FROM WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC ARCHIVES : (18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! & NEIL SEDAKA

FROM OUR ARCHIVES  SEPTEMBER 5th  2007 POST #

(18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! and NEIL SEDAKA

In New York the Brill Building became the epicenter of my existence. I became part of the vital music scene. I used the rehearsal studios and recording studios in the Brill and I carried tunes in my head to the Turf restaurant, which was the scene to make. I met countless stars from the world of music and the theatre there, all having coffee, talking into the wee hours.

One day when I was in the Brill, Neil Sedaka ran downstairs to bring Bobby Darin up to meet me. Bobby was recording demos for other people then. It was the beginning of my friendship with Bobby.

S LINKS UPDATED and NEIL SEDAKA - SONGWRITER!

We checked around and we believe something close to a KEELY SMITH - the SINGER - official web site is in the works! 

NEIL SEDAKA - One of the singer-songwriters I met in the Brill Building when I first went to New York City about the same time I met Bobby Darin who was recording demos there. 

 

(484) MERLE TRAVIS : A FIXTURE AT AMERICAN MUSIC AND SONGWRITER FOR TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD

I met Merle Travis, the country western singer who they called a "guitar picker" and who came from the South - Kentucky,  when he came into American Music, the big song publishing house I worked for as a staff writer for several years when I first moved to Los Angeles!  I grew up in North Carolina and Oregon listening to Country music and never lost my enthusiasm for it.  Merle wrote songs and played on sessions for demos and became a fixture there.  Great man!

So many artists who went into performance careers have worked making demos, Bobby Darin, as I recently mentioned, made demos in the recording studios in the Brill Building, in New York City.  Glen Campbell made demos in Los Angeles, some for American Music.  I made demos while at American Music and also I made demo's for Pat Boone's company, Cooga- Mooga! 

Demo records of songs with hit potential were send out - sometimes hand delivered by people like me - to the recording artists that the writer had in mind for their listen.  Sometimes they piled up in a corner and months went by before one got a listen, so that personal connection was important.

 

DISCOGS PAGE FOR MERLE TRAVIS link

SIXTEEN TONS : A CLASSIC SONG WRITTEN BY MERLE TRAVIS : WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD
BOBBY DARIN
ERIC BURDEN(OF THE ANIMALS)
THE PLATTERS

or maybe LEANN RIMES  ?

(483) BOBBY DARIN : FROM MOTOWN TO FOLK SONGS

Back in July of this year, we posted on Bobby Darin on Motown Records, where he tried on the popular Motown Sound.  Well, Bobby was challenged to find his niche in music by the mid sixties. He was challenged by changing times and the influence of Bob Dylan to cover songs that were more folk or political.  It was particularly difficult to pick and choose because he was so diverse in his talent.

I first met an ambitious Bobby in New York City in the Brill Building, introduced by Neil Sendaka, where he was making his rent by singing on demo records for song writers.  He was also writing songs of his own.  He was in the perfect spot to discover or write a hit song, and he did soon after we me with his recording of  Splish Splash.

Bobby was able to change his singing style enough to be hired to make a good many of those demos and I suspect that somewhere there is a treasure trove of them that he made - and some of them maybe you wouldn't know right away you were listening to Bobby. 

This challenge of being true to yourself, or what you're really good at, and being out of sync with the changing times, it's happened to the best of us. It happens in the music business every few, maybe every several years that music changes enough that you might get left behind, and 1966 is right about when you found the British Invasion with the Rolling Stones making the Beatles look tame - and in San Francisco, a new sound, the beginning of a Psychedelic drug fueled sound, typified by the Grateful Dead - and Peter Paul and Mary who are sticking to their folk music - while Bob Dylan is identified as a protest singer but doesn't want to be identified that way - and Bobby Darin - out of a whole group of young men who had vibrant carriers beginning in the 1950's, trying to figure out which way to go. 

Give it enough time though, and you become known as a CLASSIC.
Linking to his official site:  BOBBY DARIN NET - OFFICIAL - INCLUDING LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Bobby gets the most airplay over time for Mac The Knife, with Splish Splash clearly thought of as the 1950's.

THE HOLLYWOOD BUG CONTINUES TO BITE ME : FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST (150)

(150) THE HOLLYWOOD BUG CONTINUES TO BITE ME

In New York acting was respected as a dramatic art and the stage was the place to be.

I studied at Actors Studio in New York with Lee Strasberg, who is now legendary.

The Studio System of Hollywood put actors on contract. The amount of money to be made was quite limited in those years compared to what successful actors demand and get today - very limited.

Even when an actor made millions for the studios on a picture, or a top agent like Henry Wilson was going to negotiate for you, the actors take was limited. Of course some stars managed to get their contracts rewritten for more money. Wealth for many didn't come outright from pay or overnight but from investing what they earned in real estate - land especially - in Southern California, which had experienced a first surge of the building boom after World War II.

So you had to love acting and love it enough to do it knowing you might never make a lot of money. You had to appreciate the many perks that came with being a famous actor, including meeting people and making connections that could do you some good, but you had to earn it all the time. You had to do things their way.

Just as James Dean had moved to Hollywood and making films, many of my peers, including of course Bobby Darin, looked forward to a movie acting career. It was one thing to make grueling promotional tours around the country, one radio or television station after another, and another to be known almost instantly around the whole country because you were seen in the movies. So long as the move from stage to screen included musicals, it made sense to the viewing public that an actor would launch into song.

(474) BOBBY DARIN RECORDED ON MOTOWN!

We think the writers at REISSUE THEORY did a great job of telling about Bobby Darin on MOTOWN, the label he was signed to at the time of his death (years later) that some of the recordings.

THE SECOND DISK : BOBBY DARIN THE MOTOWN YEARS link here!

EXCERPT: "At the time of his untimely death in 1973, Bobby Darin was signed to Motown Records, where he recorded one solo LP and enough material for a posthumous second LP. Despite their high quality, Darin’s Motown recordings have long been unavailable. Today’s Reissue Theory takes us back to 1970 and the final chapter in the life of the great Bobby Darin." 





LINKING TO A REALLY COOL SITE CALLED "THE OFFICIAL 60's SITE : SUPREMES PAGE!
DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES !

FROM WES BRYAN ARCHIVES : POST (376) FRED NEIL STUDIO MUSICIAN : CAPITOL RECORDS

FRED NEIL : What a voice! And a great person!

Freddy was six foot two, a freckled face, red hair. I met him in Saint Petersberg, Florida in December of 1957. He paled around with me and Ersel Hickey in New York and became a real good friend. He was a lot of fun - very comical - a prankster.

One time as I was walking across Broadway with some business people, I heard a loud voice, someone yelling for me with some profanity thrown in. I turned around and there he was, laughing at me. Freddy was turned loose in a big city.

Fred had a couple records on Capitol Records but his claim to fame was the song "Everybody's Talking," the movie Midnight Cowboy's theme song.

NICK VENET WAS THE PRODUCER ON THIS HIT.

Fred signed a contract with Southern Music, a division of Hill and Range, and became a big writer.

I wrote a song for Buddy Knox called "Bye Bye Helloa" and Freddy played all the instruments on the demo. It was recorded in a little studio in the Brill building. Freddy also worked in the studio with Bobby Darin.

(419) WES BRYAN : LOST MUSIC : BOBBY DARIN TM MUSIC and THE OLD PROSPECTOR

After Bobby Darin had TM, his music publishing company which he started in about 1963, he bought a song from me called "The Old Prospector." He recorded it on a full session himself and he took it to Vegas to pitch it to Louie Prima and Keely Smith.

This is a song that has not been released by Bobby or his heirs and, like Elvis' version of my song "The Dying Ember," which was released on Dot Records by Randy Wood as recorded by Dorsey Burnett, it's a song that could be found in some archive somewhere and, due to the full production, could be released someday

There were a couple songs I was writer on that Bobby wanted to record but Sylvester Cross at American Music wouldn't split the Publishing with Bobby, so the business man Bobby walked away. He remained my friend though.

Bobby bought Trinity Music ("TM") from Ed Burton and Joe Csida, who'd managed Bobby, for about half a million. This move from entertainer to songwriter to music publisher is one I would someday make myself, with much less risk than Bobby had taken when I started U.S. International Records.

In previous posts we've talked about Bobby's early death and his desire to provide for his son Dodd and his heirs. You can use the search feature to pull up old posts and read more and listen to some music!

