(418) DINO DESI AND BILLY ON REPRISE : I'M A FOOL

Jimmy Bowen also produced DINO DESI and BILLY, and they were hot in the mid sixties. They were so young themselves their appeal was mostly to the young teens. They did a whole album of cover tunes, and had two top hits, including "I'm a Fool." They were on TV commercials, toured the country, and then faded away, moving on to other ways to have a go at life. (That they did cover tunes at this point when everybody's competition became the Beatles, who were writing most of their own songs at this point, probably hurt them.)

Dean Martin's son, Dino Martin, was the DINO. Desi Arnez is the son of the famous television comedian Lucille Ball and her Cuban band leader husband Desi (of "I Love Lucy" fame). And BILLY was a school friend of theirs, Billy Hinsche. Dino went on to act and was doing well, but when he died in an aircrash Dean's heart was broken. Some said Dean was never the same after this loss. Today, Dean's younger son Ricci Martin takes his brother's place in a revival band with Billy Hinsche leading.

(417) EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY SOMETIME : ESPECIALLY DEAN MARTIN ! LINK TO DEAN'S OFFICIAL SITE

We're linking to DEAN MARTIN'S OFFICIAL WEB SITE.

On it you'll see that, around Valentine's Day this year, fans voted the song "EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY SOMETIME" as their all time favorite Dean Martin song. The song is a Classic cover tune, and it's probably Dean's signature song, written by Ken Lane and Irving Taylor.

The producer was Jimmy Bowen, who was hired by Frank Sinatra for his Reprise record label. The arrangement was by Ernie Freeman for the record. The song went Gold in 1964 and was thought to have revived Dean's career. (In a few years Dean would also cover the songs Glen Campbell made famous, "By The Time I Get to Phoenix," and "Gentle On My Mind.")

From the distance of the years since then it's hard to believe that talents like Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, or Frank Sinatra were considered to have been "has beens" after years of ambition, hard work, chance taking, smart decisions, creativity, building a fan base, and all the rest that comes with negotiating a career. They (as well as Elvis Presley and Glen Campbell and so many others) had their ups and downs no doubt and in the end it all comes out CLASSIC!

(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...

(238) 1962 BOBBY DENTON - CHANCELLOR COUNTRY RECORDS - I GUESS I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU

Jimmy Bowen, who I first met in Akron, Ohio, and then performed with on Roulette Record promotional tours at dance hall venues, and I wrote "I Guess I'm Still In Love with You." Jimmy was one of my first advocates, taking me and the first demo I ever pressed - in a kitchen in North Carolina - to the local DJ in Akron. Jimmy became a big producer working for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label and bringing both Frank and Dean Martin hits in the early 1960's.

The song did well in the country market when it was put out by Chancellor Records, Bob Marcucci's Label in 1962.

Here's the RCS Discography for Chancellor Country Records out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadephia was so important to music at the time, bringing so many talents including Frankie Avalon and the Dick Clark American Band Stand show to America. My friends Fabian and Johnny Rivers also recorded on Chancellor.

http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/labels/c/c2818.htm

Chancellor also had a label that didn't focus on country. Here's a list of recordings and you see that Frankie Avalon and some other artists we've mentioned on this blog are listed:

http://www.globaldogproductions.info/c/chancellor.html

Check out our previous blogs on Bobby Denton, The Singing Senator, using the search feature of this blog or check out the links to the left!

(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"

(51) ELVIS WORRIES ABOUT HIS COMPETITION : FABIAN

Elvis confided in me that he was worried about his career. "Music's changin' Wes," he said. He was worried about two men... Fabian Forte, called Fabian, an Italian kid from Phili, younger than Elvis, was a big worry for him.

Fabian was a friend of mine from New York. He was part of the "in crowd," an all for one and one for all guy I spent time with who had encouraged me to move ahead in my career by leaving United Artists, just as several other musical peers had. Fabian had seemingly captured a great number of Elvis Presley fans while Elvis was away in Germany, record releases or magazine and newspaper articles about Elvis or not. Fans could not wait to see their idol, Elvis, on television again, and it had been communicated to Elvis that it might be Fabian who had taken what we would call today his "market share."

Perhaps Fabian was also on Elvis' mind because he had the attention of Dean Martin, and Dean Martin was someone Elvis admired, imitated in his youth, and wanted to meet. Dean Martin did not seem to share the same enthusiasm for Elvis, but he liked Fabian! He had Fabian on his show, singing with him. Maybe Fabian was even Dean Martin's protege?

Now as you watch these You-Tube presentations, I want you to notice how Fabian is dressed in a suit, presented as a sort of young Dean Martin, a crooner. Fabian is younger than Elvis, handsome, and talented, and he fits in his tailored suit.

An early Fabian singing "Turn Me Loose" in his early, Rock and Roll personae. Cliff Richard, "The English Elvis" also covered this song, complete with Elvis-like sneers. Fabian had a hit with "Turn Me Loose," which came out as a single on Chancellor Records.

Fabian wasn't objecting to becoming a crooner. Should Elvis? Is Fabian Dean Martin's protege? Fabian singing "All of Me" seems to be part of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack" here!

UPDATED JANUARY 26, 2011 NEW LINK TO FABIAN's OFFICIAL SITE above!

And here is the History of Rock on Fabian!

http://www.history-of-rock.com/fabian.htm