(468) JOHNNY RIVERS AT THE WHISKY COVERING CHUCK BERRY'S HIT WITH 1960'S STYLE

I remember going to hear Johnny play at the Whisky, where he became a headliner after playing in other clubs in the area.  To this day his name is associated with the club. 

Johnny Rivers covered so many songs successfully (including songs recorded at Motown) that other people recorded, he became so known for his versions that many people didn't realize that they weren't written by him or that he wasn't the first to record them.  He attracted a new generation.  (Johnny had moved to New York City at the age of 16 and was a little younger than me, Buddy Knox, and some of the other guys we hung out with.)  Here's a YouTube fan video - very well put together - where Johnny covers two 1950's classics written and recorded first by Chuck Berry, with that mid 1960's rock and roll style of his on Liberty Records.



JOHNNY RIVERS OFFICIAL - UPDATED - NEW CD  Called Live at Cache Creek it's blues, bluegrass, and JR. 

(421) P.J. PROBY 1965 : RECORDING LENNON-MC CARTNEY SONGS WITH GEORGE MARTIN AS PRODUCER

As some of you know, P.J. Proby was up for some serious charges in Great Britain, but in March 2012 he walked free, acquitted of benefit fraud - all 9 counts. So on this post, because we've linked to his official sites in the past and they're always on our sidebar for you to link to, we're going to link to a news article about this legal issue. Friends of P.J.'s here in the United States were concerned but never lost faith that he would walk free and are hoping to hear from him soon.

On this YouTube video, of the song "That Means A Lot," we see a label that has many names familiar to this blog. P.J. was certainly a big part of the American Invasion of Britain. In fact, he loved the British as much as they loved him, which is why he went to live there and the whole legal issue was so upsetting.

"That Means a Lot," is written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, The Beatles, who were almost everyone's biggest chart competition in '65. The Producer is George Martin, the Beatle's producer, and this is on Liberty Records, the small record label that we've blogged about a lot.

To quote the article we've linked to: "In a statement read by his solicitor, Chris Hilton, PJ Proby said: "For the last four years I have lived in fear of becoming homeless - because my housing benefit was cut off - and of being wrongly sent to prison for a crime I never committed."

(370) BUDDY KNOX and WES BRYAN SINGER-SONGWRITERS COMPOSE ALL BY MYSELF RECORDED ON LIBERTY RECORDS

Here are two variations of the LIBERTY RECORDS labels for the song Buddy Knox recorded with the Johnny Mann Singers as background, that he and I wrote called "All By Myself." It sold well enough to get a Gold Record and went for a second pressing. The song also appeared on an album of his. Glenda Music was Buddy's own publishing company.



This was the promo copy that went to DJ's only. It was played on radio stations.

This was the store copy.

(318) CLIFF GLEAVES : SOUNDS OF AN ELVIS PRESLEY HOUSE PARTY - CLIFF GLEAVES

CLIFF GLEAVES, an old friend (by then) of Elvis' wasn't just a guest at the parties, he was the hired piano player. That's right. Elvis paid Cliff to ENTERTAIN! He was like a mad man on the piano. So as you listen to this Cliff Gleaves recording, think PIANO. Cliff had a whole repetoire beyond what he had recorded on Liberty Records.


None of the guys who worked for Elvis at the time could keep up with Cliff, his energy: he was one of a kind.

(294) SUNSET STRIP RECORD COMPANIES : LIBERTY RECORDS

This is the record company that Cliff Gleaves walked into and made his own deal with Snuffy Garret ! Cliff was a friend of mine and Elvis' and yes he's is in our book. One of the main reasons Cliff headed over to Liberty was that this was the label that made Eddie Cochran famous. Eddie had "Summertime Blues" and "Come on Everybody," on Liberty. As you may know Eddie died young in a cab accident while in England and so, like too many of my peers, his career was cut short by an accident.

We're linking here to Mike Callahan and Dave Edwards (and a couple other new writers) who do a great job of profiling the history of Liberty on their non-profit site!

Now in '62 Buddy Knox, who I went on a road tour with, had an album out on Liberty and he recorded a song we wrote called "ALL BY MYSELF." Here's the RCS Discography link to hear a few bars of that song!

http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/ss/29/ss29390.mp3

(276) LIBERTY RECORDS - NEW HOME TO BUDDY KNOX, JOHNNY BURNETT, and THE CRICKETS

Johnny Burnette, Buddy Knox, and The Crickets were recording for LIBERTY RECORDS by '62. We're linking to Dave Edwards and Mike Callahan here, as they have made a great effort to present the history of record labels and this link links to a whole discography. (Click on the title above.)

Now as a songwriter at American Music, I had some intellectual properties that I had signed over the rights to the company for - temporarily. Those properties have been returning to me over the last several years. And one of the songs I was so proud of and originially wrote with Elvis in mind got recorded instead by Johnny's brother Dorsey Burnette...

(176) WEST TEXAS WALK OF FAME

This is probably a good place to mention that in September of 1994 Buddy Knox was inducted into the WEST TEXAS WALK OF FAME in Lubbock, joining Buddy Holly and other West Texas Talent like the great song writer Mac Davis, whose songs Elvis Presley loved and recorded.

Also from Lubbock and inducted in the WEST TEXAS WALK OF FAME, amazingly enough, Snuffy Garret, the record producer who while with LIBERTY RECORDS, worked with my friend, and Elvis', Cliff Gleaves. Cliff wrote his own contract with Snuffy.

I don't know what it is about West Texas that makes it the fertile ground for so much musical talent, singing, song-writing, entertainment but maybe it has a lot to do with the area being a lot like the Smokey Mountains where I was raised up and people having to make their own fun!

Click on the title above to go right to the West Texas Walk of Fame website!

(107) CLIFF GLEAVES - THE PIANO MAN AT ELVIS' PARTIES

Funny man Cliff Gleaves, who had been with Elvis since he quit his personality DJing and traveled to Germany to be with Elvis, was the piano man at Elvis' Los Angeles parties. He played a mad piano and had a quick sense of humor. To be the entertainer at the parties of one of the most famous entertainers in the world was a honor, and Cliff took to it, and received about a hundred dollars an evening from Elvis.

Cliff never played pool with us. He was usually off somewhere with a starlet.

If there's a hereafter and there's a Cliff Gleaves, here he is and you know what he's after! He was one of a kind - in an arena all by himself. Everyone - even Colonel Parker - stole his lines. Everyone tried to copy his quick witted comedy.

Cliff, like a lot of people who surrounded Elvis, moved to Los Angeles to be near him, but never lived with Elvis. He was not a member of the entourage but was a long term friend.

Cliff spoke his mind and never changed his opinions to please Elvis, which Elvis respected. He often asked Cliff for advice - and got it! Cliff answered to no man but himself.

RCS Discography CLIFF GLEAVES link above!

New update 2011: Cliff Gleaves on Youtube !