(182) GLEN CAMPBELL RECORDS JERRY CAPEHEART'S TURN AROUND LOOK AT ME

Jerry Capehart was the man who signed me to American Music. (I've seen Jerry's surname spelled Capeheart and Capehart by the way, and I don't remember which he preferred.) I was honored to be signed by a man who was a great songwriter himself. Jerry and I remained friends until he also passed into Eternal Life.

This is the YouTube video of Glen Campbell singing Jerry's "Turn Around Look At Me."

Versions of Jerry's hit song were later recorded by the Vogues and Elvis Presley. This one, the original circa 1961, came out on Crest Records. Guess who owned Crest Records? Sylvester Cross who owned American Music! And guess who was a staff songwriter at American Music? Glen!

VIDEO REPLACED MARCH 2013 ]

(79) JIMMY BOWEN KEEPS ON GOING!

Jimmy Bowen, who had been on Crest Records and Roulette Records, was another musical genius that I worked with at American Music. We wrote over 100 songs together, many he recorded as demos. He called me to be a "four chord genius" and a "melody tune smith."

One night we wrote about 17 songs - in that one night - in a few hours - just to see what we could do.

Together we wrote a song called "Somebody to Love," which Jimmy recorded on Crest. Johnny Rivers wanted to record it and was mad at us for a while that we didn't hand it to him. It was a travelin' man kind of song.

A few bars here on RCS Discography.... (UPDATED WITH NEW JIMMY BOWEN RCS LINK APRIL 2012) Link above.
Jimmy had been performing in Akron, Ohio when he heard that first ever recording I made in a kitchen in Winston-Salem with some other kids. We went to the record hop there where I played my demo for the local DJ, Art Roberts, WCUE.

Then, split from Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids, but all artists on Roulette, I sometimes played on the same bill with Jimmy, while on the Buddy Knox tour. (Jimmy Bowen, Donny Lanier - the lead guitar player who was the instrumental "balls" of the band, and Buddy Knox had started out as the Rhythm Orchids together in west Texas. They got their name from the Orchid shirts they wore as a band originally.)

Jimmy would leave American Music in about 1964 to be a producer for Frank Sinatra's new label, Reprise. There he would help give new life to the careers of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. These men were overshadowed by the new crop of rock and rollers hitting the charts. But Jimmy managed to select the song and produce "Everybody Loves Somebody Some Time," which became Dean Martin's theme song. Dean was on the charts surrounded by newcomers. And Jimmy did magic for Frank and Sammy too. He did "Stranger in the Night," for Frank that was Franks first single Gold record.

Here's a record Jimmy made in 1961 on Jerry Capehart's label which I found on You Tube. "Teenage Dream World." (VIDEO REPLACED BY THIS SELECTION APRIL 2012) "Aching Heart"

(73) SYLVESTER CROSS - CREST RECORDS and AMERICAN MUSIC

American Music Publishing house in Los Angeles, owned then by an eccentric named Sylvester Cross, was one of the biggest publishing houses in the country. Cross owned the rights to songs that were classics and steady money makers like The Sons of the Pioneers songbook. He became independently wealthy by investing what he made at the song writing factory into real estate.

Cross figured that with a staff of talented musical employees working in various collaborations he couldn't loose. One or two hits and he had payroll made and more beach front property.

I'd been writing songs and offering my friends my songs - as they offered theirs to me - since New York. But I owned the rights to one song when I signed with American Music.

The key was to write a song that would become a hit. Then residuals would fatten the songwriter's wallet. Theoretically. We had a quota - about 20 songs a month if I remember correctly. Cross provided the funds to make a demo of a song, with basic instrumentation, which sometimes included other musicians, but often mean me - my voice and a guitar. The demo was then sent off to the artist or artists that we thought could do best with it, for their consideration.

RCS DISCOGRAPHY has a page here on Crest Records which was owned by Sylvester Cross. Now if you look at the line up you can see some names familiar to this blog... Eddie Cochran, who was managed by Jerry Capehart, who was managing Glen Campbell when Glen scored a hit with the song Jerry wrote, "Turn Around Look At Me," and Jerry Capehart himself. (Dick Bills, I believe, was Glen Campbell's uncle who he was performing with when Jerry walked in and discovered Glen.)

Link above to Rockin County Style Discography on CREST.

Once again you can see how we music makers were all intertwined.

Here's a Crest Discography by TAPIO VAISANEN...

http://www.pcuf.fi/~tapiov/discographies/crest.htm