(359) LONELY WEEKENDS A SONG MADE A HIT FIRST BY CHARLIE RICH, COVERED BY MANY, A SONGWRITER'S DREAM

It's a songwriter's dream to write a song that is recorded - and made a hit - by others - maybe many others. Today there's an emphasis on an artist writing and recording and making a hit of their own song or the songs of the entire band, but the COVER TUNE ERA HAS NEVER REALLY ENDED! Charlie Rich, who I met when touring the south, made this one a hit first.



The song was written by Charlie Rich himself, and ended up being covered by The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, even Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers! Those song writing residuals keep coming in!



LINKING TO THE OFFICIAL CHARLIE RICH web site!

(201) RCS DISCOGRAPHY THE SUN RECORD LABEL and SAM PHILLIPS

Using the RCS Discography site that we just bragged so much about, let's take a a look at the SUN record Label. As we know, so very many artists who made it big made their first recordings at this Memphis recording studio. If you've read our recent posting about the earliest video of Elvis ever made (also posted below) you may see that he was there backstage somewhere with a group that included Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, who were an original Sun recording artist too, as was Charlie Rich, Billy Lee Riley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and many others.

Click on the Title Above to get to the exact page for the Sun label's RCS Discography...

Below Edwards and Callahan give their Sun Records Story...

BSNPUBS - EDWARDS AND CALLAHAM - THE SUN RECORD LABEL  link

(86) CHARLIE RICH'S LONELY WEEKENDS 1960 STYLE

I met Charlie Rich in Memphis when I was there awaiting Elvis' return from the U.S. Army. DJ Dewey Phillips, who had given Elvis his start when he broke his first record, recorded on Sun Records, "That's All Right Mama," introduced me to Charlie. He was touring locally, and sleeping in the booth of the restaurant he was playing in, so he could save on motel rooms and send money home to his family then.

Charlie recorded on Sun Records, just as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and a few other artists who had made it to greater fame did. His song "Lonely Weekends," which came out in 1960, became like a signature song for him. By 1960 Sam Phillips' label was Phillips International. Charlie sounded a bit like Elvis on this song, and Elvis loved the song. So did I. One day I would record the song myself.


Here's a little Documentary with singer-songwriter Charlie Rich speaking too about his music career and Sun.

Charlie Rich on RCS Discography : http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artist.php?key=rich1000

Charlie continued his musical career as a performer having a couple hits in the seventies and winning a Grammy. Linking to his official site above!

Here's a little Documentary with singer-songwriter Charlie Rich speaking too about his music career and Sun.



UPDATE 2011 Here is a Youtube historical music video of the song Lonely Weekends! (I also recorded this song years later!)