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.

(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.

(411) BARRY MANN and CYNTHIA WEIL : SOUNTRACK OF OUR LIVES : LINK TO THEIR OFFICIAL SITE

W're linking her to the official site for extraordinary songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, a husband- wife team that started off in New York in the Brill Building.

Their official site really says it all, so just to paraphrase a bit so you'll want to read the whole thing, they started their career "in the 60's at Aldon Music, the legendary music publishing company founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins. They were members of a teen writing staff, which included Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and Carole Bayer Sager. Among their other Brill Building colleagues were the likes of Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller and Phil Spector. .... "Barry and Cynthia, together, have amassed an incredible 112 pop, country and R&B awards from Broadcast Music Inc., recognizing highest performance popularity on American radio and television in a particular year and 115 Millionaire awards, signifying radio performances of a million or more plays."

Known for writing YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN FEELING, which brought The Righteous Brothers to Fame, and one of the most covered songs in history, as well as so many others you've sung in the shower.

(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.

(18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! & 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 begining of my friendship with Bobby.

Link to NEIL SEDAKA's OFFICIAL WEB SITE above!HISTORY OF THE BRILL BUILDING

THE BRILL BUILDING from THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL!