(368) RAY CHARLES SINGERS : BACKGROUND SINGERS OF IMPORTANCE 1964 HIT

From our archives post (91) THE RAY CHARLES SINGERS

from Saturday, December 15, 2007

I had a connection with Perry Como. He worked with the Ray Charles Singers as his background singers. They worked on most everything he recorded and on television.

When I recorded "Lonesome Love," at a giant studio in New York, RCA Victor, right on Broadway, the Ray Charles Singers were my background singers. I was scared to death. They came over. They didn't put on any aires. One of the guys put his arm around me and said, "Now just relax a little bit." They were Regular Joes, and helpful to me.

Now, a few years later, when I had the song "I Feel Like Crying," that Red West and I wrote in Elvis' den on Bellagio in Bel Air, and Pat Boone bought it for Cooga Mooga, Jack Spena, Pat's manager, pitched the song to Perry. Perry was doing an album and Jack and Pat thought it would be a great cut. But Perry listened to Pat Boone's version and he chuckled. "I can't do it as good as Pat can," Perry said.

UPDATE! Linking to the RAY CHARLES SINGERS SITE (Yes they are still working!)

PS. "He is sometimes known humorously as "The Other Ray Charles" to distinguish him from the great soul musician of the same name."

NEW VIDEO The Ray Charles Singers had a top ten hit in 1964 with this recording of a song that was so popular it was recorded by at least a half a dozen other artists, Love Me With All Of Your Heart.

(367) 1964 MY FRIEND ERSEL HICKEY'S CROOKED LITTLE MAN BECOMES A CLASSIC : SERENDIPITY SINGERS

Ersel Hickey, one of the first friends I made in my New York days, wrote this song called "Crooked Little Man" /"Don't Let The Rain Come Down, and in 1964 the Serendipity Singers had a top ten hit with it. Before you know it, the Beach Boys recorded it too. The Serendipity singers were considered a folk group, in the tradition of Peter, Paul, and Mary. And in 1964 they performed at the Democratic National Convention.

This song was also recorded by Johnny Rivers. Trini Lopez performed it and so did many other performers. We've even heard a punk rock version. It's called a "classic" now. Back then the song writing residuals bought Ersel got a house.


The Serendipity Singers have had many changes through the years. Some incarnation of the group was performing through the 1990's.

(366) FERLIN HUSKY PASSED MARCH 17 2011 REMEMBERING FERLIN LINK TO HIS OFFICIAL SITE!

FROM OUR ARCHIVES in Memorial of Ferlin Husky!



POST (204) FERLIN HUSKY and PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS


UPDATED VIDEO JULY 2011 Now, if you've read about me as a cover blurb on Cool Magazine's hipster cover in 1958, along with James Dean and Ferlin Husky, and Ferlin as one of the men on the video from a YouTube presenter said to be one of the earliest of Elvis (along with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Blue Moon Boys Bill Black and Scotty "The Guitar that Changed the World" Moore), you may be wondering "who is Ferlin Husky?" What a name? Right?

Like Elvis Presley, Ferlin Husky's a southerner who recorded Country, Country-Pop, religious music and funny songs. Here is COUNTRYPOLITAN's Profile of Ferlin Husky: http://www.countrypolitan.com/bio-ferlin-husky.php

And above the link to Ferlin's Official Web Site! Ferlin recorded "Gone" in 1954 as a country song which didn't chart well, but a new producer worked on the 1957 version and he continued to sing this song throughout his career. Now, this may seem improbable but the American Invasion of Britian continued when in 1965 the Paul Revere and the Raiders covered "Gone." Yes! Really! Ferlin also recorded a couple of my songs, and I'm proud of that!

WAIT FOR ME BABY WES BRYAN

The flip side of Freeze, a Doo Wop song sung by me with the great Ben Alexander on the sax! We'll be replacing this video soon: the Youtuber who first presented it is reworking his channel and has been in touch!

WES BRYAN TAKES A QUESTION : COPYRIGHT ? NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION

Adam : "I'm an aspiring song writer. I was wondering where I might find information on using famous quotes in song lyrics."

Wes : We're linking to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION here which has some good information and links about music copyright. You may want to contact them and see if they can guide you to the correct answer.

I think the question may be who owns the copyright to a quote and if they are policing the use of their words. Fair Use of a quote for this blog includes attributing it to the person who said (or wrote) those words. There are many ways to express the same thought though, and we notice that some quotes are repeated (and published in books and on the net) with slight changes, attributed to different people. This question also falls into the same category of "song sampling" by rap artists and Fair Use of music on the net.

Our favorite, RCS Discography, carefully follows the 4 bar sampling policy. While, as we all know, YouTube established new ground in the (temporary) use of listening tomusic, including songs I wrote and recorded. So how much use anyone can get out of anything that someone else originated gets to be a complicated question at times.

(364) DONNIE BROOKS RECORDED UNDER SEVERAL NAMES BEFORE HE HIT IT BIG

I first met DONNIE BROOKS in the late 1950's - early 1960's in New York City. Then, since he also moved out to LA, I saw him on this coast.

He became a very good friend of mine, as well as Dorsey Burnett's and P.J. Probys.

We're linking to the DONNIE BROOKS ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME LINK ABOVE!

Donnie, like many others who moved between studio work - making demos - and entertainment, recorded under different names and on different record labels before he settled on Donnie Brooks and had that hit. In 1964 he moved on to Frank Sinatra's label, Reprise (where Jimmy Bowen had become a producer), and eventually Gene Autry's Challenge, continuing his career into the 1970's.



And sadly, an article from the United Kingdown, Independent newspaper, his obit...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/donnie-brooks-439032.html

(363) LEON RUSSEL ROCK AND ROLL OF FAME 2011 : ELTON JOHN COLLABORATORS

On David Letterman 2011 and his Induction in 2011 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by one of my favorites, Elton John, LEON RUSSEL was a session player when I worked a bit with him, and he always seemed to me to be shy or to himself.



Elton and Leon have collaborated lately and appeared recently on the David Letterman show.

FREEZE by WES BRYAN

What a surprise! Every once in a while another Wes Bryan recording shows up on YouTube and it's my eagle eye writing partner Christine who usually discovers them!

I loved recording this song, the first I wrote that I recorded and had success with.
Ben Alexander played that hot sax. I was honored to record with him. Ben played with many of the Big Band and Jazz artists. I met up with him in Harlem and we practiced and practiced and practiced some more.

We congratulated each other on this hit at the Turf restaurant in New York...

THANK YOU TO THE YOUTUBER who posted this! Wes

ARISTOTLE Quote on Friendship

"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit." - Aristotle