BOBBY DARIN : 1965 : WITH VIC DAMONE AND ANDY WILLIAMS ON ANDY'S SHOW

"BOBBY IF YOU COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY."

Lipsinking fun.

The "Act" on this Historical music video is Bobby Darin with the "Big Ego." Bobby was known for his confidence and ambition, but when we were all starting out, hanging out in diners and working around the Brill building, the Bobby I knew had a humble side, and he was a good, loyal, friend. Our plans to record together went by the wayside when he moved to Hollywood to act, met his wife Sandra Dee, and started a family.

(415) JAZZ SINGER KEELY SMITH ON REPRISE : PRODUCED BY (HER THEN HUSBAND) JIMMY BOWEN

So Keely Smith and Jimmy Bowen were married and they wrote this uptempo song together, which he produced on the Reprise label, owned by Frank Sinatra. The production brings together the Big Band Sound with that 60's sound of brass.

It was during the mid 1960's the Bobby Darin bought my song "The Old Prospector" for his TM Music Publishing and took it to Vegas with him to present it to Keely Smith.

(414) JIMMY BOWEN and FRANK SINATRA and BOBBY DARIN and KEELY SMITH and DEAN MARTIN and DINO DESI AND BILLY and...

The last few posts and next several are about THE INTERCONNECTIONS PEOPLE IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS HAD FOR SEVERAL YEARS IN THE 1960's WHICH IS TO SAY AGAIN THAT WE WERE ALL INTERTWINED and that many of us from my old early rock and roll crowd that moved from New York to Los Angeles had moved from performing into song writing or music production or music publishing.

I never knew Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin personally the way I knew Elvis Presley. I heard a lot about them - knew of them. My relationship with them was usually one or two people away because I knew Jimmy Bowen and Bobby Darin. as an example. Jimmy was producing music at Frank Sinatra's lable Reprise and Bobby, besides singing himself, was publishing music, buying songs he liked and presenting them to singers he admired, trying to create an estate with his son's future in mind.

I don't remember exactly how Keely Shaye Smith, who had been married to Louie Prima and had performed in Vegas with him and then divorced, and my old friend Jimmy Bowen met, but Jimmy and Keely married in about 1965.

Keely remains one of my all time favorite singers. She put a CD out a few years ago and it was terrific, her voice as good if not better than ever! But let's slow the story down a little...

(376) FRED NEIL : STUDIO MUSICIAN : CAPITOL RECORDS ARTIST

FRED NEIL : What a voice! And a great person!
Freddy was six foot two, a freckled face, red hair. I met him in Saint Petersberg, Florida in December of 1957. He paled around with me and Ersel Hickey in New York and became a real good friend. He was a lot of fun - very comical - a prankster.

One time as I was walking across Broadway with some business people, I heard a loud voice, someone yelling for me with some profanity thrown in. I turned around and there he was, laughing at me. Freddy was turned loose in a big city.

Fred had a couple records on Capitol Records but his claim to fame was the song "Everybody's Talking," the movie Midnight Cowboy's theme song.

NICK VENET WAS THE PRODUCER ON THIS HIT.

Fred signed a contract with Southern Music. a division of Hill and Range, and became a big writer.

I wrote a song for Buddy Knox called "Bye Bye Helloa" and Freddy played all the instruments on the demo. It was recorded in a little studio in the Brill building. Freddy also worked in the studio with Bobby Darin.

(375) NICK VENET - PRODUCER AT CAPITOL HAD HIS OWN ROCKABILLY ORIGINS

CAPITOL RECORDS music producer Nick Venet had a rockabilly past of his own. This one is from 1957.
If you'll click on the title above you will go to a National Public Radio interview of Nick, who among many others, worked with Bobby Darin and Glen Campbell. This interview includes a Nick Venet produced version of Bobby Darin singing Dream Lover and is mostly about Bobby. Nick and Bobby went back to the Brill Building in New York, where Bobby was doing demos for other artists. There was a group of people who hung out in the restaurants nearby. I was one of them.

Nick Venet on Bobby Darin's career : "Being a songwriter was more realistic"

(352) THOSE ACTING SINGING SONGWRITING SENSATIONS! (DO YOU THINK JAMES DEAN COULD HAVE MADE A HIT RECORD?)

A number of the artists we're talking about here (including me) fell under the category of "ACTING - SINGING SENSATIONS."

Elvis Presley was probably the most successful at turning a music career into a musical acting career. Bobby Darin did it well. Pat Boone, Frankie Avalon, so many others sang as actors in movies.

James Dean played the bongos. He liked Jazz.
DO YOU THINK JAMES DEAN COULD HAVE MADE A HIT RECORD?

Many of us had multiple creative talents or interests.

For me it was (way back then) sculpture and photography.
Today I still play my guitar and it seems I'm always working on a song in my head.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES (246) BOBBY DARIN stars with NICK ADAMS

(246) BOBBY DARIN stars with NICK ADAMS

My friend Bobby Darin came out to LA from New York to pursue an acting career, had a whirlwind romance with actress Sandra Dee, and married her. I got to pitch songs to him on the set of some of their movies and in the offices of his music publishing house. Bobby continued to make television appearances as a singer, as he did on the Judy Garland show, while pursing an acting career.

Bobby made a World War II story film in 1962 that also stared Nick Adams, my friend and Elvis'.

(342) THE GIRLS GO CRAZY FOR THE BEATLES SHE LOVES YOU NOVEMBER 1963

If ever there was a threat to Elvis it was The Beatles. But we didn't know that just yet. Elvis kept up on what was happening in rock and roll in Britain and he had heard of the Beatles but I don't think any of us too them as seriously as we could have. Elvis was coming through the archives of the greatest Rock and Roll records ever made, looking for a song he wanted to record and make his own and playing demos for me up at the house.

Elvis, Buddy Knox, Jimmy Bowen, and the Rhythm Orchids, Bobby Darin, and me, were just a few of the early rock and rollers who were on The Ed Sullivan Show. And now it was the Beatles who would change the sound with appearances on television shows like Ed Sullivan. (Yes, Elvis sent them a congratulations telegram.)

Kennedy had been assassinated and the country was in despair. And while the Americans had first invaded Britain, now it was the British (they were called "the Brits" then, without offense) groups that would invade the United States.

BOBBY DARIN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 52nd GRAMMYS

My dad "didn't have an ounce of quit in him." Dodd Darin



Last night Bobby Darin won a LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from the GRAMMY people. I am so proud of Bobby!

Bobby and me and the guys used to hang out at diners and restaurants in New York. Once he moved to Los Angeles I saw him on a movie set or in his office. Dodd mentions his dad was thought of as cocky but around us guys he was just one of us.

Wes

(282) PJ PROBY LIVED IN A CASTLE and DROVE A ROLLS - MAKING DEMOS IS HONORABLE WORK

Like Bobby Darin and several other other music stars and singer-songwriters, P.J. Proby recorded demos for other artists.

If you can get this work today, do it! It can be a very smart move. First of all it gives you experience recording in a studio, all the equipment and possibilities open to you working in there. Other artists are recording in the same or adjacent studios. You meet singers, musicians, and producers. You get to test and train your voice. It's an in.

PJ recorded demo records for Elvis Presley, though you can hear the difference in his and Elvis' voices. This is how it worked in the songwriting business. The demo singer tried to emulate the style or sound of the singer so that he or she could really try it on. Sometimes the end result was a record that was very different from the demo anyway and sometimes the song was picked up by another artist. This kind of pitch honored the artist that may have had the song written with him or her in mind.

P.J. got his own career going and he still does! P.J. lived in a castle and drove a Rolls when he got his going. He's a hardworking and talented man and I'm happy to call him a friend!



And yes, David Gates, Leon Russel, and Glen Campbell, who were session musicians on this song, all went on to have great individual careers!

(281) BOBBY DARIN HELL FOR HEROS

While my generation had Korea and the United States was in Vietnam, fascination for World War II pictures continued. My friend from New York, Bobby Darin, had moved to Hollywood to pursue his own acting career. I would go to movie sets and pitch songs I wrote or my coworkers at American Music wrote to pitch them to stars like Bobby.

LINK TO BOBBY DARIN'S OFFICIAL SITE HERE !

In 1962 Bobby also made a television appearance on the Judy Garland show.