FROM WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC ARCHIVES : (18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! & NEIL SEDAKA

FROM OUR ARCHIVES  SEPTEMBER 5th  2007 POST #

(18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! and NEIL SEDAKA

In New York the Brill Building became the epicenter of my existence. I became part of the vital music scene. I used the rehearsal studios and recording studios in the Brill and I carried tunes in my head to the Turf restaurant, which was the scene to make. I met countless stars from the world of music and the theatre there, all having coffee, talking into the wee hours.

One day when I was in the Brill, Neil Sedaka ran downstairs to bring Bobby Darin up to meet me. Bobby was recording demos for other people then. It was the beginning of my friendship with Bobby.

S LINKS UPDATED and NEIL SEDAKA - SONGWRITER!

We checked around and we believe something close to a KEELY SMITH - the SINGER - official web site is in the works! 

NEIL SEDAKA - One of the singer-songwriters I met in the Brill Building when I first went to New York City about the same time I met Bobby Darin who was recording demos there. 

 

(483) BOBBY DARIN : FROM MOTOWN TO FOLK SONGS

Back in July of this year, we posted on Bobby Darin on Motown Records, where he tried on the popular Motown Sound.  Well, Bobby was challenged to find his niche in music by the mid sixties. He was challenged by changing times and the influence of Bob Dylan to cover songs that were more folk or political.  It was particularly difficult to pick and choose because he was so diverse in his talent.

I first met an ambitious Bobby in New York City in the Brill Building, introduced by Neil Sendaka, where he was making his rent by singing on demo records for song writers.  He was also writing songs of his own.  He was in the perfect spot to discover or write a hit song, and he did soon after we me with his recording of  Splish Splash.

Bobby was able to change his singing style enough to be hired to make a good many of those demos and I suspect that somewhere there is a treasure trove of them that he made - and some of them maybe you wouldn't know right away you were listening to Bobby. 

This challenge of being true to yourself, or what you're really good at, and being out of sync with the changing times, it's happened to the best of us. It happens in the music business every few, maybe every several years that music changes enough that you might get left behind, and 1966 is right about when you found the British Invasion with the Rolling Stones making the Beatles look tame - and in San Francisco, a new sound, the beginning of a Psychedelic drug fueled sound, typified by the Grateful Dead - and Peter Paul and Mary who are sticking to their folk music - while Bob Dylan is identified as a protest singer but doesn't want to be identified that way - and Bobby Darin - out of a whole group of young men who had vibrant carriers beginning in the 1950's, trying to figure out which way to go. 

Give it enough time though, and you become known as a CLASSIC.
Linking to his official site:  BOBBY DARIN NET - OFFICIAL - INCLUDING LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Bobby gets the most airplay over time for Mac The Knife, with Splish Splash clearly thought of as the 1950's.

(411) BARRY MANN and CYNTHIA WEIL : SOUNTRACK OF OUR LIVES : LINK TO THEIR OFFICIAL SITE

W're linking her to the official site for extraordinary songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, a husband- wife team that started off in New York in the Brill Building.

Their official site really says it all, so just to paraphrase a bit so you'll want to read the whole thing, they started their career "in the 60's at Aldon Music, the legendary music publishing company founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins. They were members of a teen writing staff, which included Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and Carole Bayer Sager. Among their other Brill Building colleagues were the likes of Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller and Phil Spector. .... "Barry and Cynthia, together, have amassed an incredible 112 pop, country and R&B awards from Broadcast Music Inc., recognizing highest performance popularity on American radio and television in a particular year and 115 Millionaire awards, signifying radio performances of a million or more plays."

Known for writing YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN FEELING, which brought The Righteous Brothers to Fame, and one of the most covered songs in history, as well as so many others you've sung in the shower.

(194) CHUCK BERRY ROLLS OVER THE STONES, THE BEATLES (And A Whole Lot of Other Bands) WITH ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN !

The Rolling Stones cite Chuck Berry as one of their prime influences and inspirations and they've proven it by recording or playing in concert a good number of the songs Chuck wrote. Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" has been recorded by so very many artists, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles are just a couple of them.

Chuck Berry's ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN :



Here's John Lennon's recording of the song:


Leon Russel's version:

(160) NEIL SEDAKA 1961 DON'T LEAD ME ON and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET SIXTEEN

If you recall (or if you want to use the search feature of this Google Blogspot!) you know that it was Neil Sedaka in the Brill Building who ran and got Bobby Darin, who was downstairs recording, and brought him up to meet me when I first moved to New York to be close to the action as a just signed United Artists singing-acting sensation. Neil was at the piano singing a song he'd just written, pitching it to me. You can click on the link to Neil's own web site and learn more about him. Here is Neil singing his 1961 recording of "Don't Lead Me On," presented on YouTube...




NEW UPDATE by Christine Trzyna on May 26 2010 :two replacement videos for expired videos and a link to his web site.

Here's his song "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" from the same year.

Very 1950's wouldn't you say?

POST UPDATED MAY 2010 by Christine Trzyna,

(18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! & NEIL SEDAKA

In New York the Brill Building became the epicenter of my existence. I became part of the vital music scene. I used the rehearsal studios and recording studios in the Brill and I carried tunes in my head to the Turf restaurant, which was the scene to make. I met countless stars from the world of music and the theatre there, all having coffee, talking into the wee hours.

One day when I was in the Brill, Neil Sedaka ran downstairs to bring Bobby Darin up to meet me. Bobby was recording demos for other people then. It was the begining of my friendship with Bobby.

Link to NEIL SEDAKA's OFFICIAL WEB SITE above!HISTORY OF THE BRILL BUILDING

THE BRILL BUILDING from THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL!