He too lives in San Diego

MEMBERS

Pip: Voice
Stuart Osbourne: Guitar
Johnny Bowler: Drums
John Buck: Drums

Foggy Mountain Rockers Biography

2011-03-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

Foggy Mountain Rockers is a German rockabilly band that has been active since 1992.

It all started in a little yard shed in the year 1992 where five Rock `n´ Roll maniacs out of the area around Bonn, Germany got together to start a band. They tried a lot of different things, discussed back and forth trying to find their style. They didn’t just want to cover but were determined to create their own music, incorporating each musician’s favorite feel in order to produce their own compositions based on motives of the British Teddyboy Rock `n´ Roll with influences of Skiffle and Country music.

The small yard shed was only a temporary “new home”. When Jörg “Paul” Webber joined the band as second guitarist, he offered his parents’ basement as a new place to jam. At around the same time the drummer was replaced by an ideal alternative: Sven Schürmann.

At this point in time the members of the band were as follows: Heiko Piecha (vocals), Mario Oehlmann (guitar), Jörg “Paul” Webber (guitar), Frank “Jummi” Jungbluth (bass), Sven Schürmann (drums) and Domenico “Duck” Todaro (percussion).

In this set-up the band performed their first concerts in the Cologne/Bonn area. In the year 1993, through the achievement of a 3rd place at the Rock `n´ Roll-Newcomer-Festival in Bielefeld, the band became known in regions beyond their home base as well. The five musicians now released their first sample recordings.

El Rio Trio Biography

2011-03-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

El Rio Trio is a Dutch Rockabilly, Riobilly band, formed in 2001 in Amsterdam, Netherlands and currently recording for Tombstone Records.

Current members

* Bopper – Contrabass, vocals (2001–present)
* Hans – Drums, backing vocals (2001–present)
* Richard – Rhythm Guitar, Blues Harp, vocals (2001–present)
* Wouter - Lead Guitar, vocals (2006-present)

Past members

* Alex – Lead Guitar, vocals (2001–2006)

Darrel Higham Biography

2011-03-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

Darrel Higham (born January 5, 1970) is an English rockabilly guitarist.

Higham started playing lead guitar with British rockabilly bands in the late 1980s. By the mid-1990s, he had created the band that would become his main gigging and recording project: Darrel Higham & The Enforcers. Although The Enforcers would go on to become one of the most popular UK Rockabilly bands of their time, it was Higham’s solo projects that would get him far greater recognition, including session work as guitarist with the likes of Chrissie Hynde[1], Jeff Beck, Rocky Burnette, Billy Lee Riley, Shakin’ Stevens (on the 1999 UK tour). Eddie Cochran’s last road band - The Kelly Four - employed Higham as their front man for a 6 month period in 1992 for gigs and recordings in the US.

In 1996, he also appeared in London’s Prince Of Wales Theatre playing the role of Scotty Moore and Eddie Cochran for 8 months in a revival of Jack Good’s Elvis: The Musical.[1] This would lead to further roles as Eddie Cochran in touring theatre shows around the UK for a couple of years afterwards.

He is currently playing guitar for Imelda May

Cave Catt Sammy Biography

2011-03-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

Hailing from San Antonio, TX since forming in high school in 1997, Cave Catt Sammy exhibit maturation and a darker lyrical content with their self penned material. They also conjure up learned covers by greats such as Jerry Reed (“Your Money Makes You Purty”) and Roy Orbison (“Cast Iron Arm”, originally recorded for Decca by Peanuts Wilson). No doubt their youthful enthusiasm has been tempered by 5 years of hard national touring and international festival appearances.

Cave Catt Sammy’s previous release, Love Me Like Crazy (their Rubric Records debut) perked the ears of national publications. Articles appeared in Guitar Player, No Depression, Goldmine, Atomic and Country Standard Time. The core band of leader Beau Sample on vocal & upright bass, Steve Scott on guitar, Dustin Hutchinson on Acoustic Guitar and Paul Ward on drums have added tenor sax player Ruben Lara. This adds a bit more raunch and authenticity to the proceedings.

Go Cat Go Story

2011-01-30T14:43:00.000-08:00

I first met Darren Spears late on a summer night in 1986. he was sitting on a picnic bench in his backyard strumming an acoustic and singing Elvis ballads to his dog. His voice was beautiful - smooth and resonant, strong and distinct. I was completely wowed.Later that year I met drummer Lance LeBeau who was soon telling me his dreams for starting a band. One day we were at a junk yard when Darren drove by on a fork lift. We had no idea that he worked there. "There's the guy who sings like Elvis," I said. They exchanged numbers and made vague plans to get together.
Late summer of 1988 they finally met up in Lance's basement, instruments in hand. They rounded up some high school friends to fill out the empty spots. The guitar player wanted to play Led Zeppelin and the bass guitar player, Paul Turley, was willing to play anything. At the end of a very long afternoon, Lance and Darren got them through a version of Gene Vincent's "Baby Blue." There was a spark.
A year passed before Lance, Darren, and Paul got together again. Darren called Lance and said, "Listen to this!" Lance heard someone picking "Mystery Train" on the other end. It was awesome. "Who is that?" Lance had to know. Darren laughed his dirty old man laugh. I could picture him wringing his hands with glee. "Oh, just an old friend of the family. D'you want to get together?" This time it was in front of Darren's neighbor's garage. Bill Hull, the mystery "Mystery Train" picker insisted that he was "just" a rhythm player while Darren shook his head and laughed. There was a bigger spark.

Practices continued in front of that garage. Neighbors dragged their lawn chairs over to watch. Strangers walking their dogs stopped to dance in the driveway. The guys knew they had something. After several weeks of wondering what to call themselves, Bill pointed to his car's license plate. "GOCATGO" it said. They all agreed that "Go Cat Go", a nod to Carl Perkins and the "Amen!" of rockabilly, said it all. It was immediately adopted as the band's name.
As the summer of 1989 drew to a close, Go Cat Go began to play local clubs and quickly drew the DC rockabilly fans to their side. Darren's high energy and skillful delivery of every song, Lance's insistent punch accented with timely rimshots, and Bill's unwavering stance while his fingers danced on his guitar kept people coming back for more and bringing their friends. It was just about right, but the electric bass, solidly played by Paul, wasn't getting the sound they were after.
In January of 1990, young Brian Freeman, all of 16, offered his services as upright bass player. Brian had classical training, a passion for rockabilly and the licks to prove it. Two weeks later, Brian played his first gig with Go Cat Go.
The band worked hard to perfect some of Darren's collection of original songs. In March, they released a self-produced cassette tape entitled "Out of Control" with six of Darren's songs: "Who Was That Cat," "Forever's Much Too Long," "Time To Rock," "Please Mama Please," "'Till the Cool Cats Cry," and "10 Ways to Rock." Shortly after the release of the tape, they got the bug to do a vinyl record. It would be something they could show their grandkids.
In mid-1991, Go Cat Go recorded six more originals; five by Darren and one by Brian for the Rock-A-Billy Records Company in Denver, Colorado. This, the first 10-inch release from Rock-A-Billy Records (R-301-LP), was on purple vinyl. It included "Little Baby Doll," "I've Got My Eyes on You," "Can't Tie Me Down," "Big Train," "Other Side of Town," and "Lonesome Road." The response to the record, which was released in January of 1992, was overwhelmingly positive. Unfortunately, the record was released without a jacket due to the label's financial constraints. Nearly a year later, the band decided that there must be jackets. With the help of Ronnie Joyner, an outstanding local graphic artist and rockabilly fan, the striking jackets were completed and added to the remaining records.
Also in 1991, two alternate recordings of "Other Side of Town" and "I've Got My Eyes on You were released on Run Wild Records' Big D.C. Jamboree: Volume 2 CD (RW-303). Meanwhile, Rock-A-Billy Records was anxious to begin a second pressing of the LP, but there was a disagreement in terms, so it was never to be. The success of the record and encouragement from fellow musicians prompted the band to plan a short tour. They struck out for Texas in June of 1992 in a rented cargo van. It only had two seats. They took turns driving and suffering in the third and fourth "seats": a turned over five-gallon drywall compound bucket and a rolled out sleeping bag.
Two days into their trip, they were compelled to stop in Memphis, Tennessee for a tour of Sun Records. All long-time fans of the Sun recordings, the band could not leave the studio without recording there. Oddly enough, there happened to be studio time available that evening. Stranger still, a camera crew from the national television news show 48 Hours showed up and recorded the band's entire session for an episode entitled Crazy About Elvis. (The band's appearance on the show, which aired August 12, 1992, lasted less than one minute.) Go Cat Go recorded six songs at the Legendary Sun Studios: "Please Mama Please," "'Til the Cool Cats Cry," "Who Was That Cat," "Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't," Buddy Holly's "Blue Days Black Nights," Billy Lee Riley's Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll," and of course, "That's Alright Mama."
Once safely in Texas, the band teamed up with High Noon to play shows in and around Austin and Dallas for the next week. The band returned home tired but triumphant and very happy to be out of that van. They spent the next year working as often as they could. Brian was attending college in Richmond, Virginia, about two hours away, making getting together difficult. Aside from working, they began planning their July 1993 tour to California.
When July arrived Go Cat Go took off cross-country in a nice, cushy mini-van. The jam-packed schedule began in Hollywood with a spot on Ronnie Mack's Barndance at the Palomino Club. It continued to Anaheim with a stop at the Linda's Doll Hut for a show with the Dave and Deke Combo, then to the Casbah in San Diego with Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Boys. Go Cat Go traveled and performed their way back up the coast until they reached San Francisco where they teamed up for more shows with Big Sandy. The tour culminated in a huge, hot warehouse party in San Francisco. At this show, they unveiled the newest song they had been working on, "Kiss Me Baby," a dark and sultry dare of a song. The crowd was entranced by it. "Kiss me Baby" defined the Go Cat Go "sound" and marked their musical direction. Sadly, it was never recorded by the whole band.
Brian returned home in August, full of excitement and plans. They were poised to take the next big step as a band. They were ready to quit their full-time jobs and school to turn all of their attention to recording and touring. They wanted to go to Europe for the summer of 1994. On September 14, 1993, a mere month after returning from California, Darren was shot without warning by three teenagers who wanted to steal the rifle he was using to hunt dove. On September 15, Darren died from his wounds.
Go Cat Go had been on the rise. The loss of Darren was and remains a devastation. The surviving members of Go Cat Go agreed that no-one could take Darren's place, so they went their separate ways. It was all over before they could go to Europe; before they could record anything more; before they could tackle any new songs from Darren's huge notebooks; before Darren could write anything else.
Brian is now finishing school after taking a few years off. Bill quit rockabilly all together, but continues to play guitar in another genre. Lance now plays drums with the Flea Bops and the Twilite Ramblers.

Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps

2011-01-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

Like so many of his contemporaries in rock 'n' roll, the young Gene Vincent served an apprenticeship amidst a poor community in the deep South, integrating his country music roots with the rhythms of R&B. Vincent Eugene Craddock, born February 11, 1935, showed his first real interest in music while his family lived in Munden Point, VA, near the North Carolina line where they ran an old country store. Gene acquired his first guitar at the age of 12 when he was visiting a friend in West Virginia who had a guitar-playing sister. This buddy gave Gene the guitar and told him to keep it, a gesture that baffled Gene, not knowing if the gift was out of fate or just a friend trying to get rid of the sister's practicing sounds. Passers-by would sit on the porch as a teenage Vincent played the blues, gospel and country tunes of the day. His father (Ezekiah Jackson Craddock) and mother (Mary Louise) eventually gave up the store and moved back to Norfolk, VA. Gene dropped out of school to serve in the military. In February of 1952 he joined the US Navy, but would never see any military action.
Three years later during a July weekend, while still in the navy, Gene had an accident while riding his brand new Triumph motorcycle. A woman in a Chrysler ran a red light, hit Gene and put him into the naval hospital with a severely smashed left leg. By all accounts Gene's doctors were considering amputation but he begged his mother not to allow the operation. He was released from the navy and was to spend the rest of 1955 in and out of the hospital. His leg remained severely damaged and steel brace was attached. The navy may have lost a sailor, but the world gained a rock 'n' roll legend.
In September 1955 Gene was well enough to attend and see Hank Snow's All Star Jamboree in Norfolk, VA, brought into the town by the local country radio station WCMS, the hottest station in town. This show featured country stars: Cowboy Copas, the Louvin Brothers and Jimmy Rogers as well as a young hillbilly cat from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley. At that time Gene was 5' 9" tall, weighed 150 pounds (he gained weight in the late 60's), had dark curly hair, brown eyes, enjoyed swimming, was an avid football fan and his favorite food was a cheeseburger.

By early 1956, his leg still in plaster, Gene began hanging around this radio station occasionally singing with the staff band, The Virginians. He regularly appeared on WCMS's Country Showtime program and would perform a song called "Be Bop A Lula."
Here's three versions of how "Be Bop A Lula" came to be. The song was supposedly based on a comic strip heroine called Little Lulu and Gene said he co-wrote it with fellow hospital patient Donald Graves. Then Sheriff Tex Davis, a local DJ, saw some potential in Gene and the weird song he sang and decided cut himself into the writing credits by buying Graves' rights to it for a mere $25. But, another story ignores Donald Graves completely and claims Gene and Sheriff Tex wrote the song together one afternoon while listening to a 78-prm recording of "You Can Bring Pearl with the Turn-Up Nose, But Don't Bring Lulu." A third version has Graves writing the song entirely on his own and selling to Gene for $50. The real story still remains in question. It is a fact, though, that Sherriff Tex Davis did sign a bewildered Gene Vincent to a management deal and later did co-write songs with Gene.
Out of the Virginians a new band was created for Gene featuring "Galloping" Cliff Gallup on lead guitar, "Wee" Willie Williams on rhythm guitar, "Jumpin'" Jack Neal on upright string bass and 15 year-old Dickie "Be-Bop" Harrell on drums. Gallup, at the ripe old age of 26, was the group's elder statesman steeped in the traditions of country music and mainstream jazz (influenced strongly by Charlie Christian). Cliff smoothly rocked his Gretsch Black Duo Jet single cutaway guitar, with studio added echo, into a frenzy. His guitar work played a big part in Gene Vincent's early success. Gallup's lead licks on Gene's first recordings have become the "bible" for hundreds of rock 'n roll guitarists ever since.
Sheriff Tex had met top Capitol producer, Ken Nelson, at a DJ. convention in Nashville and became aware of Capitol's desire to sign their own rival to Elvis Presley who had now left Sun Records to join RCA. Tex took Gene and his band into WCMS studios on April 9, 1956 where they recorded "Be-Bop-A-Lula", "Race With The Devil" and the country ballad "I Sure Miss You." After sending demos of these songs to Ken Nelson at Capitol it was a long three weeks before Nelson contacted Tex Davis (because Capitol also had over 200 other audition demo tapes to review from would-be rockers) with the message to get Gene Vincent and his band to Nashville for a May 4th recording session at Owen Bradley's studio.
Upon being summoned to Nashville, Gene quickly gathered the guys together, only to find themselves fogged in at the Norfolk airport. They were upset about possibility missing the scheduled recording date, so they turned their troubles into song. They hauled out their instruments and had the airport rockin' within minutes. The fog lifted, and when the first available west bound plane arrived, five passengers give up their seats so the boys could make it to Nashville in time for the session.

Owen Bradley had previously recorded both Buddy Holly and Johnny Carroll. It was Carroll's suggestion to add exaggerated echo. This resulted in a new modified sound, devised by engineer Mort Thomasson, that was used to enhance Gene's voice and the band's sound. On May 4th 1956 Gene and his band, renamed the Blue Caps, assembled for their historic first session at Bradley's studio. Nelson, being unsure of the band's abilities, had assembled stand-by, top-line session musicians, Grady Martin, Hank "Sugarfoot' Garland, Buddy Harman and Bob Moore, for the recordings. But after Cliff Gallup broke into the manic lead intro of "Race With The Devil" the session men beat a hasty retreat. No improvements could be made on that!
Gene and the Blue Caps recut the three numbers that had been sent to Nelson as demos plus a Jack Rhodes song previously recorded by Jimmy Johnson on Starday. This song, "Woman Love" (initially promoted as the A-side) was coupled with "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and released on June 2nd as Gene's first single. By the end of the month, with the DJs primarily giving airplay to the "Lula" side, the record had sold over 200,000 copies. Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps had certainly arrived!
With "Be-Bop-A-Lula" selling like hot cakes, Ken Nelson wanted Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps back in the studio to record enough material for an album and another hit single. He got both. During the four day session from June 24th to 27th, 1956 Gene cut sixteen tracks including "Bluejean Bop" which became not only the title of his first album, but also the A-side of his third single and which, like "Be-Bop-A-Lula," also went Gold. Because events had occurred so fast, Nelson was unable to come up with a whole album of new rock 'n' roll songs, so he had to rely on a selection of old standards to fill in the gaps. Numbers like "Jezebel," "Peg O' My Heart" and "Up A Lazy River" were hardly rock 'n' roll but, by combining Gene's unique vocal range with Cliff Gallup's intricate guitar work, Nelson was able to capture Vincent's distinctive ballad style which contrasted effectively with the raw aggression of his up-tempo rockers.
Gene and the Blue Caps themselves contributed some pretty wild numbers for the session. "Who Slapped John?" and "Jumps, Giggles and Shouts" were indicative of the somewhat hastily composed rockers included on the "Bluejean Bop" album. The spontaneous "whoops" and "yells" of Dickie Harrell and other band members became the trademark of those early Blue Caps sessions which were recorded under near "live" studio conditions. Ken Nelson also came up with some new material for the session, including a tailor-made Jerry Reed song "Crazy Legs" (released later as a single) and two Bobbie Carroll numbers "I Flipped" and "Well I Knocked Bim Bam" (that wasn't issued until years later). One of Gene's best loved numbers, "Gonna Back Up Baby" (recorded in three takes) came from the pen of Texan, Danny Wolfe. This tune is clearly one of the most underrated pieces of rock 'n' roll genius ever recorded!
Throughout the Summer of 1956 Gene was able to capitalize on the success of "Be-Bop-A-Lula" to the extent that the failure of his second single "Race With The Devil" was of little consequence. The failure was due, in part, to Capitol's poor judgement, knowing that a devil reference might, and did, curtail DJ airplay. But towards the end of the summer, the near constant touring proved too much for Willie Williams and Cliff Gallup who both decided to quit the Blue Caps. In Gene's famed but brief appearance in the epic rock 'n' roll movie "The Girl Can't Help It" the "Be-Bop-A-Lula" sequence revealed a cool, young Russell Wilaford taking over Gallup's lead guitar role, while the rhythm guitar vacancy had been filled by an eager Paul Peek. Though Wilaford was also heavily featured in a series of Capitol publicity shots, his spell with Gene was short-lived and he never got to play on any Blue Cap recording sessions.
By October, 1956, with "Be-Bop-A-Lula" finally fading from the charts, after a massive twenty week run, it was time for more studio work. The album "Bluejean Bop" had sold well, so Ken Nelson was obviously intent on retaining its successful formula. In order to do this, Cliff Gallup accepted an invitation to return to the recording studio for the October sessions in Nashville. This time more original numbers were recorded and the Blue Caps were wilder than ever. Titles that included the sinister "Cat Man," "Pink Thunderbird," "Cruisin'" and "Double Talkin' Baby" all echoed the sentiments of America's rebellious youth. Only two "standards" were used on the second album, but both the Delmore Brothers' "Blues Stay Away From Me" and Al Hibbler's "Unchained Melody" were given that exceptional Vincent treatment. On the final day of the October sessions The Jordanaires were brought in to add backing vocals to "Important Words," "You Better Believe" and "Five Days, Five Days." Twelve of the fifteen numbers cut were issued in March of the following year as Gene's second album titled: "Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps."
Gene rounded off 1956 with a long stint at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas where his unusually wild stage act backfired on the management as the gamblers left their tables to watch the show rather than helping to swell the Sands coffers! But the strain on Gene's damaged leg was beginning to take its toll. Still in a plaster cast from previous hospitalization the leg began to bleed regularly and cause Gene considerable pain. Before the end of the year it was clear that Gene needed a long rest. Coupled with this, a third original Blue Cap, bassist Jack Neal, decided to quit and Sheriff Tex also parted company with Gene at about the same time.
Though 1956 had obviously been a great year for Gene, having seen the launch of his rock 'n' roll career, it had not been without its problems. In a matter of months Gene found himself managerless, without a complete band and in desperate need of medical treatment to his injured leg. In many ways it was a Godsend that Gene and The Blue Caps were ordered off the road until a legal dispute over their management had been resolved. Reluctantly returning to naval hospital at least gave Gene a much needed rest as well as giving him time to contemplate what 1957 might have in store.

Early 1957 saw Gene badly in need of a new manager and a new band as only Dickie Harrell had remained from the original Blue Caps. It was newcomer Paul Peek who was instrumental in helping Gene shape the second Blue Cap group. Paul had played pedal steel with a South Carolina outfit, Country Earl and the Circle E Ranch Gang, and wanted Gene to hear their lead guitarist Johnny Meeks of Greenville, SC. Gene, still upset over the loss of Cliff Gallup, was more than impressed with Meeks and quickly signed him up along with Paul and fellow South Carolinian Bill Mack on bass. Peek switched to backing vocals and became one half of the famous Blue Cap "clapper-boys" ... the other half being Tommy "Bubba" Facenda, a neighbor and old pal of Dickie Harrell's. Facenda was a good looking kid of Italian decent who quit school to go on the road with Gene.
After a short tour of Ohio with Sanford Clark, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison, Gene and the Caps found themselves on a week long series of shows in Philadelphia with Eddie Cochran. It was about this time that Bill Mack, after a disagreement with Gene, was replaced by bassist Bobby Lee Jones. Soon after that, Ken Nelson signed an agency deal for Gene with the Dallas based McLemore Artist & Services Bureau. Ed McLemore already handled Sonny James, Buddy Knox and Johnny Carroll. Both Knox and Carroll became close friends with Gene with Carroll even adopting many of Gene's vocal and stage mannerisms as did many of the Dallas based rock 'n' roll bands (for example "My Little Mama" by Gene Rambo and The Flames is about as close to the Blue Cap sound as any band was or is likely to get). So Gene Vincent had a new and wilder band and new more efficient management. . . .but what he needed most was a new hit record. And soon they had two: "Lotta Lovin'" and "Dance to the Bop."
Despite the success, the burden of heavy touring had forced Dickie Harrell to quit the Blue Caps before the Sunday, November 17, 1957 Ed Sullivan Show appearance, but at Gene's request he reappeared for the TV performance and can be seen, as recently discovered clips reveal, standing behind his drums frantically keeping the beat to wild stage versions of "Lotta Lovin'" and "Dance to the Bop." The latter part of 1957 saw the group back in the studio again recording fresh material for an album to capitalize on the last two hit records. Fifteen tracks were cut during these sessions with most of them finding their way onto Gene's third album, "Gene Vincent Rocks and the Blue Caps Roll" released in March of the following year. For the first time a piano was used during a Blue Cap session, being played by Max Lipscomb (later known as Scotty McKay) who had joined Gene principally as a rhythm guitarist just prior to the Ed Sullivan Show appearance.
By the turn of 1957 changes in the Blue Caps line-up became commonplace with Gene being unable to keep the same personnel together for more than a few months at a time. Shortly after the later 1957 sessions Lipscomb, Peek and Facenda left to pursue solo careers. Gene was concerned because he had a new movie, "Hot Rod Gang," coming up in which four of his songs were to be featured. He enlisted Grady Owen on rhythm guitar and a 15 year old Juvey Gomez as a replacement for Dickie Harrell who this time quit for good. Peek and Facenda were persuaded to return for the film as their clapper-boy routine and backup vocals were an indispensable ingredient of the Blue Cap's stage act. Their close-up harmonizing role flanking Gene on the superb "Baby Blue" in " Hot Rod Gang" is a magnificent illustration of the Blue Caps in action at the height of Gene's career.
Just prior to the filming for "Hot Rod Gang" Gene had once again completed a recording session which subsequently would become regarded as one of the most historic in rock 'n' roll, not because it produced any major hit records, but because Eddie Cochran had decided to sit in anonymously and provide backing bass vocals to complement those of Peek and Facenda. This resulted in some of the most exquisite harmonies in rock 'n' roll as they laid down tracks like the classic "Git It," "Peace Of Mind," "The Wayward Wind" and a beautiful version of the standard "Now Is The Hour." Cochran's distinct bass vocals are clearly audible on some eight numbers. Gene also cut, without Eddie's assistance because he was recording "Summertime Blues at the time, further memorable tracks like "Rocky Road Blues," "Dance in the Street" and "Summertime," an imaginative upbeat adaptation of the Gershwin's Porgy & Bess musical production tune. Most of these cuts found their way on to what has been considered by many to be the definitive post-Cliff Gallup album, "A Gene Vincent Record Date."
Following the "Record Date" sessions and the filming of "Hot Rod Gang" the band hit the road again to tour extensively. Gene went out to perform in the US and Australia with Eddie Cochran and Little Richard. The strain of touring with one of the wildest rock 'n' roll outfits around, while at the same time enjoying little or no chart success, proved too much for some members of the Blue Caps. By October, 1958, Gene's next visit to the Hollywood's Capitol Tower Studios, the Blue Caps were nearing their end as a working unit. It was, in fact, the last Blue Caps recording session. The name was never to be used again. Johnny Meeks, now Gene's longest serving Blue Cap, remained on lead guitar. Sax session men Jackie Kelso (tenor) and Plas Johnson (baritone) were brought in to augment the musical backgrounds. Gene's voice sounded as good as ever and he cut a number of classic recordings, including the evocative ballad, "The Night Is So Lonely," the equally impressive "Important Words" and a sweet version of "Over The Rainbow." On the rocking side, the highlight of the session was the Johnny Meeks composition "Say Mama" (released as a single) which is surely one of the most perfect rock 'n' roll records of all time. ("Say Mama" was and is in the repertoire of almost every rock 'n' roll on earth). Add to this, two brilliant Johnny Burnette songs, "My Heart" and "I Got To Get To You Yet" as well as several other very strong originals.
Sadly, Gene appeared to have lost favor with the DJ's and little airplay was given to his subsequent releases A factor might have been Capitol Records, who claimed they never got involved with the "payola" game that gave bribes to key radio stations and DJs to play a certain recording to help make it a hit. By the end of 1958 the Blue Caps finally fell apart and Gene quit the Dallas based McLemore agency. Another phase of Gene's career had ended and the future seemed bleak.
Despite the final split of the Blue Caps and a lapsed contract with the McLemore Agency, Gene continued to tour extensively. He would either use pick-up bands or The Silhouettes whose drummer, Clayton Watson, introduced Gene to guitarist Jerry Merritt. Merritt became a close friend of Gene and the pair began to tour California and the northwest states. In the summer of 1959 Gene and Jerry took on a three week tour of Japan. Their arrival at Tokyo airport was greeted by over 10,000 ecstatic fans and similar frenzied scenes accompanied each sell-out house throughout the tour. Gene left early and Jerry impersonated Gene for the last three dates. Following their return from Japan, recording dates were arranged at the Capitol Tower for early August. Fourteen titles were cut between the 3rd and 6th. Apart from Jerry Merritt on lead guitar, the session musicians included jazz bassist Red Callender, Jackie Kelso, once again on sax, Jimmy Johnson on piano and Sandy "Let There Be Drums" Nelson on percussion. Vocal backing was provided by The Eligibles and the album that resulted, "Crazy Times," proved to be one of Gene's most commercial to date, even thought the great lead guitar sounds that Johnny Meeks used to play were noticeably absence.
Rockabilly artist Whitey Pullen was acting as Gene's manager at the time and he and Jerry Merritt wrote "She She Little Sheila" ... a song that would give Gene chart success in England two years later. Pullen also wrote "Everybody's Got A Date But Me" while Gene contributed the tongue-in-cheek "Darlene" (the lyrics supposedly referring to his current wife), "Pretty Pearly" and an adaptation of the old traditional song "Green Back Dollar." Other songs recorded at the August sessions included Bing Crosby's "Accentuate the Positive" and Fred Rose's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" along with some hot sax and guitar based rockers like: "Why Don't You People Learn To Drive," "Hot Dollar," "Big Fat Saturday Night" and the Japan tour inspired "Mitchiko from Tokyo." Two of the session's songs, "Wild Cat" and "Right Here On Earth," were chosen from the fourteen to make up Gene's next single release. Although a strong pairing, the single failed to make any impact in the US and likewise the resulting "Crazy Times" album would contribute little towards reviving a fading career in America.
It was time for Gene to move on to fresh pastures. In December of 1959 he arrived in London having been invited to headline a number of appearances on the popular "Boy Meets Girls" show. Gene's decision to tour the UK and appear on British TV was crucial. It not only saved him from impending obscurity but opened up his career to a whole new, expectant and adoring European audience. Gene Vincent arrived on British soil on December 6th 1959 to a hero's welcome. Although he had not had a major UK hit for over three years, a cult following had grown in Britain based largely on the images conjured up by his many previous Capitol LP, EP and single releases all superbly packaged with cover photographs depicting a wild and tortured American rocker. Jack Good, the British impresario who had booked Gene for his "Boy Meets Gils" TV shows, was less than impressed upon meeting Gene for the first time. Contrary to the wild man image created by the stores of wrecked motel rooms across America, Gene came across as an extremely polite Southern country gentleman, addressing Jack Good as "Sir." Jack set about changing Gene's image, dressing him from head to toe in black leather and draping a silver chained medallion around his neck. Many of Gene's British followers identified with the black leather "biker" image and Gene's popularity duly soared. Even more so after his much-talked-about appearance on his first Jack Good "Boy Meets Girls" show ... a TV image that, for those who witnessed it, has failed to diminish even thirty years later.
Gene's early live shows in Britain were equally impressive commencing on December 7th at the Tooting Granada with "Boy Meets Girls" host Marty Wilde. Later Gene caused a sensation at the Paris Olympia before beginning a long series of one night stands promoting his new UK single "Wild Cat" which reached the British Top 30 in January, 1960. In March 1960 Gene's next U.K. single "My Heart" followed "Wild Cat" onto the charts, going on to peak at No. 16 equalling "Be-Bop-A-Lula's" highest UK placing three years earlier.
To add to the on-stage excitement, Gene was joined by his old pal Eddie Cochran for the famed but fateful "Anglo-American Beat Show" tour put together by Larry Parnes. On April 17, 1960, after hurriedly leaving a Bristol gig, Gene, Eddie Cochran and Eddie's girlfriend, Sharon Sheeley took a late night taxi on route to London. They were all in the back seat. In the town of Chippenham, Wilshire, around 1:00 am, the cab rounded a curve and hit a cement post at 70-mph. The accident ended Eddie Cochran's life and severely reinjured Gene's leg leaving him with a limp the rest of his life. Gene's own words on the accident: "When the three of us traveled together, Shari always sat in the middle; but, because of the crowd of fans I got in the cab first, then Eddie, then Shari last. With Eddie in the middle, the only way he could have flown out that door was if he was he tried to cover Shari. The only way I came out alive was because I had taken a sleeping pill. After the crash, I woke up and carried Eddie over to the ambulance even though I had a broken arm. I was in such a state of shock that I though nothing was wrong with me. Eddie died two days later on Easter Sunday; somehow, I didn't."
This short historic Vincent-Cochran tour has been well chronicled over the years. In the late 1980's Liverpool Empire Productions offered a tribute in the form of a successful stage musical, "Be-Bob-A-Lula." While on the tour Gene and Eddie were working on an arrangement of the old Al Dexter country novelty, "Pistol Packin' Mama" and plans were made to record the song together. Regrettably Eddie's untimely death prevented the completion of those plans but Gene did return to the UK after Eddie's US funeral and cut the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios on May 11, 1960. Backing was provided by The Beat Boys featuring a young Georgie Fame, who was also touring with Gene, on piano. At the same session Gene also recorded a beautiful ballad, "Weeping Willow" with the Norrie Paramor Orchestra. The song, dedicated to Gene's mother, was credited to Debbie Lynn, but was almost certainly written by Gene himself as Debbie was his step-daughter by Darlene and Lynn was his sister. "Pistol Packin' Mama" was released almost immediately, broke into the charts in mid-June and went on to give Gene his biggest UK hit at No. 15.
Gene returned to the US on the strength of a hoax telegram informing him of the death of his daughter Melody Jean. While he was away, Capitol Records of the UK attempted to keep Gene's chart successes going by releasing "Anna-Annabelle" (recorded in 1958) and "Jezebel" (recorded in 1956). Neither hit big. The music press quite rightly criticized the release of "Jezebel" ... claiming it to be a retrograde step issuing a song some 3 years after its original recording.
Gene returned to Britain in the early Spring of 1961 armed with a double-sider he had recorded with the Jimmie Haskell Orchestra during his last major session at the Hollywood Capitol Tower in January 1961. Both "Mister Loneliness" and "If You Want My Lovin" were very commercial but neither failed to register. It wasn't until Capitol decided to delve into the older material again that Gene found himself back in the UK Top 30 chart with "She She Little Sheila" recorded back in 1959 during the "Crazy Times" sessions with Jerry Merritt. During this period Gene was touring with a brand new British band, the celebrated Sounds Incorporated. In late July Gene went into Abbey Road Studios again and recorded a great rocker, "I'm Going Home," with Sounds Incorporated providing a driving sax based backing. It deserved a higher placing in the charts other than #36, but this powerful release was significant in that it provided Gene with his last chart success on either side of the Atlantic.
Gene was now nearing the end of his contract with Capitol. His last session at the Tower in Hollywood yielded his final US single, "Lucky Star," recorded with the Dave "The Champs" Burgess Band. Now a frequent visitor to Britain, Gene returned again towards the end of 1961 to tour and also to appear in the movie "It's Trad, Dad." Gene recorded the frantic "Spaceship To Mars" (a song he never liked) with Sounds Incorporated for the film and also cut a slightly different version with the possible intention of a single release. Although Gene gave an exciting movie performance (dressed all in white leather) Capitol saw fit to withhold "Spaceship To Mars" choosing instead to promote the earlier recorded "Lucky Star." A UK tour with Brenda Lee in early 1962, hailed as the "King and Queen of Rock" tour, continued to give Gene plenty of exposure in Britain where he had by now established an incredibly loyal following amongst rock 'n' roll fans. In July of 1962 Gene teamed up with producer Bob Barratt to record four songs in a very commercial vein. The first two, "King Of Fools" (written by Barratt) and a re-worked twist version of "Be-Bop-A-Lula" were released in September. Both sides received a fair amount of UK airplay but Gene's expired work permit prevented him from getting on the road to promote the record for a while, despite the fact he had even applied for British citizenship. He did manage to perform the follow-up "Held For Questioning'" on the "Thank Your Lucky Stars" show, but unfortunately this was some three months after the record's release. Consequently another terrific recording by Gene failed to register.
These failures were not all due to Gene nor his record company, Capitol. Four young lads from Liverpool were beginning to make an impact and by the time Capitol released "Crazy Beat" in the UK in 1963, the Beatles had already chalked up three No. 1 hit singles. Rock 'n' roll and popular music in general would never be quite the same again. Although Gene's contract with Capitol expired in 1963, Columbia Records of London did not turn their back on the rock 'n' roll legend. Late in that year he was signed to Columbia/EMI for whom he cut four singles and an album. The first of these was an immaculate version of Arthur Alexander's "`Where Have You Been All My Life." It was up-to-date and was certainly one of the most beautiful songs he ever recorded. Gene also appeared in the Joe Meek movie "Live It Up" singing "Temptation Baby," the flip-side to "Where Have You Been All My Life." Despite an enormous amount of radio and TV promotion "Where Have You Been All My Life" failed to make the charts but the song had improved Gene's credibility no end and had set the scene for a hit making follow-up. Unfortunately this was not to be the case for the follow-up, a novelty nursery rhyme song performed to a twist beat, was probably the worst number that Gene ever recorded. "Humpity Dumpity" shattered his new found credibility. By the time Columbia released "La-Den-Da-Den-Da-Da" (an adaptation of an old Dale Hawkins song) it really was, as the B-side suggested, "The Beginning Of The End."
By the end of 1965, Gene's health and career had both hit bottom. He returned to California and, for all effective purposes, retired for close to 18 months, watching in horror as a second revolution changed the face of rock and "a bunch of lomg-haired hippies" took over. Gene didn't have the financial base to stay retired for too long. Any number of ex-managers, ex-wives and weird business associates ate up his royalties, and the need to return to work loomed large. And why not? At age 31, Gene should, in theory, have had a long life in front of him. In 1967 saw him back on the road, back in Europe, but unfortunately back into the same self- destructive lifestyle cycle.
About that time (early September, 1971) Ron Weiser of Rolling Rock Records, was curiously asking a local record store owner if she knew anything about Gene Vincent. She ironically replied that she heard he was in an apartment down the street. Ron made immediate contact and Gene recorded four vocal-only songs right in Ron's apartment, using a $140 portable reel-to-reel tape deck. Music tracks were added later. In 1980 an album, using these four songs as a base, was released. It also included many other tribute Vincent tunes by popular old rockabilly artists, including Gene's daughter, Melody Jean Vincent singing "Say Mama" while Johnny Meeks added in the guitar.
It was back to England one last time in mid-September of 1971 soon after the Weiser apartment tapings. Gene rehearsed about 12 songs for a tour, and recorded five of them with Richard Cole and the Kansas Hook band on Friday, October 1, 1971. This material (all but "Whole Lotta Shakin'") was released years later as "The Last Session." Gene managed to get through two shows at the Wookey Hollow Club in Liverpool October 3rd and 4th, 1971 before his health completely gave out and he flew back to California. Vincent Eugene Craddock died in Newhall, California, from a bleeding ulcer on October 12, 1971 at the age of 36.

Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers

2011-01-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

It was during the early sixties that the popularity of Rock 'n' Roll music was at it's lowest. 1960 saw the media pushing sloppy Bobbie and Frankie type crap and watered down Elvis look-alikes, etc., until the explosion of the Liverpool Beat groups came and everything. Amongst teenagers at this time, to mention even the words "rock 'n'roll", brought scorn. (Ironic really, when you consider that even the Beatles and the Rolling Stones relied on Chuck Berry songs). Teddy Boys were labelled along with the Greasers and the Ton-up boys as "Rockers" for their love of the 50's Rock 'n' roll music, which by now was considered out-dated. If you went to a dance you saw only beatgroups playing the charthits of the time. So if you was an "oddball" who still loved real wild Rock 'n' Roll - it was impossible to find. The answer, as far as five teenage Teddy Boys from Newport, South Wales, were oncerned, was to play it themselves.

"Crazy" Cavan Grogan started out as "Screamin' Count Dracula & the Vampires", along with Lyndon Needs, Terry Walley and Gerald Bishop. Although they loved doing those first early gigs, the band was short-lived due to their young ages and no one having a driving licence. It was a good start though and encouraged by those who went to see them, they knew that, despite the bastard media who wouldn't play it, Rock 'n' Roll wasn't dead and forgotten, and there were still thousands of kids out there who hadn't even heard of Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent or Johnny Burnette.
Cavan's sound was first heard of as far back as 1964, when cavan Grogan, Lyndon Needs and Terry Walley decided to form a group which at first was called "Count Dracula and the Vampires" and later for a short time was known as "The Sundogs". In 1968 Cavan, Lyndon and Terry teamed up with wild boogie piano player Brian Thomas and bass player Don Kinsella, as "The Sundogs". They were soon knockin' 'em dead in the local clubs. Cavan and the boys were out 'n' out Rock 'n' Roll fans before anything! They played the music because they loved it and not because it was the "in thing".
They got 'Crazy' Cavan Grogan; a dynamic, mean-looking and rubber-legged singer with the longest pair of drainpipes in the business. Lyndon Needs, fresh from school and the guitar shop; ready to play all the flashy leads, and if you gave him an inch of stage he'd leap miles in every direction. Terry Walley, who doffed a rhythm guitar and a cowboy hat and hasn't been seen without either since. Mike Coffey, a tubs man with a fearful backbeat; who, you might be forgiven for thinking, learned to play drum by sinking piles in Cardiff dockyard single- handed. And, of course, a Mr. Bassman. First it was Don Kinsella, a powerful anchor for six years. Now new boy Graham Price (a fully paid-up Welshman) has slotted in neatly as the four-string backman.
A source of inspiration at that time was when Newport Rock 'n' Roll fan, and editor of "Boppin News", "Breathless" Dan Coffey, who had for some time been shipping hundreds of rare, mostly unreleased, and uptill then unheard of Rockabilly records out of the USA into Newport.
When in 1970 this band was joined by Don Kinsella and Mike Coffey it was the start of "Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers". For four years they build up fame as a semi- professional unit, playing their own music, which, influenced by rockabilly, rock 'n' roll and country music, became known as "crazy rhythm". By the end of 1973 they had acquired a large following and there was increasing demand for a record by the group. It all resulted in the release of a single and an EP on their own label "Crazy Rhythm".The demand far exceeded the supply, however, and very soon these records became collector's items. Even though they did not perform in many countries, fans from everywhere responded to their music. To reach more people, the band decided to become fully professional and soon bookings flowed in thick and fast. March 1975 stands as a landmark in their development, for then they were top of the bill at the famous "Lyceum" in London, England. Fans from all over often travelled hundreds of miles to this concert, which turned out to be an enormous succes.
Thursday, February 26, 1976: Crazy Cavan 'n' The Rhythm Rockers with faint, nervous smiles on their faces shuffle awkwardly into the Finsbury Park office of their manager, Lee Allan. They congregate in a small room on the first floor, which looks over the noon bustle of the Seven Sisters Road traffic. Today the band will sign their first major British recording contract with Charly Records. John Schroeder, their producer who previously worked with Status Quo, is already in the room. He's a quiet, softly spoken gentleman with collar length white hair, and he wears a leather suit. Bleary greetings are mumbled while the band push wooden chairs into a cluttered, tight semi-circle. Then they sit down and nervously wait for their Big Moment. Charly's Chief, Joop Visser, the guy who snatched up the British rights to Hank Mizell's 'Jungle Rock' from the King catalogue, places himself next to the group. On a desk is a thick pile of contracts. There's an air of nervous anticipation. Muffled Welsh voices idly pass the time of day. Feet scratch over the floorboards while fingers drum relentlessly on knees. Deliberate smiles of reassurance are passed between the band like comics in a dentist's waiting room. Then Lee scoops up the contracts and begins to explain the terms of the deal. 'I think they're the most dramatic band in the country' Joop proudly states. He'd seen them headlining at the Strand Lyceum, and on numerous other occasions in pubs and clubs throughout the country. He was impressed. Cavan Grogan is an evil looking dude with a strong, powerful vocal; Lyndon Needs, a fresh faced young fella, leg splits and slides all over the stage while snapping out dazzlingly effective lead licks; Terry Walley (rhythm), Don Kinsella (bass) and Mike Coffey (drums) quietly position themselves behind the two front men, firmly laying down steady rhythms. Their style is simple and direct, influenced by Rockabilly, Country and Rock 'n' Roll, but interpreted by the individual musicians to create a unique musical form which they describe as Crazy Rhythm. Joop has been known to Bop at their gigs. Hopefully, John comments, I can bring out a lot more in them than has been found. The problem I have is to take this group, who're very good live with all the atmosphere and excitement, and transfer that into a studio and capture it on a record. And at the same time produce a commercial record that isn't offensive to their fans. Broaden their appeal without destroying what they are. One by one the band sign on the dotted line. Lee continually pacifying their last minute qualms. Pop! Pop! The bubbly's poured into waiting cups. The Welsh voices rise with cheerful relief. Photos are snapped. Hands shaken. Then somebody passes round a bowl of peanuts. Now that's got to be a joke, coz Crazy Cavan 'n' The Rhythm Rockers are on their way!

Rip Carson Story

2011-01-30T14:32:00.000-08:00

Rip Carson and The Twilight Trio was formed in the hot summer of 97’. The band started out with Rip Carson slappin’ bass and singing. Then Rip Carson found Reece Linley to play bass and Rip switched over to lead guitar. Since the early days of the band they have gone through major lineup changes. Once Rip Carson met Danny Angulo and heard his amazing picking a bond was instantly formed.

Rip Carson switched to just singing and playing rhythm guitar with Danny on lead. Then next addition was of Charles Henning on drums. As soon as all the elements came together they have had a tight unique sound all there own since. According to Rip Carson he has been searching for these boys his whole life, and now that he has found them they are going to the top.

Rip Carson formed his first band at the age of eleven in West Virginia. He has been playing in bands since and he feels this is the best one yet. Rip Carson was influenced by his uncle who also played in a rockabilly band known as “Bill Sykes and the Rhythmeers.” This early influence and the fact that he had been singing since he was born have helped form a band that is constantly on the rise in today’s rockabilly scene.

For anyone that has seen the band play, they know that Rip Carson’s stage presence is one of the wildest in history. Rip Carson accounts for this by saying “…

Scotty Moore biography

2011-01-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

Scotty Moore is one of the great pioneers of rock guitar. As the guitarist on Elvis Presley's Sun Recordings, he may have done more than anyone else to establish the basic vocabulary of rockabilly guitar licks, as heard on classic singles like "That's All Right," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Baby Let's Play House," and "Mystery Train." Moore took the stinging licks common to both country music and blues, and not only combined elements of country & western and R&B, but added a rich tone through heavier amplification. His concise, sharp phrasing, and knack for knowing both what to play and when not to overplay were perfect accents to Presley's vocals. Although his Sun riffs may be his most famous, Moore in fact continued to play on Presley records until the late '60s and laid down some of his best
accompaniments to the star on RCA discs. Unsurprisingly, the best of these were in Elvis' early RCA years in the 1950s, when Moore added more wattage and recklessness to his riffs to come out with classic solos on "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," and "Too Much," among others.

As extensive as Moore's resumé with Presley is and as well-known as his solos are, he actually contributed more to Presley's career than is often realized. He was crucial to Presley's early live shows and did much to help advance Elvis' career in business capacities. He also did quite a bit of production and recording work, for several decades, in which Presley was not involved. He also had a brief career as an instrumental solo artist, although the mid-'60s album released under his name, The Guitar That Changed the World, was not the ideal showcase for his skills.

After a lengthy stint in the Navy, Moore settled in Memphis in the early '50s, playing honky tonk music when not working at a dry cleaners. His band, Doug Poindexter & the Starlite Wranglers, recorded a routine country single for Sun Records in the spring of 1954. Although the record did nothing, and the band would soon break up, Moore gained a valuable musical partner in their bassist, Bill Black. When Sun Records, and its owner/producer, Sam Phillips, were mulling over trying a recording with young hopeful Elvis Presley, and in general looking for a new musical direction, Moore, Black, and Presley started to play together, groping for some common musical
ground. Very shortly after Moore met and played with Presley for the first time, they were in Sun on July 5, 1954. This was the session that resulted in "That's All Right," the first great rockabilly record and possibly the first great rock & roll record made by white musicians. All three musicians made stellar contributions to the track by shedding their inhibitions, mixing country and blues, and going into new territory, Moore's soloing imbued with a masterful fluidity and crisp reverb.

In 1954 and 1955, Moore and Black were nearly equal partners with Presley; indeed, on Sun releases they were billed as Elvis Presley, Scotty, and Bill. What's more, Moore became Presley's first manager, in a July 1954 contract that identified Moore as the bandleader. The trio played together live and with increasing success on the Southern circuit, and inevitably, as Presley started to attract wide attention and come into his own as a frontman, more powerful interests edged Moore out of his business role in the band. First Bob Neal, and then Colonel Tom Parker, took over Presley's management. By the summer of 1955, Moore and Black became salaried employees of the act rather than the partners. Drummer D.J. Fontana was added to the band shortly afterwards, and the musicians continued to record, and play live with, Elvis when the singer began recording with RCA in 1956.

While additional musicians on RCA sessions would sometimes make Moore's role less prominent than it had been at Sun, Scotty still added a great deal to Elvis' earliest and best RCA discs. There was the chilling, fiercely echoing solo on "Heartbreak Hotel," the almost avant-garde mad runs up and down the scales on the solos of "Hound Dog" and "Too Much," the brief but blasting one on "Jailhouse Rock," and the bubbly one on "My Baby Left Me," which was as pure and sparkling as anything Moore had played at Sun. Still, Moore and Black became less close to Elvis both personally and professionally. Some biographers have speculated that Parker viewed anyone who had a close personal and artistic relationship with Elvis as a threat to his own power over the singer and that the manager tried to drive a wedge between Elvis and the other musicians, or even force Moore and Black out of the picture. For the soundtrack of Love Me Tender, Scotty and Bill were not allowed to record with Presley. (They did help on other soundtracks from the period, as well as appearing in some Presley movies.)

Frustrated with their limited salaried incomes as Presley became a superstar and earned more and more, Moore and Black gave Presley letters of resignation in September 1957. Although this was patched up after about a month, tension remained, and in any case Moore and Black were out of work again early in 1958, when Presley was drafted. Moore began working at Fernwood Records in production and got a big national hit with Thomas Wayne's "Tragedy" in 1959. When Elvis returned from the Army in 1960, Moore resumed playing sessions for him, although Black was not involved any longer, having started a successful solo career as the leader of the instrumental Bill Black Combo. There wasn't a lot of income from either Fernwood or Elvis, though, so Moore began working for Phillips as a production manager in 1960, continuing to work with Elvis occasionally.

In 1964, perhaps influenced by the success of former bandmate Black, Moore released an entire album of instrumentals for Epic in 1964, consisting of versions of songs recorded by Elvis in the 1950s, on which (with one exception) Scotty had played. Although Moore played well on the LP, it was rather pointless given the superiority of the Elvis versions and sold few copies. In March of 1964, Moore was fired by Phillips, and the guitarist moved to Nashville to work at Music City Records as an engineer, as well as doing some producing. His ongoing work with Presley as a session guitarist finally came to an end in the late '60s, although he did appear on-stage with Elvis on the singer's heralded 1968 television comeback special.

Moore continued to work as an engineer, occasionally crossing paths in this capacity with unexpected clients such as Ringo Starr, Tracy Nelson, Mother Earth, and the Holy Modal Rounders. He got back into playing guitar again, after a layoff of about 25 years, on recordings and live shows with Carl Perkins in the early '90s. In 1997, he did a tribute album to Elvis Presley with D.J. Fontana, All the King's Men, which included appearances by Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Jeff Beck, and Ronnie Wood. The presence of such heavyweights was a testament to the influence of Moore on other guitarists, not just rockabilly ones, but also rockers of a later generation, such as Richards. The Rolling Stones guitarist, indeed, is quite vocal and enthusiastic in his praise of Moore, even saying that it was hearing "Heartbreak Hotel" that made him want to devote his life to playing guitar. Moore's life story, both with and without Elvis, is recounted in the autobiography That's Alright, Elvis, co-written with James Dickerson.

Vince Taylor biography

2011-01-30T14:28:00.000-08:00

Vince Taylor was born Brian Maurice Holden on July 14th 1939 in Isleworth, Middlesex, England.
In 1946, his family immigrated to America and settled in New Jersey where Brian's father took work in a coal mine.

By 1955, his sister married Joe Barbera aka “Joe Singer”, who was claimed by some to have been Joe Barbera of Hanna-Barbera productions, the successful animated cartoon company who had produced Tom & Jerry cartoons. As a result, the Holdens moved to California where Brian attended Hollywood High School and studied radio and weather reports. He eventually took flying lessons at Glendale School and obtained a pilot's license.
In 1957, impressed by the music of Bill Haley, Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley, Brian began to sing at parties, school proms and amateur gigs. Backed by a local band, he started playing for the benefit of the American Legion as well as

a few nightclubs along Zummah Beach. Joe Barbera, his brother-in-law, then became his manager.
When Barbera went to London on business he asked Brian to join him to check out the British music scene the following year. American rockers were high in demand in the UK. There he met a lad called Paul Taylor who gave him the address of The 2 I's coffee-bar in Old Compton Street in Soho. In August 1958, Brian went there with Barbera and Hollywood guitarist Bob Frieberg. They approached the members of the main resident band at the 2.I's comprising drummer Tony Meehan, bass player Tex Makins, and guitarist Tony Sheridan to become his backing group,The Play-Boys.

