WES BRYAN : I GUESS I'LL NEVER KNOW

"Freeze" was the first song I wrote and recorded while on United Artists. When I was on Clock I wrote and recorded "So Blue Over You." This was the first song I wrote and recorded while on Roulette, my second record label where I was signed by Morris Levy. I'm pleased to find this one on YouTube!

(300) HONEY BABY and DAVID "BABY" CORTEZ

Looking at all those labels, I'm reminded of being on Clock and then having the song "Honey Baby" pressed in England for London American label. Someone I remember, a truly nice man, over at Clock was David "Baby" Cortez who was one of the writers of "Honey Baby" for me.

He had his own #1 record on Clock in 1959, an instrumental, called "The Happy Organ." His birth name David Clowney is the third name on the label.

We're linking above to a small site we found on Baby that has a picture of him as I remember him.



Dave and Wally Moody over at Clock were so successful, they had about 10 number one hits in the late fifties - 1959. That was the most for any medium sized label in the nation.


COMING UP SOON we're going to link to the amazing on-line record label collection !

SO BLUE OVER YOU on LONDON AMERICAN RECORDS

When I recorded for United Artists, I wrote the song "Freeze." Then "So Blue Over You" was the second song I wrote and recorded on a record, originally on Clock out of New York City.

I didn't know it then, but this was moving my career into being a composer! It was a career that paid my bills and then some! I love the creative process and collaborating! Wes

WES BRYAN SO BLUE OVER YOU on CLOCK RECORDS

Listening to the song all the way through brought tears to my eyes. And Wes' voice is still this good! Christine Trzyna



We want to thank Arne once again for posting this video on Youtube! The video with all the Marilyn Monroe and James Dean art is very beautiful and we know it took a lot of effort to do this! So THANK YOU!

E-BAY AUCTION ON MY RECORD "ONE SUMMER NIGHT"

Friends, as you know, I check the e-bay auctions from time to time to see what's up there being sold "Wes Bryan."

And if you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you know one of the reasons for blogging is that there is a lot of Wes Bryan "confusion" out there. Christine and I have learned that some of the search engines put me and the Christian minister who has written a book or two and has a CD out together. I'm not the Christian minister. I'm also not the DJ, the athlete, the owner of a mini mall, or any of the other Wes Bryans out there on the Internet or in the world. (It's a great name though, isn't it guys?!)

I am the Wes Bryan who came out of Murphy, North Carolina, discovered off the Akron Beacon Journal - Roto section- who enjoyed a United Artists contract, and who changed labels a couple times to Clock and Roulette before becoming a staff songwriter at American Music.

I also became a record producer and music publisher. Though my story here on this blog is circa about 1960- 1961 about now, we noticed that a record I put out on my OWN LABEL, U. S. International, was being auctioned on e-bay and this seller has a music clip... So for as long as this lasts, enjoy listening to my record "One Summer Night." (Will this posting mean more bids for that record?) After I put "One Summer Night" out on my own label, Randy Wood who had once had Dot Records, put it out on Ranwood, his new label. It sold about 300,000 records.

Oh, I took a truck out to the beach in Malibu to record those seagulls you hear in the background...

(38) JIMMIE "HONEYCOMB" RODGERS & ROULETTE RECORDS

Just as my music friends had encouraged me to change labels when I was with United Artist's Record label, after the one record with Clock Records, they encouraged me to change labels again. Changing labels wasn't uncommon. It was like people do today, stay at a job a year, see no future, change jobs again.

This time it was my friend Jimmie "Honeycomb" Rodgers who encouraged me to join Roulette records where he was signed. Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen also thought I should be on Roulette, also their label at this point. They eased my way a bit, talking me up at the company, and I would soon be signed.

Jimmie Rodger's has a common name, and as you'll see when you read a bit about him, there were a few other musicians and singers with that same name, so the Jimmie that was my friend got to be known as Jimmie "Honeycomb" Rodgers or "Mr. Honeycomb."

Here's a YouTube video of Jimmie singing "Honey Comb"

NEW VIDEO embedded January 13, 2011

A few years ago, after three brain surgeries, Jimmie Rodgers got himself back on stage! Here is an interview with Jimmie... New link January 13, 2011... Click on the title to get there!

LONDON AMERICAN RECORDS HONEY BABY

Originally recorded on Clock Records, the label that featured an alarm clock going off, London American Records distributed this song of mine in England. Lately I am surprised to see that some of my records are being collected (and sold) not only in the United States and Canada, but also in Germany and Poland and Japan, though I never recorded in any language other than English.

Of course the Germans have been crazy for Rockabilly and Rock and Roll from the start. I have German heritage myself, along with heritage from the British Isles.

HONEY BABY WES BRYAN on CLOCK RECORDS

(36) Goodbye UNITED ARTISTS! Hello CLOCK RECORDS!

I'll leave the details about my departure from United Artists for my memoir, but without getting into the circumstances that propelled me, the short of it is that I quit.

Dad pointed out that I had signed my seven year contract underage because UA didn't want to let me go. My dad had first expressed big doubts about my becoming an "Acting-Singing Sensation," but had become my biggest fan. Now he was on my side when it came to leaving United Artists. Dad wanted me to have a new manager - Elvis' Colonel Tom Parker!

I quit United Artists having traveled thousands of miles on tours and after having made countless television, radio, and record hop - dance party performances, and after having had a Gold Record.

I quit having studied acting with Lee Strasberg at Actors Studio, having auditioned for some movie roles and having appeared in promotionals for other star's films. (We called them movies then.) I quit having the highest hopes to play the late, great James Dean in the bio pic.

But I was also tired of the James Dean comparisons. There were those who were glad I had failed. How could I have ever dared try to "be" him? When could I be myself?

United Artists had decided they could not make the movie. I was told that if they had gone forward with it, I would have had the role. I'd beat out a few other guys including Dean Stockwell for the part, and it meant everything to me to know that James Dean's own family had put the good word in for me that they wanted me to play Jimmy!

I quit United Artists having honed my performance and interviewing skills to perfection. I quit while having great respect for Max E. Youngstein, who had personally signed me to their new label to launch it, and having appreciated all that United Artists had done for me - the publicity, everything. I quit because it was the only choice, in circumstances that were devestating to me.

But I was still young, healthy, talented, and ambitious, and maybe more than anything I had made a lot of friends in the business.

This was when Bessie Little, the publicist entered my life. She had written about me - and many other stars - before, but she had never met me. A woman executive at United Artists who knew the inside story of my circumstances ran into singer Bobby Darin in a cafeteria and urged him to have me come up to see her. That woman personally introduced me to her publicist friend Bessie Little.

(I wrote a bit about Bessie Little earlier in this blog, on the September 10th, 2007 - blog post #23.)

Record companies trying to track me down called Bessie's office.

After I left United Artists there was a record label bidding war for me!

This gave me hope that I still had a career ahead of me! Bobby Darin was thinking of changing labels himself, despite the success of "Splish Splash." Frankie Avalon, Buddy Knox, Ersel Hickey, and other friends in the music business had urged me to change labels.

The new Clock label was owned by veteran English-born EMI record man Wally Moody and his son Doug Moody. In about 1958 they had Dave "Baby" Cortez, known for "The Happy Organ." The Moodys, who had managed to produce a high percentage of hit records for a small label, won me.

Clock Records had a unique record label design with an alarm clock going off on it, as you'll see when you click on this RCS discography link.

On the CLOCK LABEL I recorded "Honey Baby," and "So Blue Over You."

IT WAS THE SUMMER OF 1959!

A bit on Clock Records... Link to PAISLEYHAZE site!

Little did I know that an even more exciting phase of my life was beginning for me, and that it would be some of my best friends in the business who would give me that hand up when I needed it!

To this day I am grateful for those friends along the way,those friends who never gave up on me!

HONEY BABY BY WES BRYAN on CLOCK RECORDS

Here's my record on Clock - the label with the ringing alarm clock icon. Clock records won me in a bidding contest among labels. It was owned by the Moody's, a couple of British men who had a lot of hit records for the size of their company.

LONDON AMERICA RECORDS DEMO OF HONEY BABY BY WES BRYAN

Here's a recording I originally did on Clock Records appearing as a demo for radio play, I believe, made in England on London - American Records. At the time, I didn't know how I got airplay in England, but I knew that American Rock and Rollers, including the Everly Brothers, were popular there. Cliff Richard was the "English Elvis."