Whilst looking at a packet of Pall Mall cigarettes he noticed the phrase, “In hoc Vince’s”, and Brian very much liked the actor Robert Taylor, thus giving rise to his new stage name of 'Vince Taylor'.

The Playboys made their live debut at the Shepards Bush Gaumont. Then following gigs were few but Vince Taylor soon scored a short-term contract with Parlophone label that released his first single for Parlophone, “I Like Love”coupled with “Right Behind You Baby”, in november 1958. This record was recorded by a new line-up of The Playboys featuring guitarist Tony Harvey, bass player Brian Locking and drummer Brian Bennett who would later replaced Tony Meehan once again in the Shadows.

In December 1958, Vince Taylor, deputized at short notice, at the Regal, Colchester, for Cliff Richard who was suffering from an acute sore throat.

TV Producer Jack Good gave Vince Taylor and his band the opportunity to shine on his new show “Oh Boy” in late 1958 and early 1959 on the same bill as Neville Taylor & The Cutters... Tony Harvey soon left to join Clay Nicholls & his Blue Flames, and to be replaced by pianist Bryan Pugh aka “Lou Brian”,formerly with Colin Hicks & His Cabin Boys. Then Vince Taylor had fallen out with Tony Sheridan, who went on to front the Oh Boy’s resident trio, and replaced him with Joe Moretti, another ex-Cabin Boy. Vince Taylor went berseck after Jack Goode had demanded him to cut his hair or he wouldn't appear on the show anymore.

In February 1959, after these TV appearances, Vince Taylor & The Playboys went on the road in North England along with Johnny Duncan & The Bluegrass Boys, Billy Fury and Jill Day.

In April 1959, Vince Taylor released his second single for Parlophone-Odeon, “Pledgin' My Love” b/w “Brand New Cadillac”. The B-side “Brand New Cadillac” was probably his most-remembered work. It was an original composition, inspired by a lunch in the "Star Restaurant", on Old Compton St, and produced by Norrie Paramor, on which Joe Moretti played lead as he did a year later on Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ British classic "Shakin' All Over".
Unfortunately they couldn't get any airplay on the B.B.C because of the name "Cadillac".
Parlophone wasn’t satisfied with the immediate results and broke the contract.

In May 1959, with help from his brother in-law, Joe Barbera, Vince Taylor opened up a club in London called “The Top Ten” in Berwick Street, Soho, where the band performed then Rick Hardy, former leader of The Worried Men, became the resident singer.

Soon after, Joe Barbera, who gave Vince Taylor 9 months to clean up and had to support him and the four band members every week during this period, finally returned to California and Vince Taylor & The Playboys parted company. No sooner had the tour finished than Barbera sacked Brian Locking and Brian Bennett, who had defected to Marty Wilde’s Wildcats – replacing Tex Makins and Bobby Woodman. Joe Moretti went on to replace Denny Wright as guitarist with Johnny Duncan's blue grass Boys and Lou Brian reinvented himself as “Perry Ford” then who would later become successful with the Vocal trio The Ivy League, after a stint in the Echoes, and as songwriter (for Adam Faith).

Vince Taylor also got to California for a short stay then return to UK where he had to find a new manager and contacted Tom Littlewood, who became the new manager of the 2i’s Coffee Bar. Taylor first was backed by the former Terry Dene’s sidemen, bass player Brian Gregg and drummer Clem Cattini, both freshly returned from Sweeden. They were often accompanied at The 2i’s by pianists Mike O'Neill or Miki Dallon. But soon after, Gregg and Cattini accepted Larry Parnes’ invitation to become the core of The New Beat Boys, backing his singers on package tours such as “The Big Beat Show” from august 1959. They actually were brought in to replace Makins and Woodman who had just been elbowed from the band after having missed some rehearsals.

Then Vince Taylor went out on a package tour, the “Big Beat Dance Of '59”, from August 21st to September 26th 1959, with Chas McDevitt & Shirley Douglas, both acts backed by Leroy Powell & the Beatniks featuring future Gladiator Tommy Brown on drums. Taylor eventually would recorded a song composed by Chas McDevitt 'Move Over Tiger', for Palette Records, the following year. After that Vince did a deal with Tom Littlewood, who put him out on the road with Keith Kelly and all-purpose backing band held together by Bobby Woodman.

Late September 1959, Woodman teamed up again with Makins and a Lancastrian guitarist called Kenny Fillingham to become the core of a trio backing Vince Taylor for a 3-week tour of Wales and Brighton. They met Fillingham, formerly with the Dominoes from Wigan during their brief stint with Rory Blackwell & the Blackjacks in Islington, London. They persuaded him to let them bleach his hair before he went back to the fold.

Just before this last tour, Vince Taylor had travelled to Southampton and contacted local promoter Reg Calvert who’d booked for the next season. Calvert then recruited a new set of Playboys: guitarist Brian Marshall and bass player John Cobb aka “Johnny Vance”, both from the Portsmouth-based Strollers, teaming up with lead guitarist Geoffrey Gloverwright aka “Buddy Britten” and drummer Johnny Watson, who had just finished a Summer season at Butlin’s holiday camp in Filey, with Clay Nicholls & The Blue Flames alongside Tony Harvey.
The quartet backed Vince Taylor but also Buddy Britten, Britain’s answer to Buddy Holly, for about 5 months. They were The New Playboys as well as The first incarnation of The Buddy Britton Trio.

Reg Calvert put them out on the road as a package show: they opened the show with Buddy Britten singing lead as The Buddy Britton Trio, Brian Marshall came on as “Tony Trent”, and then Vince Taylor would close the show with them, Buddy playing lead.

In January 1960, Brian Marshall, Johnny Vance and Johnny Watson moved to London with Vince Taylor, leaving Buddy Britten to carry on working for Reg Calvert.
They took a residency at The 2i’s Coffee Bar for 3 months until mid March 1960, backing Vince but also Tony Sheridan, Keith Kelly, Lance Fortune among others.
Weekends, they played other venues: mostly Rock’n’Roll Jamboree Dances organised by Rory “Shakes” Blackwell.
After having supported Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran during their tour of Britain for 4 months,Tony Sheridan would eventually come back to the fold, replacing Brian Marshall, who returned to Portsmouth.
Shortly thereafter, Bobby Woodman took over Johnny Watson on drums and then rolled his mates but also original Playboys’ bass player Tex Makins who was just returned from a Scotland Tour with Vince Eager & His Quiet Three and finally filled in Johnny Vance’s shoes for a short while prior to going on the road once again with Eager.

Vince Taylor & his New Playboys took part of a benefit for the family of the late Eddie Cochran, who had died in a car crash on April 17, 1960.
On April 30, 1960, they appeared on ABC TV's "Wham!" along with Wee Willie Harris and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates featuring former Playboys Joe Moretti, Brian Gregg and Clem Cattini.
In May 1960, they were joined by another original Wildcat and Beat Boy, pianist Alan LeClaire who had begun a vain quest for solo recognition during the last part of 59.

Then Tony Sheridan was hired by keyboardist Iain Hines and went to Hamburg with the Jets, and played the Kaiserkeller Club from June to September 1960. And another original came back to the fold: Tony Harvey, this once playing on lead.

Vince Taylor moved to Palette Records and recorded with the New Set of Playboys “I’ll Be Your Hero” b/w “Jet Black Machine”, which was released on August 19, 1960.
Vince decided to get dressed in black leather from head to toe on stage after he saw a model dressed with, in a winter sports shop window, in London. This was very unusual and caught the eyes. However American Rocker Gene Vincent already used to wear black leather whe he first visited Britain in late ’59.

Vince Taylor's unstable caracter caused several arguments within the band and The Playboys parted company with him and changed their name to "The Bobbie Clarke Noise". During a British Rock Festival at The Olympia, Paris, in July, 1961, he was spotted by Bruno Coquatrix, who contacted French A&R, Eddie Barclay, who signed him to a six-year record deal on his label that issued 5 EP's and one LP from September 1961 to January 1962.
Vince went to all the top parties in Paris as “The black demon of rock”.
During 1961 and 1962, Vince Taylor toured Europe including The French Riviera, Belgium, Spain, and The Netherlands, with Bobbie Clarke's band, renamed “Vince Taylor and his Playboys”.
By the end of 1962, they even were the top of the bill at the Olympia, Paris but shortly thereafter, the off-stage relationship faltered and Taylor played engagements backed by another English band "The Dragons".

Agreements weren't scarse and Vince started to play dressed from head to toe in leather, but white.
In mid 60s, Vince met Bob Dylan, Nico and a few other people from the Acid Rock scene. A mixture of acid, amphetamines and alcohol proved fatal to his mind and he then joined a religious movement. He had a break down - coming on stage and trying to evangelize the audience, he claimed to be the prophet Matthew. But the audience thought that it was part of the shows.
After that, things went downhill for Vince.
In autumn 1969, musicpapers 'Bonjour les Amis' and 'Disco-Revue' started a support campaign for Taylor asking its readers to write in to Barclay's Record Company saying how much they would love to see the rock star make another record. Eddie Barclay, finally convinced, gave a new chance to Vince who recorded again and performed intermittently throughout the following decades.
During his last years, Vince Taylor lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he took work as an airplane mechanic.
He died on August 28, 1991 at 52.

Johnny Cash biography

2011-01-30T14:26:00.001-08:00

Johnny Cash was one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music. With his deep, resonant baritone and spare, percussive guitar, he had a basic, distinctive sound. Cash didn't sound like Nashville, nor did he sound like honky tonk or rock & roll. He created his own subgenre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll, and the world-weariness of country. Cash's career coincided with the birth of rock & roll, and his rebellious attitude and simple, direct musical attack shared a lot of similarities with rock. However, there was a deep sense of history -- as he would later illustrate with his series of historical albums -- that kept him forever tied with country. And he was one of
country music's biggest stars of the '50s and '60s, scoring well over 100 hit singles.

Cash was born and raised in Arkansas, moving to Dyess when he was three. By the time he was 12 years old, he had begun writing his own songs. He was inspired by the country songs he had heard on the radio. While he was in high school, he sang on the Arkansas radio station KLCN. Cash graduated from high school in 1950, moving to Detroit to work in an auto factory for a brief while. With the outbreak of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Air Force. While he was in the Air Force, Cash bought his first guitar and taught himself to play. He began writing songs in earnest, including "Folsom Prison Blues." Cash left the Air Force in 1954, married a Texas woman named Vivian Leberto, and moved to Memphis, where he took a radio announcing course at a broadcasting school on the GI Bill. During the evenings, he played country music in a trio that also consisted of guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. The trio occasionally played for free on a local radio station, KWEM, and tried to secure gigs and an audition at Sun Records.

Cash finally landed an audition with Sun Records and its founder, Sam Phillips, in 1955. Initially, Cash presented himself as a gospel singer, but Phillips turned him down. Phillips asked him to come back with something more commercial. Cash returned with "Hey Porter," which immediately caught Phillips' ear. Soon, Cash released "Cry Cry Cry"/"Hey Porter" as his debut single for Sun. On the single, Phillips billed Cash as "Johnny," which upset the singer because he felt it sounded too young; the record producer also dubbed Perkins and Grant as the Tennessee Two. "Cry Cry Cry" became a success upon its release in 1955, entering the country charts at number 14 and leading to a spot on The Louisiana Hayride, where he stayed for nearly a year. A second single, "Folsom Prison Blues," reached the country Top Five in early 1956 and its follow-up, "I Walk the Line," was number one for six weeks and crossed over into the pop Top 20.

Cash had an equally successful year in 1957, scoring several country hits including the Top 15 "Give My Love to Rose." Cash also made his Grand Ole Opry debut that year, appearing all in black where the other performers were decked out in flamboyant, rhinestone-studded outfits. Eventually, he earned the nickname of "The Man in Black." Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album in November of 1957, when Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar hit the stores. Cash's success continued to roll throughout 1958, as he earned his biggest hit, "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" (number one for ten weeks), as well another number one single, "Guess Things Happen That Way." For most of 1958, Cash attempted to record a gospel album, but Sun refused to allow him to record one. Sun also was unwilling to increase Cash's record royalties. Both of these were deciding factors in the vocalist's decision to sign with Columbia Records in 1958. By the end of the year, he had released his first single for the label, "All Over Again," which became another Top Five success. Sun continued to release singles and albums of unissued Cash material into the '60s.

"Don't Take Your Guns to Town," Cash's second single for Columbia, was one of his biggest hits, reaching the top of the country charts and crossing over into the pop charts in the beginning of 1959. Throughout that year, Columbia and Sun singles vied for the top of the charts. Generally, the Columbia releases -- "Frankie's Man Johnny," "I Got Stripes," and "Five Feet High and Rising" -- fared better than the Sun singles, but "Luther Played the Boogie" did climb into the Top Ten. That same year, Cash had the chance to make his gospel record -- Hymns by Johnny Cash -- which kicked off a series of thematic albums that ran into the '70s.

The Tennessee Two became the Tennessee Three in 1960 with the addition of drummer W.S. Holland. Though he was continuing to have hits, the relentless pace of his career was beginning to take a toll on Cash. In 1959, he had begun taking amphetamines to help him get through his schedule of nearly 300 shows a year. By 1961, his drug intake had increased dramatically and his work was affected, which was reflected by a declining number of hit singles and albums. By 1963, he had moved to New York, leaving his family behind. He was running into trouble with the law, most notably for starting a forest fire out West.

June Carter -- who was the wife of one of Cash's drinking buddies, Carl Smith -- would provide Cash with his return to the top of the charts with "Ring of Fire," which she co-wrote with Merle Kilgore. "Ring of Fire" spent seven weeks on the top of the charts and was a Top 20 pop hit. Cash continued his success in 1964 as "Understand Your Man" became a number one hit. However, Cash's comeback was short-lived as he sank further into addiction, and his hit singles arrived sporadically. Cash was arrested in El Paso for attempting to smuggle amphetamines into the country through his guitar case in 1965. That same year, the Grand Ole Opry refused to have him perform and he wrecked the establishment's footlights. In 1966, his wife Vivian filed for divorce. After the divorce, Cash moved to Nashville. At first, he was as destructive as he ever had been, but he became close friends with June Carter, who had divorced Carl Smith. With Carter's help, he was able to shake his addictions; she also converted Cash to fundamentalist Christianity. His career began to bounce back as "Jackson" and "Rosanna's Going Wild" became Top Ten hits. Early in 1968, Cash proposed marriage to Carter during a concert; the pair were married that spring.

Also in 1968, Cash recorded and released his most popular album, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Recorded during a prison concert, the album spawned the number one country hit "Folsom Prison Blues," which also crossed over into the pop charts. By the end of the year, the record had gone gold. The following year, he released a sequel, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, which had his only Top Ten pop single, "A Boy Named Sue," which peaked at number three; it also hit number one on the country charts. Cash guested on Bob Dylan's 1969 country-rock album Nashville Skyline. Dylan returned the favor by appearing on the first episode of The Johnny Cash Show, the singer's television program for ABC. The Johnny Cash Show ran for two years, between 1969 and 1971.

Cash was reaching a second peak of popularity in 1970. In addition to his television show, he performed for President Richard Nixon at the White House, acted with Kirk Douglas in The Gunfight, sang with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, and he was the subject of a documentary film. His record sales were equally healthy as "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "Flesh and Blood" were number one hits. Throughout 1971, Cash continued to have hits, including the Top Three "Man in Black." Both Cash and Carter became more socially active in the early '70s, campaigning for the civil rights of Native Americans and prisoners, as well as frequently working with Billy Graham.

In the mid-'70s, Cash's presence on the country charts began to decline, but he continued to have a series of minor hits and the occasional chart-topper like 1976's "One Piece at a Time," or Top Ten hits like the Waylon Jennings duet "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" and "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky." Man in Black, Cash's autobiography, was published in 1975. In 1980, he became the youngest inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. However, the '80s were a rough time for Cash as his record sales continued to decline and he ran into trouble with Columbia. Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis teamed up to record The Survivors in 1982, which was a mild success. The Highwaymen -- a band featuring Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson -- released their first album in 1985, which was also moderately successful. The following year, Cash and Columbia Records ended their relationship and he signed with Mercury Nashville. The new label didn't prove to be a success, as the company and the singer fought over stylistic direction. Furthermore, country radio had begun to favor more contemporary artists, and Cash soon found himself shut out of the charts. Nevertheless, he continued to be a popular concert performer.

The Highwaymen recorded a second album in 1992, and it was more commercially successful than any of Cash's Mercury records. Around that time, his contract with Mercury ended. In 1993, he signed a contract with American Records. His first album for the label, American Recordings, was produced by the label's founder, Rick Rubin, and was a stark, acoustic collection of songs. American Recordings, while not a blockbuster success, revived his career critically and brought him in touch with a younger, rock-oriented audience. In 1995, the Highwaymen released their third album, The Road Goes on Forever. The following year, Cash released his second album for American Records, Unchained, which featured support from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. His VH1 Storytellers outing was released in 1998, and in the spring of 2000, Cash compiled Love, God, Murder, a three-disc retrospective focusing on the major songwriting themes dominant throughout his career. The new studio album American III: Solitary Man appeared later that year.

Health problems plagued Cash throughout the '90s and into the 2000s, but he continued to record with Rubin; their fourth collaboration, American IV: The Man Comes Around, was released in late 2002. The following year, the Mark Romanek-directed video for his cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" garnered considerable acclaim and media attention, culminating in an unexpected nomination for video of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards. Not long after the video sparked numerous stories, his beloved wife June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, of complications following heart surgery. Four months later, Johnny died of complications from diabetes in Nashville, TN. He was 71. Five months later, the compilation Legend of Johnny Cash became a Top Ten hit. In 2006 Lost Highway released the next-to-last installment of Cash's legendary "American" recordings, American V: A Hundred Highways, from the late singer's last sessions with collaborator Rick Rubin. The final installment form those sessions appeared as American VI: Ain't No Grave, in early 2010, and is reported to be the last of the American Recordings releases.

Eddie Cochran biography

2011-01-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

Somehow, time has not accorded Eddie Cochran quite the same respect as other early rockabilly pioneers like Buddy Holly, or even Ricky Nelson or Gene Vincent. This is partially attributable to his very brief lifespan as a star: he only had a couple of big hits before dying in a car crash during a British tour in 1960. He was in the
same league as the best rockabilly stars, though, with a brash, fat guitar sound that helped lay the groundwork for the power chord. He was also a good songwriter and singer, celebrating the joys of teenage life — the parties, the music, the adolescent rebellion — with an economic wit that bore some similarities to Chuck Berry. Cochran was more lighthearted and less ironic than Berry, though, and if his work was less consistent and not as penetrating, it was almost always exuberant.

Cochran's mid-'50s beginnings in the record industry are a bit confusing. His family had moved to Southern California around 1950, and in 1955 he made his first recordings as half of the Cochran Brothers. Here's the confusing part: although the other half of the act was really named Hank Cochran, he was not Eddie's brother. (Hank Cochran would become a noted country songwriter in the 1960s.) Eddie was already an accomplished rockabilly guitarist and singer on these early sides, and he started picking up some session work as well, also finding time to make demos and write songs with Jerry Capehart, who became his manager.

Cochran's big break came about in a novel fashion. In mid-1956, while Cochran and Capehart were recording some music for low-budget films, Boris Petroff asked Eddie if he'd be interested in appearing in a movie that a friend was directing. The film was The Girl Can't Help It, and the song he would sing in it was "Twenty-Flight Rock." This is the same song that Paul McCartney would use to impress John Lennon upon their first meeting in 1957 (Paul could not only play it, but knew all of the lyrics).

Cochran had his first Top 20 hit in early 1957, "Sittin' in the Balcony," with an echo-chambered vocal reminiscent of Elvis. That single was written by John D. Loudermilk, but Eddie would write much of his material, including his only Top Ten hit, "Summertime Blues." A definitive teenage anthem with hints of the overt protest that would seep into rock music in the 1960s, it was also a technical tour de force for the time: Cochran overdubbed himself on guitar to create an especially thick sound. One of the classic early rock singles, "Summertime Blues" was revived a decade later by proto-metal group Blue Cheer, and was a concert staple for the Who, who had a small American hit with a cover version. (Let's not mention Alan Jackson's country rendition in the 1990s.)

That, disappointingly, was the extent of Cochran's major commercial success in the U.S. "C'mon Everybody," a chugging rocker that was almost as good as "Summertime Blues," made the Top 40 in 1959, and also gave Eddie his first British Top Tenner. As is the case with his buddy Gene Vincent, though, you can't judge his importance by mere chart statistics. Cochran was very active in the studio, and while his output wasn't nearly as consistent as Buddy Holly's (another good friend of Eddie's), he laid down a few classic or near-classic cuts that are just as worthy as his hits. "Somethin' Else," "My Way" (which the Who played in concert at the peak of psychedelia), "Weekend" (covered by the Move), and "Nervous Breakdown" are some of the best of these, and belong in the collection of every rockabilly fan. He was also (like Holly) an innovator in the studio, using overdubbing at a time when that practice was barely known on rock recordings.

Cochran is more revered today in Britain than the United States, due in part to the tragic circumstances of his death. In the spring of 1960, he toured the U.K. with Vincent, to a wild reception, in a country that had rarely had the opportunity to see American rock & roll stars in the flesh. En route to London to fly back to the States for a break, the car Cochran was riding in, with his girlfriend (and songwriter) Sharon Sheeley and Gene Vincent, had a severe accident. Vincent and Sheeley survived, but Cochran died less than a day later, at the age of 21.

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller biography

2011-01-30T14:22:00.001-08:00

A complete biography of the lives of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and their contribution to rock & roll could easily take up an entire book. Very simply, Leiber and Stoller are two of the most important songwriters of the early days of rock & roll. Although they had penned songs for R&B artists such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Floyd Dixon, and Charles Brown in the early '50s, Leiber and Stoller more or less exploded onto the rock scene in 1953 by writing "Hound Dog" for Big Mama Thornton (later to be covered by Elvis). From that point on, the duo composed and produced a string of hits that include some of the most instantly recognizable songs in rock history. They were also pushing the art of rock songwriting (and record production) into, at the time, uncharted territory. As is noted by critic Greg Shaw in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll: "They were the true architects of pop/rock...Their signal achievement was the marriage of rhythm & blues in its most primal form to the pop tradition."

Few songwriters of this era had the Midas touch as did Leiber and Stoller. A partial list of their credits include "Riot in Cell Block #9" (1953), "Love Me" (1956), "Charlie Brown" (1959), "Stand by Me" (1961),
"On Broadway" (1963), and numerous songs for Elvis, including songs for the films Jailhouse Rock and King Creole. Along with wedding R&B with the pop tradition, Leiber And Stoller also introduced string arrangements to R&B records (the Drifters featuring Ben E. King's "There Goes My Baby"), and by doing so created the foundation for a new era of soul music production that would come on the heels of the fading doo wop style.
Among the many artists and writers they influenced, few were more important than Phil Spector, who cut his teeth learning production techniques from them while they painstakingly assembled the great early Drifters tracks.

In 1964, Leiber and Stoller started their own record label, Red Bird, devoted to girl groups. Wisely, they also hired the talented songwriting duo of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, who were at their peak powers, composing some of the most lasting songs of the albeit brief heyday of girl group music, including the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack" and the Dixie Cups' "Chapel of Love." Leiber and Stoller, however, became disinterested in the business side of Red Bird and sold the label two years later, just as the girl group sound was on the wane. So, too, were the hit-making days of Leiber and Stoller on the wane. They continued to write songs, mostly for the Coasters, but they no longer dominated the pop and R&B charts the way they once did. Still, they survived, taking on the august role of rock & roll elder statesmen, eventually landing a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Later, their songs were the basis of a successful Broadway musical entitled Smokey Joe's Cafe, which revived interest in their great body of work, and also brought the music of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to a whole new audience. Not bad for a couple of guys who, in the words of Mike Stoller, never wanted to write rock & roll songs, just good R&B.

Buddy Holly biography

2011-01-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

Buddy Holly is perhaps the most anomalous legend of '50s rock & roll -- he had his share of hits, and he achieved major rock & roll stardom, but his importance transcends any sales figures or even the particulars of any one song (or group of songs) that he wrote or recorded. Holly was unique, his legendary status and his impact on popular music all the more extraordinary for having been achieved in barely 18 months. Among his rivals, Bill Haley was there first and established rock & roll music; Elvis Presley objectified the sexuality implicit in the music, selling hundreds of millions of records in the process, and defined one aspect of the youth and charisma needed for stardom; and Chuck Berry defined the music's roots in blues along with some of the finer points of its sexuality, and its youthful orientation (and, in the process, intermixed all of these elements). Holly's influence was just as far-reaching as these others, if far more subtle and more distinctly musical in nature. In a career lasting from the spring of 1957 until the winter of 1958-1959 -- less time than Elvis had at the top before the army took him (and less time, in fact, than Elvis spent in the army) -- Holly became the single most influential creative force in early rock & roll.

Born in Lubbock, TX, on September 7, 1936, Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley (he later dropped the "e") was the youngest of four children. A natural musician from a musical family, he was proficient on guitar, banjo, and mandolin by age 15 and was working as part of a duo with his boyhood friend Bob Montgomery, with whom he had also started writing songs. By the mid-'50s, Buddy & Bob, as they billed themselves, were playing what they called "western and bop"; Holly, in particular, was listening to a lot of blues and R&B and finding it compatible with country music. He was among those young Southern men who heard and saw Elvis perform in the days when the latter was signed to Sam Phillips' Sun Records -- indeed, Buddy & Bob played as an opening act for Elvis when he played the area around Lubbock in early 1955, and Holly saw the future direction of his life and career.

By mid-1955, Buddy & Bob, who already worked with an upright bass (played by Larry Welborn), had added drummer Jerry Allison to their lineup. They'd also cut some sides that would have qualified as rock & roll, though no label was interested at that particular time. Eventually Montgomery, who leaned toward more of a traditional country sound, left the performing partnership, though they continued to compose songs together. Holly kept pushing his music toward a straight-ahead rock & roll sound, working with Allison, Welborn, and assorted other local musicians, including guitarist Sonny Curtis and bassist Don Guess. It was with the latter two that Holly cut his first official recording session in January of 1956 in Nashville for Decca Records. They found out, however, that there was a lot more to playing and cutting rock & roll than met the eye; the results of this and a follow-up session in July were alternately either a little too tame and a little too far to the country side of the mix or were too raw. Some good music and a pair of near classics, "Midnight Shift" and "Rock Around With Ollie Vee," did come out of those Decca sessions, but nothing issued at the time went anywhere. At the time, it looked as though Holly had missed his shot at stardom.

Fate intervened in the guise of Norman Petty, a musician-turned-producer based in Clovis, NM, who had an ear for the new music and what made it sound good, especially over the radio, to the kids. Petty had a studio where he charged by the song instead of by the hour, and Holly and company had already begun working there in the late spring of 1956. After Decca's rejection, Holly and his band, which now included Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, threw themselves into what Petty regarded as the most promising songs they had, until they worked out a tight, tough version of one of the failed originals that Holly had cut in Nashville, entitled "That'll Be the Day." The title and lyrical phrase, lifted from a line that John Wayne was always quoting in the John Ford movie The Searchers, had staying power, and the group built on it. They got the song nailed and recorded, and with Petty's help, got it picked up by Murray Deutsch, a publishing associate of Petty's who, in turn, got it to Bob Thiele, an executive at Coral Records, who liked it. Ironically, Coral was a subsidiary of Decca, the same company to which Holly had previously been signed.

Thiele saw the record as potential hit, but there were some major hurdles to overcome before it could actually get released. For starters, according to author Philip Norman in his book Rave On, Thiele would get only the most begrudging support from his record company. Decca had lucked out in 1954 when, at Milt Gabler's urging, they'd signed Bill Haley & His Comets and subsequently saw his "Rock Around the Clock" top the charts, but very few of those in charge at Decca had a real feel or appreciation for rock & roll or any sense of where it might be heading, or whether the label could (or should) follow it there. For another, although he had been dropped by Decca Records the previous year, the contract that Holly had signed prohibited him from re-recording anything that he had cut for Decca, regardless of whether it had been released or not, for five years; though Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca, there was every chance that Decca's Nashville office could hold up the release and might even haul Holly into court. Amid all of these possibilities, good and bad, Welborn, who had played on "That'll Be the Day," was replaced on bass by Joe B. Mauldin.

"That'll Be the Day" was issued in May of 1957 mostly as an indulgence to Thiele, to "humor" him, according to Norman. The record was put out on the Brunswick label, which was oriented more toward jazz and R&B, and credited to the Crickets, a group name picked as a dodge to prevent any of the powers-that-were at Decca -- and especially Decca's Nashville office -- from having too easy a time figuring out that the singer was the same artist that they'd dropped the year before. Petty also became the group's manager as well as their producer, signing the Crickets -- identified as Allison, Sullivan, and Mauldin -- to a contract. Holly wasn't listed as a member in the original document, in order to hide his involvement with "That'll Be the Day," but this omission would later become the source of serious legal and financial problems for him.

When the smoke cleared, the song shot to the top spot on the national charts that summer. Of course, Decca knew Holly's identity by then; with Thiele's persuasion and the reality of a serious hit in their midst, the company agreed to release Holly from the five-year restriction on his old contract, leaving him free to sign any recording contract he wanted. In the midst of sorting out the particulars of Holly's legal situation, Thiele discovered that he had someone on his hands who was potentially a good deal more than a one-hit wonder -- there were potentially more and different kinds of potential hits to come from him. When all was said and done, Holly found himself with two recording contracts, one with Brunswick as a member of the Crickets and the other with Coral Records as Buddy Holly, which was part of Thiele's strategy to get the most out of Holly's talent. By releasing two separate bodies of work, he could keep the group intact while giving room for its obvious leader and "star" to break out on his own.

There was actually little difference in the two sets of recordings for most of his career, in terms of how they were done or who played on them, except possibly that the harder, straight-ahead rock & roll songs, and the ones with backing vocals, tended to be credited to the Crickets. The confusion surrounding the Buddy Holly/Crickets dual identity was nothing, however, compared to the morass that constituted the songwriting credits on their work.

It's now clear that Petty, acting as their manager and producer, parceled out writing credits at random, gifting Niki Sullivan and Joe B. Mauldin (and himself) the co-authorship of "I'm Gonna Love You Too," while initially leaving Holly's name off of "Peggy Sue." Petty usually added his name to the credit line as well, a common practice in the 1950s for managers and producers who wanted a bigger piece of the action. In fairness, it should be said that Petty did make suggestions, some of them key, in shaping certain of Holly's songs, but he almost certainly didn't contribute to the extent that the shared credits would lead one to believe. Some of the public's confusion over songwriting was heightened by complications ensuing from another of the contracts that Holly had signed in 1956. Petty had his own publishing company, Nor Va Jak Music, and had a contract with Holly to publish all of his new songs; but the prior year, Holly had signed an exclusive contract with another company -- eventually a settlement and release from the old contract might be sorted out, but in order to reduce his profile as a songwriter until that happened, and to convince the other publisher that they weren't losing too much in any settlement, he copyrighted many of his new songs under the pseudonym "Charles Hardin."

The dual recording contracts made it possible for Holly to record an extraordinary number of sides in the course of his 18 months of fame. Meanwhile, the group -- billed as Buddy Holly & the Crickets -- became one of the top attractions of rock & roll's classic years, putting on shows that were as exciting and well played as any in the business. Holly was the frontman, singing lead and playing lead guitar -- itself an unusual combination -- as well as writing or co-writing many of their songs. But the Crickets were also a totally enveloping performing unit, generating a big and exciting sound (which, apart from some live recordings from their 1958 British tour, is lost to history). Allison was a very inventive drummer and contributed to the songwriting bit more often than his colleagues, and Joe B. Mauldin and Niki Sullivan provided a solid rhythm section.

The fact that the group relied on originals for their singles made them unique and put them years ahead of their time. In 1957-1958, songwriting wasn't considered a skill essential to a career in rock & roll; the music business was still patterned along the lines that it had followed since the '20s, with songwriting a specialized profession organized on the publishing side of the industry, separate from performing and recording. Once in a while, a performer might write a song or, much more rarely, as in the case of a Duke Ellington, count composition among his key talents, but generally this was an activity left to the experts. Any rock & roller with the inclination to write songs would also have to get past the image of Elvis, who stood to become a millionaire at age 22 and never wrote songs (the few "Presley" songwriting credits were the result of business arrangements rather than any creative activity on his part).

Buddy Holly & the Crickets changed that in a serious way by hitting number one with a song that they'd written and then reaching the Top Ten with originals like "Oh, Boy" and "Peggy Sue," and regularly charging up the charts on behalf of their own songwriting. This attribute wasn't appreciated by the public at the time, and wouldn't be noticed widely until the 1970s, but thousands of aspiring musicians, including John Lennon and Paul McCartney, took note of the fact, and some of them decided to try and emulate Holly.

Less obvious at the time, Holly and company also broke up the established record industry method of recording, which was to bring the artist into the label's own studio, working on a timetable dictated by corporate policy and union rules. If an artist were extremely successful -- à la Sinatra or Elvis, or later on, the Beatles -- they got a blank check in the studio and any union rules were smoothed over, but that was a rare privilege, available only to the most elite of musicians. Buddy Holly & the Crickets, by contrast, did their work, beginning with "That'll Be the Day," in Clovis, NM, at Petty's studio. They took their time, they experimented until they got the sound they wanted, and no union told them when to stop or start their work, and they delivered great records; what's more, they were records that didn't sound like anyone else's, anywhere.

The results were particularly telling on the history of rock music. The group worked out a sound that gave shape to the next wave of rock & roll and, especially, to early British rock & roll and the subsequent British Invasion beat, with the lead and rhythm guitars closely interlocked to create a fuller, harder sound. On songs such as "Not Fade Away,""Everyday," "Listen to Me," "Oh Boy!," "Peggy Sue," "Maybe Baby,""Rave On," "Heartbeat," and "It's So Easy," Holly advanced rock & roll's range and sophistication without abandoning its fundamental joy and excitement. Holly and the band weren't afraid to experiment even on their singles, so that "Peggy Sue" made use of the kind of changes in volume and timbre on the guitar that were usually reserved for instrumental records; similarly, "Words of Love" was one of the earliest successful examples of double-tracked vocals in rock & roll, which the Beatles, in particular, would embrace in the ensuing decade.

Buddy Holly & the Crickets were very popular in America, but in England they were even bigger, their impact serious rivaling that of Elvis and, in some ways, even exceeding it. This was due, in part, to the fact that they actually toured England -- they spent a month there in 1958, playing a series of shows that were still being written about 30 years later -- which was something that Elvis never did. But it also had to do with their sound and Holly's stage persona. The group's heavy use of rhythm guitar slotted right in with the sound of skiffle music, a mix of blues, folk, country, and jazz elements that constituted most of British youth's introduction to playing music and their way into rock & roll. Additionally, although he cut an exciting figure on-stage, Holly looked a lot less likely a rock & roll star than Elvis -- tall, lanky, and bespectacled, he looked like an ordinary guy who simply played and sang well, and part of his appeal as a rock & roll star was rooted in how unlikely he looked in that role. He provided inspiration -- and a way into the music -- for tens of thousands of British teenagers who also couldn't imagine themselves rivals to Elvis or Gene Vincent in the dark and dangerous department.

At least one star British guitarist of the late '50s, Hank Marvin of the Shadows, owed his look (and the fact that he wore his glasses proudly on stage) to Holly, and his look can be seen being propagated into the 1970s by Elvis Costello. Additionally, although he played several different kinds of guitar, Holly was specifically responsible for popularizing -- some would say elevating to mystical, even magical status -- the Fender Stratocaster, especially in England. For a lot of would-be rock & rollers on the Sceptered Isle, Holly's 1958 tour was the first chance they'd had to see or hear the instrument in action, and it quickly became the guitar of choice for anyone aspiring to stardom as an axeman in England. (Indeed, Marvin, inspired by Holly, later had what is reputed to be the first Stratocaster ever brought into England.)

The Crickets were reduced to a trio with the departure of Sullivan in late 1957, following the group's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, but that was almost the least of the changes that would ensue over the following year. The group consolidated its success with the release of two LPs, The Chirping Crickets and Buddy Holly, and did two very successful international tours as well as more performing in the United States. Holly had already developed aspirations and interests that diverged somewhat from those of Allison and Mauldin. The thought apparently had never occurred to either of them of giving up Texas as their home, and they continued to base their lives there, while Holly was increasingly drawn to New York, not just as a place to do business, but also to live. His romance with and marriage to Maria Elena Santiago, a receptionist in Murray Deutsch's office, only made the decision to move to New York easier.

By this time, Holly's music had grown in sophistication and complexity to the point where he had relinquished the lead guitar duties in the studio to session player Tommy Alsup, and he had done a number of recordings in New York utilizing session musicians such as King Curtis. It was during this period that his and the group's sales had slackened somewhat. The singles such as "Heartbeat" didn't sell nearly as well as the 45s of 1957 had rolled out of stores. He might even have advanced farther than a big chunk of the group's audience was prepared to accept in late 1958. "Well...All Right," for example, was years ahead of its time as a song and a recording.

Holly's split with the group -- and Petty -- in the fall of 1958 left him free to pursue some of those newer sounds, but it also left him short of cash resources. In the course of ending the association, it became clear to Holly and everyone else that Petty had manipulated the numbers and likely taken an enormous slice of the group's income for himself, though there was to prove almost no way of establishing this because he never seemed to finish his "accounting" of the moneys due to anyone, and his books were ultimately found to be in such disarray that when he came up with various low five-figure settlements to those involved, they were glad to get what they got.

With a new wife -- who was pregnant -- and no settlement coming in from Petty, Holly decided to earn some quick money by signing to play the Winter Dance Party package tour of the Midwest. It was on that tour that Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash, on February 3, 1959.

The crash was considered a piece of grim but not terribly significant news at the time. Most news organizations, run by men who'd come of age in the 1930s or 1940s, didn't take rock & roll very seriously, except to the degree that it could be exploited to sell newspapers or build viewing audiences. Holly's clean-cut image and scandal-free life, coupled with the news of his recent marriage, did give the story more poignancy than it otherwise might have had and probably got him treated more respectfully than would have been the case with other music stars of the period.

For teenagers of the period, it was the first public tragedy of its kind. No white rock & roller of any significance had ever died before, forget three of them, and the news was devastating. Radio station disc jockeys were also shaken -- for a lot of people involved in rock & roll music on any level, Holly's death may well have been the first time that they woke up the next day wishing and hoping that the previous day's news had all been a dream.

The suddenness and the whole accidental nature of the event, coupled with the ages of Holly and Valens -- 22 and 17, respectively -- made it even harder to take. Hank Williams had died at 29, but with his drinking and drug use he had always seemed on the fast track to the grave to almost anyone who knew him and even to a lot of fans; Johnny Ace had died in 1954 backstage at a show, but that was also by his own hand, in a game of Russian roulette. The emotional resonances of this event was totally different in every way possible from those tragedies.

A few careers were actually launched in the wake of the tragedy. Bobby Vee leaped to stardom when he and his band took over Holly's spot on the tour. In America, however, something of a pall fell over rock & roll music -- its sound was muted by Holly's death and Elvis' military service, and this darkness didn't fully lift for years. In England, the reaction was much more concentrated and pronounced -- Holly's final single, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," rose to number one on the British charts in the wake of his death, and it seemed as though the new generation of English rock & rollers and their audiences wouldn't let Holly's music or spirit die. Two years after the event, producer Joe Meek and singer Mike Berry combined to make "Tribute to Buddy Holly," a memorial single that sounded like the man himself reborn and still brings smiles and chills to listeners who know it; it is said that Meek never entirely got over Holly's death, and he did kill himself on the anniversary. On the less extreme front, players from Lennon, McCartney, and Keith Richards on down all found themselves influenced by Holly's music, songs, and playing. Groups like the Searchers -- taking their name from the same Wayne movie whence the phrase "that'll be the day" had been lifted -- sounded a lot like the Crickets and had a handful of his songs in their repertory when they cut their earliest sides, and it wasn't just the hits that they knew, but album cuts as well. Other bands, like a Manchester-spawned outfit fronted by Allan Clarke, Graham Nash, and Tony Hicks began a four-decade career by taking the name the Hollies.

Holly's record label continued to release posthumous albums of his work for years after his death, beginning with The Buddy Holly Story in early 1959, and they even repackaged the 1956 Decca sides several times over under various titles (the mid-'70s British LP The Nashville Sessions is the best of the vinyl editions). The company also engaged Petty to take various Holly demos and early country-flavored sides done by Buddy & Bob and dub new instruments and backing voices, principally using a band called the Fireballs. Those releases, including the albums Reminiscing and Showcase, did moderately well in America, but in England they actually charted. New recordings of his music, including the Rolling Stones' bone-shaking rendition of "Not Fade Away" -- taking it back to its Bo Diddley-inspired roots -- and the Beatles gorgeous rendition of "Words of Love" helped keep Holly's name alive before a new generation of listeners. In America, it was more of an uphill struggle to spread the word -- rock & roll, like most American popular culture, was always regarded as more easily disposable, and as a new generation of teenagers and new musical phenomena came along, the public did gradually forget. By the end of the 1960s, except among older fans (now in their twenties) and hardcore oldies listeners, Holly was a largely forgotten figure in his own country.

The tide began to turn at the very tail-end of the 1960s, with the beginning of the oldies boom. Holly's music figured in it, of course, and as people listened they also heard about the man behind it -- even Rolling Stone magazine, then the arbiter of taste for the counterculture, went out of its way to remind people of who Holly was. His image constituted a haunting figure, frozen forever in poses from 1957 and 1958, bespectacled, wearing a jacket and smiling; he looked like (and was) a figure from another age. The nature of his death, in an air crash, also set him apart from some of the then-recent deaths of contemporary rock stars such as Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison -- they'd all pushed life right to the edge, till it broke, where Holly stood there seemingly eternally innocent, both personally and in terms of the times in which he'd lived.

Then, in 1971, a little-known singer/songwriter named Don McLean, who counted himself a Holly fan, rose to international stardom behind a song called "American Pie," whose narrative structure was hooked around "the day the music died." After disposing of the erroneous notion that he was referring to President Kennedy, McLean made it clear that he meant February 3, 1959, and Holly. Coverage of "American Pie"'s popularity and lyrics as it soared to the top of the charts inevitably led to mentions of Holly, who was suddenly getting more exposure in the national press than he'd ever enjoyed in his lifetime.

His music had never disappeared -- even the Grateful Dead performed "Not Fade Away" in concert -- and now there was a song that seemed to give millions of people a series of personal and musical reference points into which to place the man. Until "American Pie," most Americans equated November 22, 1963, the day of President Kennedy's murder, with the loss of national innocence and an opening of an era of shared grief. McLean pushed the reference point back to February 3, 1959, on a purely personal basis, and an astonishingly large number of listeners accepted it.

In 1975, McCartney's MPL Communications bought Holly's publishing catalog from a near-bankrupt Petty. To some, the sale was Petty's final act of theft -- having robbed Holly and his widow blind in settling the account of what was owed him as a performer, he was profiting one last time from his perfidy. The truth is that it was a godsend to Maria Elena Holly and the Holly family in Lubbock; amid the events of the years and decades that followed, MPL was able to sell and exploit those songs in ways that Petty in Clovis, NM, never could have, and earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for them that Petty never would have. And with McCartney -- a Holly fan from the age of 15, and probably the most successful fan Holly ever had -- as publisher, they were paid every cent they had coming.

Amid the growing interest in Holly's music, the record industry was very slow to respond, at least in America. At the end of the 1960s, there were exactly two Holly LPs available domestically, The Great Buddy Holly, consisting of the 1956 Decca sides, which hardly represented his best or most important work, and the even more dispensable Giant album, consisting of overdubbed demos and outtakes. British audiences got access to more and better parts of his catalog first, and a collection, 20 Golden Greats, actually topped the charts over there in 1978, in conjunction with the release of the movie The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey in the title role. It was a romanticized and very simplified account of the man's life and career, and slighted the contributions of the other members of the Crickets -- and never even mentioned Petty -- but it got some of the essentials right and made Busey into a star and Holly into a household name.

In 1979, Holly became the first rock & roll star to be the subject of a career-spanning box set, ambitiously (and inaccurately) called The Complete Buddy Holly. Initially released in England and Germany, it later appeared in America, but it only seemed to whet hardcore fans' appetites for more -- two or three Holly bootlegs were circulating in the early '80s, including one that offered a handful of songs from the group's 1958 British tour. In a rare bold move, mostly courtesy of producer Steve Hoffman, MCA Records in 1983 issued For the First Time Anywhere, a selection of raw, undubbed masters of original Holly recordings that had previously only been available with extra instruments added on -- it was followed by From the Original Master Tapes, the first attempt to put together a Holly compilation with upgraded sound quality. Those titles and The Great Buddy Holly were the earliest of Holly's official CD releases, though they were soon followed by Buddy Holly and The Chirping Crickets. In 1986, the BBC aired The Real Buddy Holly Story, a documentary produced by McCartney as a counteractive to the Busey movie, which covered all of the areas ignored by the inaccuracies of the movie and responded to them. There have followed stage musicals and plays, upgraded and audiophile reissues of his work, and tribute albums, all continuing to flow out at a steady pace more than 50 years after Holly's death.

Link Wray biography

2011-01-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

Link Wray may never get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but his contribution to the language of rockin' guitar would still be a major one, even if he had never walked into another studio after cutting "Rumble." Quite simply, Link Wray invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists. Listen to any of the tracks he recorded between that landmark instrumental in 1958 through his Swan recordings in the early '60s and you'll hear the blueprints for heavy metal, thrash, you name it. Though rock historians always like to draw a nice, clean line between the distorted electric guitar work that fuels early blues records to the late-'60s Hendrix-Clapton-Beck-Page-Townshend mob, with no stops in between, a quick spin of any of the sides Wray recorded during his golden decade punches holes in that theory right quick. If a direct line can be traced forward from a black blues musician crankin' up his amp and playing with a ton of violence and aggression to a young white guy doing a mutated form of same, the line points straight to Link Wray, no contest. Pete Townshend summed it up for more guitarists than he probably realized when he said, "He is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and "'Rumble,'" I would have never picked up a guitar."

Everything that was handed down to today's current crop of headbangers from the likes of Led Zeppelin and the Who can be traced back to the guy from Dunn, NC, who started out in 1955 recording for Starday as a member of Lucky Wray & the Palomino Ranch Hands. You see, back in the early '50s, it was a different ball game altogether. Rock & roll hadn't become a national event in the United States yet, and if you were young and white and wanted to be in the music business, you had two avenues for possible career moves. You could be a pop-mush crooner like Perry Como or a hillbilly singer like the late Hank Williams, and that was about it. With country music all around him as a youth in North Carolina, the choice was obvious; Wray joined forces with his brothers Vernon and Doug, forming Lucky Wray & the Lazy Pine Wranglers, later changing the band name to the spiffier-sounding Palomino Ranch Hands. By the end of 1955, they had relocated outside of Washington, D.C., and added Shorty Horton on bass. With Link, Horton, and brothers Doug and Vernon ("Lucky," named after his gambling fortunes) handling drums and lead vocals respectively, they fell in with some local songwriters, and the results made it to vinyl as an EP on the local Kay label, with the rest of the sides being leased to Starday Records down in Texas.

But by 1958, the music had changed, and so had Wray's life. With a lung missing from a bout with tuberculosis during his stint in the Korean War, Link was advised by his doctor to let brother Vernon do all the vocalizing. So Link started stretching out more and more on the guitar, coming up with one instrumental after another. By this time, the band had sweated down to a trio, and changed its name to the Ray Men. After a brief flirtation as a teen idol -- changing his name to Ray Vernon -- the third Wray brother became the group's producer/manager. Armed with a 1953 Gibson Les Paul, a dinky Premier amp, an Elvis sneer, and a black leather jacket, Link started playing the local record hops around the D.C. area with disc jockey Milt Grant, who became his de facto manager. One night during a typical set, says Link, "They wanted me to play a stroll. I didn't know any, so I made one up. I made up "'Rumble.'"

"Rumble" was originally issued on Archie Bleyer's Cadence label back in 1958, and Bleyer was ready to pass on it when his daughter expressed excitement for the primitive instrumental, saying it reminded her of the rumble scenes in West Side Story. Bleyer renamed it (what its original title was back then, if any, is now lost to the mists of time), and "Rumble" jumped to number 16 on the national charts, despite the fact that it was banned from the radio in several markets (including New York City), becoming Wray's signature tune to this day. But despite the success and notoriety of "Rumble," it turned out to be Wray's only release on Cadence. Bleyer, under attack for putting out a record that was "promoting teenage gang warfare," wanted to clean Link and the boys up a bit, sending them down to Nashville to cut their next session with the Everly Brothers' production team calling the shots. The Wrays didn't see it that way, so they immediately struck a deal with Epic Records. Link's follow-up to "Rumble" was the pounding, uptempo "Rawhide." The Les Paul had been swapped for a Danelectro Longhorn model (with the longest neck ever manufactured on a production line guitar), its "lipstick tube" pickups making every note of Link's power chords sound like he was strumming with a tin can lid for a pick. The beat and sheer blister of it all was enough to get it up to number 23 on the national charts, and every kid who wore a black leather jacket and owned a hot rod had to have it.

But a pattern was emerging that would continue throughout much of Wray's early career; the powers that be figured that if they could tone him down and dress him up, they'd sell way more records in the bargain. What all these producers and record execs failed to realize was the simplest of truths: if Duane Eddy twanged away for white, teenage America, Link Wray played for juvenile delinquent hoods, plain and simple. By the end of 1960, Wray found himself in the mucho-confining position of recording with full orchestras, doing dreck like "Danny Boy" and "Claire de Lune." But when these gems failed to chart as well, relations with Epic came to a close, and by years' end, Link and Vern formed their own label, Rumble Records.

Rumble's three lone issues included the original version of Wray's next big hit, "Jack the Ripper." If "Rumble" sounded like gang warfare, then "Jack the Ripper" sounded like a high-speed car chase, which is exactly what it became the movie soundtrack for in the Richard Gere version of Breathless. Link's amp was recorded at the end of a hotel staircase for maximum echo effect, while he pumped riffs through it that would become the seeds of a million metal songs. After kicking up noise locally for a couple of years, it was going through another period of disc jockey spins when Swan Records of Philadelphia picked it up and got it nationwide attention. Certainly Wray was at his most prolific during his tenure with Swan, and label president Bernie Binnick gave Link and Vernon pretty much free rein to do what they wanted. Turning the family chicken coop into a crude, three-track studio, the Wray family spent the next decade recording and experimenting with sounds and styles.

At least now they could succeed -- or fail -- on their own terms. Most of these sides were leased out as one-shot deals to a zillion microscopic labels under a variety of names like the Moon Men, the Spiders, the Fender Benders, etc. What fueled this period of maximum creativity is open to debate. A lot of it had to do with the fact that Link and the boys honed their particular brand of rockin' mayhem working some of the grimiest joints on the face of the planet when these tracks were cut. When Swan label chief Binnick was questioned as to how he could issue such wild-ass material, he would smile, throw his hands up in the air and say, "What can you do with an animal like that?"

As the new decade dawned, Link Wray's sound and image were updated for the hippie marketplace. Wray's career fortunes waxed and waned throughout the '70s, a muddle of albums in a laid-back style doing little to enhance his reputation. After a stint backing '70s rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon, Wray went solo again, taking most of Gordon's band (including drummer Anton Fig) with him. But if the studio sides were a bit uneven, (Wray recorded several albums in the '80s backed by nothing more than a clumsy drum machine), he still could pack a wallop live, and his rare forays on the stages of the world spread the message that rock & roll's original wild guitar man still had plenty of gas left in the tank.

Wray married and moved to Denmark in 1980, recording the stray album for the foreign market, and throughout the 1990s he was still capable of strapping on a guitar and making it sound nastier than anyone in his sixties had a right to. And his back catalog got a lot attention in the '90s when the grunge revolution hit, with several young, hip guitarists citing Wray as an influence, and his early work continued to be reissued under various imprints. He recorded two new albums for Ace Records, Shadowman in 1997 and Barbed Wire in 2000 and toured up until his death in Copenhagen on November 5, 2005.

Chuck Berry biography

2011-01-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers. Quite simply, without him there would be no Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, nor a myriad others. There would be no standard "Chuck Berry guitar intro," the instrument's clarion call to get the joint rockin' in any setting. The clippety-clop rhythms of rockabilly would not have been mainstreamed into the now standard 4/4 rock & roll beat. There would be no obsessive wordplay by modern-day tunesmiths; in fact, the whole history (and artistic level) of rock & roll songwriting would have been much poorer without him. Like Brian Wilson said, he wrote "all of the great songs and came up with all the rock & roll beats." Those who do not claim him as a seminal influence or profess a liking for his music and showmanship show their ignorance of rock's development as well as his place as the music's first great creator. Elvis may have fueled rock & roll's imagery, but Chuck Berry was its heartbeat and original mindset.

He was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry to a large family in St. Louis. A bright pupil, Berry developed a love for poetry and hard blues early on, winning a high school talent contest with a guitar-and-vocal rendition of Jay McShann's big band number, "Confessin' the Blues." With some local tutelage from the neighborhood barber, Berry progressed from a four-string tenor guitar up to an official six-string model and was soon working the local East St. Louis club scene, sitting in everywhere he could. He quickly found out that black audiences liked a wide variety of music and set himself to the task of being able to reproduce as much of it as possible. What he found they really liked -- besides the blues and Nat King Cole tunes -- was the sight and sound of a black man playing white hillbilly music, and Berry's showmanlike flair, coupled with his seemingly inexhaustible supply of fresh verses to old favorites, quickly made him a name on the circuit. In 1954, he ended up taking over pianist Johnny Johnson's small combo and a residency at the Cosmopolitan Club soon made the Chuck Berry Trio the top attraction in the black community, with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm their only real competition.

But Berry had bigger ideas; he yearned to make records, and a trip to Chicago netted a two-minute conversation with his idol Muddy Waters, who encouraged him to approach Chess Records. Upon listening to Berry's homemade demo tape, label president Leonard Chess professed a liking for a hillbilly tune on it named "Ida Red" and quickly scheduled a session for May 21, 1955. During the session the title was changed to "Maybellene" and rock & roll history was born. Although the record only made it to the mid-20s on the Billboard pop chart, its overall influence was massive and groundbreaking in its scope. Here was finally a black rock & roll record with across-the-board appeal, embraced by white teenagers and Southern hillbilly musicians (a young Elvis Presley, still a full year from national stardom, quickly added it to his stage show), that for once couldn't be successfully covered by a pop singer like Snooky Lanson on Your Hit Parade. Part of the secret to its originality was Berry's blazing 24-bar guitar solo in the middle of it, the imaginative rhyme schemes in the lyrics, and the sheer thump of the record, all signaling that rock & roll had arrived and it was no fad. Helping to put the record over to a white teenage audience was the highly influential New York disc jockey Alan Freed, who had been given part of the writers' credit by Chess in return for his spins and plugs. But to his credit, Freed was also the first white DJ/promoter to consistently use Berry on his rock & roll stage show extravaganzas at the Brooklyn Fox and Paramount theaters (playing to predominately white audiences); and when Hollywood came calling a year or so later, also made sure that Chuck appeared with him in Rock! Rock! Rock!, Go, Johnny, Go!, and Mister Rock'n'Roll. Within a years' time, Chuck had gone from a local St. Louis blues picker making 15 dollars a night to an overnight sensation commanding over a hundred times that, arriving at the dawn of a new strain of popular music called rock & roll.

The hits started coming thick and fast over the next few years, every one of them about to become a classic of the genre: "Roll Over Beethoven," "Thirty Days," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," "You Can't Catch Me," "School Day," "Carol," "Back in the U.S.A.," "Little Queenie," "Memphis, Tennessee," "Johnny B. Goode," and the tune that defined the moment perfectly, "Rock and Roll Music." Berry was not only in constant demand, touring the country on mixed package shows and appearing on television and in movies, but smart enough to know exactly what to do with the spoils of a suddenly successful show business career. He started investing heavily in St. Louis area real estate and, ever one to push the envelope, opened up a racially mixed nightspot called the Club Bandstand in 1958 to the consternation of uptight locals. These were not the plans of your average R&B singers who contented themselves with a wardrobe of flashy suits, a new Cadillac, and the nicest house in the black section. Berry was smart with plenty of business savvy and was already making plans to open an amusement park in nearby Wentzville. When the St. Louis hierarchy found out that an underage hat-check girl Berry hired had also set up shop as a prostitute at a nearby hotel, trouble came down on Berry like a sledgehammer on a fly. Charged with transporting a minor over state lines (the Mann Act), Berry endured two trials and was sentenced to federal prison for two years as a result.

He emerged from prison a moody, embittered man. But two very important things had happened in his absence. First, British teenagers had discovered his music and were making his old songs hits all over again. Second, and perhaps most important, America had discovered the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, both of whom based their music on Berry's style, with the Stones' early albums looking like a Berry song list. Rather than being resigned to the has-been circuit, Berry found himself in the midst of a worldwide beat boom with his music as the centerpiece. He came back with a clutch of hits ("Nadine," "No Particular Place to Go," "You Never Can Tell"), toured Britain in triumph, and appeared on the big screen with his British disciples in the groundbreaking T.A.M.I. Show in 1964.

Berry had moved with the times and found a new audience in the bargain and when the cries of "yeah-yeah-yeah" were replaced with peace signs, Berry altered his live act to include a passel of slow blues and quickly became a fixture on the festival and hippie ballroom circuit. After a disastrous stint with Mercury Records, he returned to Chess in the early '70s and scored his last hit with a live version of the salacious nursery rhyme, "My Ding a Ling," yielding Berry his first official gold record. By decade's end, he was as in demand as ever, working every oldies revival show, TV special, and festival that was thrown his way. But once again, troubles with the law reared their ugly head and 1979 saw Berry headed back to prison, this time for income tax evasion. Upon release this time, the creative days of Chuck Berry seemed to have come to an end. He appeared as himself in the Alan Freed bio-pic, American Hot Wax, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but steadfastly refused to record any new material or even issue a live album. His live performances became increasingly erratic, with Berry working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances that did much to tarnish his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers alike. In 1987, he published his first book, Chuck Berry: The Autobiography, and the same year saw the film release of what will likely be his lasting legacy, the rockumentary Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll, which included live footage from a 60th-birthday concert with Keith Richards as musical director and the usual bevy of superstars coming out for guest turns. But for all of his off-stage exploits and seemingly ongoing troubles with the law, Chuck Berry remains the epitome of rock & roll, and his music will endure long after his private escapades have faded from memory. Because when it comes down to his music, perhaps John Lennon said it best, "If you were going to give rock & roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."

Bill Haley biography

2011-01-30T13:38:00.000-08:00

Bill Haley is the neglected hero of early rock & roll. Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly are ensconced in the heavens, transformed into veritable constellations in the rock music firmament, their music respected by writers and scholars as well as the record-buying public, virtually every note of music they ever recorded theoretically eligible for release. And among the living rock & roll pioneers, Chuck Berry is given his due in the music marketplace and by the history books, and Bo Diddley is acknowledged appropriately in the latter, even if his music doesn't sell the way it should. Yet Bill Haley -- who was there before any of them, playing rock & roll before it even had a name, and selling it in sufficient quantities out of a small Pennsylvania label to attract attention from the major labels before Presley was even recording in Memphis -- is barely represented by more than a dozen of his early singles, and recognized by the average listener for exactly two songs among the hundreds that he recorded; and he's often treated as little more than a glorified footnote, an anomaly that came and went very quickly, in most histories of the music. The truth is, Bill Haley came along a lot earlier than most people realize and the histories usually acknowledge, and he went on making good music for years longer than is usually recognized.

The central event in Haley's career was the single "Rock Around the Clock" topping the charts for eight weeks in the spring and summer of 1955, an event that most music historians identify as the dawn of the rock & roll era. Getting the song there, however, took more than a year, a period in which the band had already done unique and essential service in the cause of bringing rock & roll into the world, with the million-selling single "Shake, Rattle and Roll" to their credit; equally important, in the three years before that, Haley and his band had already broken new ground with the singles of "Rocket 88," "Rock the Joint," and "Crazy, Man, Crazy."

Born in Highland Park, MI, in 1925, Haley was blind in one eye from birth, and, as a consequence, suffered from terrible shyness as a boy. The family moved to Boothwyn, PA, during the mid-'30s, where Haley developed a strong love for country music and began playing guitar and singing; by 14, he had left school in the hope of pursuing a career in music. He bounced through a few country bands based in the Middle Atlantic states and also tried to establish himself as a singing and yodeling cowboy. His first big break came in 1944, when he replaced Kenny Roberts -- who was being drafted -- in the Downhomers, with whom Haley made his first appearance on records. Haley left the group in 1946 and went through several other bands before returning to his home in Chester, PA, where he initially hoped to get some work as a DJ. Instead, he formed a new band, the Four Aces of Western Swing, with keyboardman Johnny Grande, bassist Al Rex, and steel guitar player Billy Williamson, and signed a contract with Cowboy Records, a new label formed by James Myers, a composer, musician, and publisher, and his partner, Jack Howard. Their first record was released in 1948, a version of "Candy Kisses"; by 1949, the group had changed its name to the Saddlemen and began moving between labels, including liaisons with the fledgling Atlantic Records, Ivin Ballen's Gotham Records, and Ed Wilson's Keystone Records, before finally settling at Holiday Records, a small label owned by David Miller, in 1951. Their first release, done at Miller's insistence, was a cover of "Rocket 88," a song that originated out of Sam Phillips' fledgling recording operation in Memphis, courtesy of Jackie Brenston. It was a pumping piece of sexually suggestive, rollicking R&B, and Haley and the Saddlemen simply put a broader, slightly loping country boogie sound onto it and boosted the rhythm section, while a lead guitar (probably played by Danny Cedrone) noodled some blues licks on the break. Haley hadn't liked the idea of doing the song, but Miller wanted it, and the result -- though no one knew it at the time -- was the first white-band cover of what is now regarded by many scholars as the first real rock & roll song.

Just to put this in perspective, rock & roll is usually written about as a phenomenon (and a reaction to) the complacency of the Eisenhower era. But Haley had released what amounted to a rock & roll single in 1951, when "Ike" wasn't even yet running to be president, the country was still mired in Korea, and John Kennedy not yet even a senator. Howlin' Wolf was still based in Memphis and cutting sides for Sam Phillips, while a 15-year-old Elvis Presley was in tenth grade. The members of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were still in grammar school; Lonnie Donegan was still known as Anthony Donegan and thinking of becoming an entertainer; and Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies had not yet even met. And Big Bill Broonzy was about to introduce American blues to England.

At the time, "Rocket 88" didn't seem to matter too much in terms of sales, as it was neither fish nor fowl; not good enough R&B to eclipse Brenston's original among black record buyers, nor sufficiently a country record the way white audiences or the radio stations that catered to them wanted. No one even had a name for what it was; a "race record" as the trades called discs done in a style that seemed aimed at black listeners, but one done by a white band in a kind of country style. Indeed, the band itself remained strangely anonymous; Miller had seen to it that there were no publicity photos of Bill Haley & the Saddlemen, a calculated effort to obscure their race, though the band's name and the country ballad B-sides to those early singles pretty much told who they really were. That debut single sold just a few thousand copies regionally, as did its follow-up, "Green Tree Boogie." Meanwhile, when Haley and his band played, they and their business manager, Jim Ferguson, began to notice that it was the younger audience members who responded best to the R&B-style songs that Miller had them doing. They also saw all around them that enthusiasm for country music was flat, and that if they were looking for a hit, it likely wasn't going to come from this new direction.

They were trying all kinds of permutations of country and R&B and getting some response, but they didn't know what it exactly was that they were doing musically. Then came "Rock the Joint," their first release on Miller's new Essex Records label; it had a beat, it had a memorable catch phrase, and it had a great performance at its core (including the very same solo that Danny Cedrone would later use on "Rock Around the Clock"), and it sold well enough that the band had to go on tour promoting it. One of the places where it sold well was Cleveland, where DJ Alan Freed picked up on the song; it was immediately after this that Freed began referring to the music embodied by "Rock the Joint," music that he played every night on his show, as "rock & roll," thus giving Haley a good deal of justification for his later claim to have been in on the birth of the music before anyone ever knew it. [Note: Marshall Lyttle remembers "Rock the Joint" as the song Freed was playing during an appearance by the band on his radio show, when he began using the phrase "rock & roll" -- scholars who agree with the Haley connection also often attribute Freed's inspiration to the later single "Crazy, Man, Crazy," while other historians say that Freed appropriated the phrase from Wild Bill Moore's "We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll".]

By this time, the bandmembers, all well into their 30s and long past being teenagers, were taking what amounted to a crash course in what that audience wanted; at Ferguson's suggestion, they played hundreds of high-school dances, not normally a venue that a professional country band would bother with. In the process, they also changed their image and name. By 1952, Bill Haley and the Saddlemen were history; instead, playing off of their leader's name and the celestial phenomenon called Halley's Comet, they became Bill Haley & His Comets. The cowboy hats and other country paraphernalia were junked as well. And they took a close look at the successful R&B stage acts of the time, especially the Treniers, and began working out wild quasi-acrobatic moves by their bass player and saxman, in particular, stuff that was unthinkable for a country band but seemingly what the kids devoured at dances.

Most important, they would try out material, phrases, and stage moves, seeing what worked and what didn't, in front of the teenage audiences they found in Pennsylvania; and they listened to the way that this teenaged audience talked. Haley tried to use phrases that he heard, and put them into this musical stew; some of what they came up with was pleasantly silly material like "Dance With a Dolly" and "Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" (though even the latter had a guitar solo worth hearing more than once). But some of it, like "Rockin' Chair on the Moon," was years ahead of its time; and some of it, like "Crazy, Man, Crazy" -- a Haley original whose title came from a piece of teen slang that he'd heard -- did exactly what was intended, hitting the Top 20 on the pop charts in 1953, a first for a white band playing an R&B-style song.

Late that year, James Myers offered Haley and Miller a song that he had published (and, on paper, at least, co-authored as Jimmy De Knight) entitled "Rock Around the Clock." Written almost as a parody of R&B conventions, its principal composer was Max C. Freedman, a songwriter best remembered up to that time for his 1946 hit "Sioux City Sue," and also responsible for such songs as "Do You Believe in Dreams" and "Her Beaus Were Only Rainbows." Miller either genuinely didn't see the potential of the song, or else he didn't like the business arrangement that Myers had with Haley, because he refused to record it. After a few more attempts at cutting other songs for the teen market that simply didn't work, Haley and the band and their manager were ready to leave Miller and Essex Records. A meeting was set up with Milt Gabler, a producer at Decca Records, who not only liked the song and had no problem cutting it, but saw some serious potential in Bill Haley & His Comets, based on what Essex had done with them on "Rock the Joint" and "Crazy, Man, Crazy." A contract was signed, and on April 12, 1954, the band, with Danny Cedrone on lead guitar, did a two-song session in New York that yielded "Thirteen Women" -- a post-nuclear holocaust sex fantasy worthy of Hugh Hefner (who had only started up Playboy magazine a year earlier) -- and "Rock Around the Clock." It was released a month later and made the charts for one week at number 23, selling 75,000 copies, not bad but not very significant either. It was enough, however, for Gabler to schedule another session in early June, where the band recorded "Shake, Rattle and Roll."

That was the record that broke the band nationally on Decca, reaching number seven and selling over a million copies between late 1954 and early 1955. They followed it up quickly with "Dim, Dim the Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere)," a jaunty piece that reached number 11 nationally and actually made the R&B charts for Haley, a first for him. Then, in early 1955, James Myers managed to get "Rock Around the Clock" placed in the juvenile delinquency drama The Blackboard Jungle, playing over the credits. The movie was a huge hit, and in its wake Decca re-released the song that spring. "Rock Around the Clock" shot up the charts this time, and the result was an eight-week run in the number-one spot; by some estimates, it became the second biggest worldwide-selling single after Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (oddly enough, also a Decca release), 25-million copies sold worldwide.

The success of "Rock Around the Clock" took place while Elvis Presley had yet to chart a record nationally; at a point when Chuck Berry's very first single for Chess had barely been recorded; and when Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly weren't even close to auditioning for recording contracts. One has to visualize a reality in which Bill Haley & His Comets were the only established white rock & roll band, and the only white rock & roll stars in the world. Within a year, that would all change, but it was long enough for Haley and his band to become stars, with appearances on national television and a movie deal of their own. From the end of 1954 until the end of 1956, they would place nine singles into the Top 20, one of those at number one and three more in the Top Ten.

The Comets were one of the best rock & roll bands of their era, with a mostly sax-driven sound ornamented with heavy rhythm guitar from Haley, a slap-bass, and drumming with lots of rim-shots; they had the "blackest" sound of any white band working in 1953-1955. It wasn't always obvious then, and has been forgotten today, precisely how fluid their membership was, for all of the consistency of that sound. Haley's two original bandmates from his Four Aces days, Johnny Grande and Billy Williamson, were formal partners, joined to him at the hip legally, with fixed shares in the group's earnings; tenor saxman Joey D'Ambrosio, bassist Marshall Lytle, and drummer Dick Richards, by contrast, were hired employees earning 150 dollars a week plus expenses -- a respectable living for most working musicians in 1955 -- when "Rock Around the Clock" hit the top of the charts. Ironically, Danny Cedrone, whose guitar dominated that song and the key Essex hits "Rock the Joint" and "Crazy, Man, Crazy," died in an accident in July of 1954, and his successor, Franny Beecher, was earning 150 dollars a week when he worked with the band. In the late summer of 1955, with a number-one single to their credit and lots of work in front of them, D'Ambrosio, Lytle, and Richards all demanded raises, which Haley refused to grant them. They quit that month and formed a short-lived Comets soundalike unit called the Jodimars (taken from parts of their first names), who recorded for Capitol Records. Beecher was taken into the group as a full-time member (though not a partner) and remained with them until 1961, while D'Ambrosio's successor, Rudy Pompilli, became a core member of the band, working with them virtually without interruption for the next 19 years, until his death in 1975.

In the late spring of 1956, rock & roll changed again as Elvis Presley, who was younger, leaner, and a more fiercely sexual presence, emerged as a star; he not only made music that was as good as Haley's but he looked the role of a rock & roll star. The differences in their respective images could be summed up by examining the truest scenes in the movies that each did. Rock Around the Clock, starring Bill Haley & His Comets, was a highly fictionalized account of the band and its success, but it did capture something of the spirit of the early days of rock & roll, with some good performance clips; the comparable Elvis Presley movie was Loving You, in which the singer played a fictionalized version of himself, named Deke Rivers. In Loving You, when Deke Rivers performs in front of an audience and sets the girls screaming and swooning, his would-be manager comments, "If he'd gone on any longer, they'd be giving him their door keys." In Rock Around the Clock, by contrast, the single truest scene depicts a would-be promoter driving through rural Pennsylvania and chancing upon a dance where Haley and company are playing; he enters, sees hundreds of kids dancing to the band's music, and asks a woman being lifted up over the head of her partner, "Hey sister, what's that exercise you're getting?" She answers, exuberantly, legs in the air, "It's rock & roll!"

Haley's music was the soundtrack to a good time, whether dancing or more private recreation; Presley's music, at least where women were concerned, was an invitation to sexual fantasy about the singer. Nobody except the three Mrs. Haleys could have had sexual fantasies about pudgy, balding, dorky-looking Bill Haley. And, yet, Haley was every bit as outrageous and daring in what he got away with in his music as the worst accusations ever leveled against Presley; even Haley's bowdlerized version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" was the most overtly sexual song ever to reach the American Top Ten up to that time, and "Rock Around the Clock" wasn't very far behind. Though Max C. Freedman might've meant his song differently, taken literally in the true meaning of the word "rock" as it was used in 1953-1954, "Rock Around the Clock" was a bouncing, beguiling musical account of 24 hours of sexual activity, and the precursor to such numbers as "Reelin' & Rockin'" by Chuck Berry. Haley might've looked the part of the square trying to be cool once Presley came along, but on those two songs he was as culturally and morally subversive as the worst warnings of the anti-rock & roll zealots intimated.

Haley may not have seemed a cutting-edge artist after mid-1956, but he remained a force to be reckoned with in music for another year, cutting good singles -- including "Razzle-Dazzle," "Burn That Candle," and "See You Later Alligator" -- and several surprisingly strong albums. He did gradually lose touch with the teenage audience, and his square persona couldn't possibly compete with the likes of Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry, though the group always put on a good show. Additionally, overseas, where any visiting American artist was treated well, Haley was greeted like visiting royalty; he always had large and fiercely loyal audiences in England, France, and Germany, which would turn out in huge numbers to see him.

By 1959, Haley was no longer placing either singles or albums anywhere near the top of the charts. His brand of rock & roll, made up of R&B crossed with country boogie and honky tonk, was passé, and a switch to instrumentals didn't solve the problem of falling sales. None of this would have been so bad, except that Haley -- mostly through the horrendous job done by his business manager Jim Ferguson -- had managed to squander most of what he'd earned during the good years, and owed a crippling tax liability to the government as well. Contrary to the popular perception, he remained an active musician throughout the 1960s, recording for Warner Bros. and a brace of other U.S. labels, and he also found a lucrative performing and recording career in Mexico (where Haley, not Chubby Checker or Hank Ballard, started the "twist" craze). He pursued a music career while avoiding tax liens, and trying to keep a marriage and a collapsing publishing business together. Haley managed to pull it off, getting through the decade with some possessions still in his hands, mostly by juggling a lot of gigs in Mexico and Europe and taking lots of payments in cash. Curiously, during this period Haley himself became something of a rock & roll historian in interviews; perhaps sensitive to his own experience of being shunted aside, when he talked about the twist phenomenon, he went out of his way to credit Hank Ballard as the originator of the song, and always acknowledged his debt to Big Joe Turner for "Shake, Rattle and Roll."

By the late '60s, with the advent of the rock & roll revival, Haley suddenly found himself faced for the first time in a decade with major demand for his work in America. It couldn't have happened at a better time, because that same year, for the first time in more than ten years, he didn't owe anything to the government. The Internal Revenue Service had been seizing all of his royalties from Decca Records for a decade, and luckily for him, Decca (possibly thanks to Milt Gabler) had been honest in its accounting; in that time, sales of "Rock Around the Clock" and his other Decca hits, mostly overseas, had wiped out Haley's entire six-figure tax debt. And to top off the good news, Haley not only had a full concert schedule in front of him in the U.S.A., but major record labels interested in recording him; he ended up signing with Buddha/Kama Sutra Records for a pair of live albums. The next few years showed Haley in a triumphant comeback around the world. To top it all off, "Rock Around the Clock" even charted anew in the Top 40 during 1974 when it turned up as the theme music for the hit television series Happy Days during its first season.

By the 1970s, however, age and the ravages of time were starting to catch up on all concerned. Saxman Rudy Pompilli, who'd been with him since 1955, died in 1975, and Haley eventually retired from performing. During his final years, Haley developed severe psychological problems that left him delusional at least part of the time. By the time of his death in 1981, the process of reducing his role in the history of rock & roll had already begun, partly a result of ignorance on the part of the writers handling the histories by then, and also, to a degree, as a result of political correctness; he was white, and was perceived as having exploited R&B, and there were enough people like that in the early history who had to be written about but were easier to cast as "rebels."

In the years since his death, the surviving members of the Comets, including pianist Johnny Grande guitarist Franny Beecher, saxman Joey D'Ambrosio, bassist Marshall Lytle, and drummer Dick Richards, all in their 70s and 80s, have continued to work together and were still able to perform to sell-out crowds in Europe during the 1990s and early 2000s, doing Haley's classic repertory. Haley's own reputation has increased somewhat, particularly in the wake of Bear Family Records' release of two boxes covering his career from 1954 through 1969, and Roller Coaster Records' issuing of Haley's Essex Records sides. True, there are perhaps 45 songs on those 12 CDs of material that Haley should not have bothered recording, but there are hundreds more in those same collections, some of it dazzling and all of it constituting a serious body of solid, often inspired rock & roll, interspersed here and there with some good country sides. Perhaps little of the post-1957 stuff could set the whole world on fire, but Haley had already been there and done that, and still had a lot of good music to play.

The Sun Records Label Story

2011-01-30T12:17:00.000-08:00

Sam C. Phillips was from Florence, Alabama. He had ambitions to be a lawyer, but had to drop out of high school to support his aunt and widowed mother. He became a disc jockey in 1942 at WLAY in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After a series of jobs on other radio stations, he ended up on WREC in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1946. He was also promoting events at the Hotel Peabody in Memphis, and by 1950 had enough money to start a company to record local events and do custom recording. The company he formed was called Memphis Recording Service, with a small recording studio at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis. He developed contacts with Saul and Jules Bihari who owned Modern Records in Los Angeles and Sam's first recording was of Phineas Newborn, a jazz pianist, for them in June 1950.

A disc jockey on WHBQ named Dewey Phillips (no relation to Sam) came to Sam with the proposal to form a record label to record the many blues singers in and around Memphis. Dewey Phillips would run the label and Sam Phillips would record the music. The name of the record label was "It's The Phillips" The first and only record issued was It's The Phillips 9001/2, "Boogie in the Park"/"Gotta Let You Go" by Joe Hill Louis in August 1950. The record was unsuccessful, and Sam Phillips subsequently negotiated a contract with Modern Records for Joe Hill Louis recordings.

Phillips continued working for Modern Records, cutting sessions for B.B. King, Rosco Gordon and Walter Horton. In 1951, he also started an association with the Chess Brothers in Chicago. After recording Howlin' Wolf and Jackie Brenston, he offered to lease the masters to Chess. Modern Records was upset that Phillips had given Chess the first option on Brenston and Wolf recordings and after that used virtually nothing from the Memphis Recording service.

Jackie Brenston was a saxophone player in Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm band. Ike Turner had come to the Memphis Recording Service to record an automobile song he and the band had developed called "Rocket 88". Sam Phillips leased the song
to Chess records, where it was issued under the name "Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats." It became one of the biggest R&B hits of 1951.

When many of the bluesmen that Phillips had been recorded migrated to Chicago and started recording with Chess Records directly, the Chess brothers also stopped using masters made by the Memphis Recording Service. The fact that he was unsuccessful in getting the material he was recording out through other record companies led Sam Phillips to start his own label. Sun Records was born in February 1952. Sam's brother Judd Phillips joined the company to handle promotion. Judd had been involved in country music promotion with Roy Acuff before moving to California to work on radio station publicly for Jimmy Durante. Judd knew how to get product exposure on radio. Judd eventually left Sun Records and had a short-lived label himself called Judd Records. He was manager for Jerry Lee Lewis for many years.

The first record on Sun was to be number 174 by "Little Walter" Horton and Jack Kelly titled "Blues in My Condition" [billed as by "Jackie Boy and Little Walter"] but a negative reaction to samples circulated to radio stations persuaded Phillips not issue the record commercially. Sun 175 by Johnny London titled "Drivin' Slow" was the first record to appear in record stores.

A local disc jockey on WDIA named Rufus Thomas had the first hit on Sun with a recording of "Bear Cat" (Sun 181) which was an answer record to Big Mama Thorton's popular R&B hit "Hound Dog". The success of "Bear Cat" and the follow-up "Tiger Man" (Sun 188) enabled Phillips to get national distribution deals. Sam Phillips had further success with blues recordings by Little Junior Parker, Billy "The Kid" Emerson and Little Milton Campbell. He also recorded a few group recordings, his most successful was by a group of inmates at the Nashville State Penitentiary who called themselves the "Prisonaires". Their recording of "Just Walkin' in the Rain" (Sun 186) written by lead singer Johnny Bragg was an R&B hit and in 1956 was made into a pop hit when Johnnie Ray released a cover on Columbia Records.

The Memphis Recording Service, in addition to recording bar mitzvahs, weddings and making off-the-air transcriptions for local radio stations, also recorded personal records for people walking in off the street. For four dollars they would record two songs. A young truck driver in Memphis named Elvis Presley stopped in one day on his lunch hour to record a song for his mother's birthday. Sam Phillips was not there that day, so Marion Keisker, the Sun office manager, recorded Elvis. As Elvis sang the first song she decided to make a tape copy to play for Sam. She not only played the song for Sam Phillips, but kept pushing Sam to use the young singer. Eight months later, in 1954, when he needed a singer for a song called "Without You", Sam called Elvis Presley into the studio. Elvis was terrible on the song, so Phillips asked him what else he could do. Elvis sang religious, gospel, western and even Dean Martin material. Elvis told Sam he was looking for a band and Sam put him in touch with Scotty Moore and Bill Black. Elvis rehearsed with Scotty and Bill and then went back to the Sun studios. The first song recorded was "I Love You Because" and some other country oriented songs. During a break, Elvis, Scotty and Bill were messing around in the studio, Elvis was banging on a guitar and singing "That's All Right, Mama" an old country blues song by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. When Sam Phillips heard this, he told Elvis to start over and he would record it. Sam Phillips recognized that in Elvis he had what he had been looking for, a white singer who sounded black. They knew that "That's All Right, Mama" (Sun 209) would be the first single for Elvis Presley. During the next few days, they recorded Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" for the second side of the single. Sam took a dub of the record to Dewey Phillips, Sam's former business partner and top DJ on WHBQ. Dewey played the song over and over, listeners called in with their enthusiastic reaction. Dewey called Elvis into the studio for an on-air interview, emphasizing that Elvis was a graduate of Humes High School. Dewey said later he wanted to get that out since many listeners thought Elvis was black and Humes was an all-white school.

Sam Phillips and his artists had merged white country music with black rhythm and blues to create a new sound. Elvis made five singles for Sun records, each of them combining a blues song on one side with a country song on the other, but both sung in the same vein. Each release got more and more attention. His fourth single, "Baby Let's Play House"/"I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" (Sun 217) made #5 on the Billboard Country and Western (disc jockey) charts and #10 on the C&W best seller charts. The fifth single, "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" (Sun 223), made it to #1 on the Country and Western charts (both juke box and best seller charts), while the flip, "Mystery Train," made #11. Elvis' dynamic stage shows were also creating a sensation all over the south. Elvis had a new manager named Colonel Tom Parker who wanted to take Elvis to a major record company. Sam Phillips knew that he couldn't keep Elvis when his Sun contract expired, so he sold Elvis' contract and all of Elvis Presley's Sun recordings to RCA Victor for $40,000, split $35,000 for Sun Records and $5,000 to Elvis (which may have represented unpaid record royalties).

With the success of Elvis, other young country singers were drawn to Sun Records. Among them were Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich. Sam Phillips soon abandoned blues recording and concentrated on this new music, called rockabilly, a combination of "hillbilly" (as country music was then sometimes called) and rock & roll. Sun Records produced hit after hit. Carl Perkins was on the verge of major stardom with "Blue Suede Shoes" (it reached #2 on the pop charts and #1 on the country charts, despite a cover version by the enormously popular Presley), but was involved in a serious automobile accident which left him unable to cash in on his popularity. Jerry Lee Lewis had two giant smashes in "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire". On a tour of England, the newspapers revealed that Lewis had married a 13 year old girl while not legally divorced from his previous wife. Lewis had to cut the tour short and come home, his career temporarily in ruins. Jerry Lee Lewis continued recording for Sun for several years but he never recovered from the bad publicly to have a hit of the magnitude of his first two. He was able to revive his career later by moving into country music on the Mercury Record label. Johnny Cash was probably the most consistent record seller on Sun but left the label for Columbia in 1958.

In the October of 1957, Sun Records established a subsidiary label called Phillips International. This label had successful releases by Charlie Rich, Carl Mann and Bill Justis. Sam Phillips opened a new studio in Memphis (at 639 Madison Ave.) in mid-1960, replacing the studio at 706 Union. He also opened another studio on 17th Street in Nashville in February, 1961. Both studios were popular, gaining revenue for the Phillips corporation by recording music for other labels in addition to Sun and Phillips International.

The move to the new studio on Madison Avenue in Memphis was important for another reason. Apparently, the old studio on Union Street was for most of the years only equipped with monaural recorders. The new studio featured an upgrade to stereo machines, and the stereo material released from Sun mostly seem to have been recorded, or at least overdubbed, after the move. The original issues of the albums on Sun, Phillips International, and Judd were all mono, to our knowledge. Reissues of these albums have turned up in rechanneled stereo, but it apparently wasn't until the late 1960s that the original tapes were dug out and some of the original stereo issued on vinyl. A recent CD on the AVI/Sun label featuring Charlie Rich's recordings from 1959 show that Sun's Union Avenue studios did have some stereo capability before the move, but the stereo recordings from that era are few and far between.

Sun Records had become a major force, almost becoming a national label. Unfortunately, its slate of talent left the label one by one, and wasn't replaced by artists of similar stature or talent. By 1963, Sun was pretty much back to the status of a regional label. By 1968, Sun was almost moribund, issuing very few singles. Sam Phillips had made a lot of money from the record business and even more from his other interests (he was an early investor in the Memphis based Holiday Inn hotel chain among other things). On July 1, 1969, Sam Phillips sold the Sun Record label to Shelby S. Singleton, Jr., a very successful record producer for Mercury records. Singleton recognized the value of the catalog and re-released the great Sun recordings on a series of albums on the Sun International label in the United States. He also leased the recordings to other record companies around the world. The Sun Record material is perhaps the most reissued music in the history of the record business, with the amount of record releases far exceeding the original output. Singleton mined the Sun archives extensively, including releasing stereo masters, and almost all of the unissued material in the vaults now has been released.

Sun Records was first and foremost a singles label, only 12 albums were issued on Sun and another 8 on the Phillips International label. The only Sun albums that stayed in print past the early 1960s were the seven Johnny Cash albums. Because in the intense interest in the Sun label, many of the albums are very collectable. Probably the rarest albums are two of the later releases on Phillips International, a great blues album by Frank Frost, PILP-1975 and an R&B album by Frank Ballard, PILP-1985. The most in-demand album on Sun itself is probably Sun LP-1225, Dance Album of Carl Perkins. This album was reissued with a new cover and a new title, Teen Beat. The Teen Beat cover may be even rarer than the Dance Album cover.

The following discography covers the original albums on Sun and Phillips International, the albums released on Shelby Singleton's Sun International label. Also included are the albums of reissued Sun material from around the world, although we're sure this listing is not complete. The discography of Judd Records which was owned by Sam Phillips' brother Judd Phillips is also included.

This discography was compiled using our record collections and the following books: The Sun Records Story, Catalyst, Sun Records: The Brief History of the Legendary Record Label, and Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock �N' Roll, all by Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins, Elvis, A Biography by Jerry Hopkins, and The American Record Label Directory and Dating Guide, 1940 - 1959 by Galen Gart.