(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."

2012 : LAST NIGHT'S GRAMMYS : BEACH BOYS, GLEN CAMPBELL, PAUL McCARTNEY

THE GRAMMY AWARDS, which takes place at Staples Center, near the heart of downtown Los Angeles, is definitely one of those nights that brings excitement into those of us who live in Southern California, the way football brings excitement to residents in other cities.

In many ways, though filming and recording take place all over the United States and the world, this is still a company town. Angelenos take pride in bringing entertainment to the world. The excitement that it was Grammy time was felt everywhere. People were talking about it in coffee houses, on phones, and a lot of parties were celebrated at home as people watched the tube. This is our way of participating. We're still talking about it today.

Last year, we embedded some YouTube videos of the Grammy Awards 2011, and very soon they were taken down from YouTube as copyright violations, so we aren't going to embed any videos from last night's performance.

Christine and I were interested in the performances of the Beach Boys, Glen Campbell and Paul McCartney, since they are artists we blog about here at WES BRYAN-MY LIFE IN MUSIC. (The news here on the West Coast is dominated by the death of the long term drug embattled but superior songstress Whitney Houston.)

The Beach Boys, all the original band members who remain alive, performed "Good Vibrations." That includes songwriting genius Brian Wilson, 70, who had his own long battle with drugs and mental illness but has recovered and reemerged to perform over the last few years.

Glen Campbell, 75,who toured with them for a year or so many years ago - as a Beach Boy - jumped up from his seat to the music. Glen, who now suffers from Alzheimer's and who has won five previous Grammys, was honored with a LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. He performed "Rhinestone Cowboy, his hit from the 1970's. We're attaching to an article that has a video of Glen about his Alzheimer's from CNN on line.

Paul McCartney, 70, sang an original song he wrote for Valentine's Day, which appears on his new album of classics, and some Beatle's songs of the slow variety. He can be heard in a radio promo for the album saying he's channeling Fats Waller and Fred Astaire.

Christine feels that none of these artists were in fine voice, that it was Glen Campbells' voice that still has some of the resonance that it used to. After years of performing, and with age, many artists do loose their voices. What can help, sometimes a whole lot, is practicing vocalizations, in other words, voice lessons. That's the way to keep and improve what you've got. Still, we have to appreciate that they lost their voices performing, for the fans, the audience.

This post was reposted due to configuration errors that were out of control. Thanks for your patience.

PSYCHIC JOHN EDWARD ON CARL PERKINS, PAUL MCCARTNEY and JOHN LENNON : DECEMBER 8 1980 JOHN LENNON'S DEATH

page 151 of CROSSING OVER by John Edward

(CT: It's 1981 and Paul McCartney has sent Carl Perkins a ticket to fly to the Caribbean where he and George Martin have a recording studio. Carl plays guitar on the "Tug of War" album and spends eight days with Paul and Linda McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Beatles' producer George Martin.)

"As the time was drawing near for me to go home, I was sitting out on the patio, Carl told Dominic Ambrosio and his camera, his guitar sitting on his lap and looking like a part of him.

(Carl speaking)... "Sometimes I can sing it but I can't say it, and that night before, I wrote a song. And in the morning, I went down to the studio and said to Paul and Linda, 'I'm not good at saying good-bye, but I wrote this song last night, and I want to play it for you.' It was called 'My Old Friend'..."

Carl sang it now for Dominic with the extra emotional emphasis on the refrain: My old friend, won't you think about me every now and then...

"Well halfway through the song, I see Paul is really crying, tears flowing down his face," Carl said. "And he stepped outside. I said to Linda, 'Linda, I didn't mean to upset him.' She says, 'Carl Perkins, how did you know?' I said, 'Darlin', I don't know what yer talkin' about. How did I know what?"

John Lennon had been killed only months before outside his apart met building, the Dakota in New York. Linda explained that, although it wasn't publicly known, only days before his death, she and Paul had visited John and Yoga at the Dakota. At the end of the visit, as they were saying good-bye, John said to Paul, "Think of me every now and then, my old friend."

"Linda put her arms around me, :" Carl said now on a cold January day in Tennessee sixteen years later, "and she said, "Thank you, Carl, he needed that."

SURPRISING CARL PERKINS STORY IN JOHN EDWARD'S NEW BOOK "CROSSING OVER" AND CARLS WORK FOR ABUSED CHILDREN

Christine here: Recently I picked up a copy of JOHN EDWARD'S new book CROSSING OVER.

I wasn't expecting to run into a story about Carl Perkins, his daughter Debbie, and Paul McCartney!

So very many of the people Wes worked with or was inspired by or made friends with have passed on. A couple years ago we were lighting a candle every time we heard the news. Since then we usually write an acknowledgement, a little obit, and the list gets longer.

Both Wes and I believe we have experienced a ghost or two in our lifetimes and are intrigued by the mystical.

Carl Perkins was a heavy smoker who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1991. According to the book (page 148) he made a deal with God that, if he came out of surgery with a voice, he would do good. He started THE CARL PERKINS CENTER FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE, which became the largest center in the country for abused children.

Carl grew up in Tennessee and was sold by his family to a farmer. He was beaten and abused. When he was facing cancer he finally started to deal with this part of his past.

We're linking here to the EXCHANGE CLUB : CARL PERKINS CENTER which has expanded to 13 Counties in West Tennessee!

From MC CARTNEY by CHRISTOPHER SANFORD

McCARTNEY by CHRISTOPHER SANFORD
page 150 of the hardback...


"Back in the old days, even John (Lennon) had been forced to concede that McCartney, unlike him, could pull off brilliant impersonations of high-octane Fifties rock 'n' rollers. And Paul was still a chameleon, or liked to portray himself as one. The first thing he did each afternoon when he arrived in the studio was to warm up by hollering two or three Little Richard and Buddy Holly hits, then casually switch to Dean Martin mode. Once or twice, he succumbed, to the charms of "That's Amore." McCartney's vocal on Lady Madonna was a particularly rich, unpigeonholable mishmash - Memphis-cum-high Vegas, with funk and soul and boogie-woogie all showing up for the party. It was Elvis with a sense of irony.


Book is C 2006 Christopher Sanford

published by Carrol and Graf Publishers,
an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, New York

(199) CLIFF RICHARD the BRITISH ELVIS - GOING STRONG 50 YEARS

Cliff Richard is one of those British artists who has been made a Sir by the Queen, like Paul McCartney and Elton John, for his achievements in the music business. His backing band in the late 1950's and early 1960's was called The Shadows and in the early 1960's he was running on the British charts before the Beatles.

Though Cliff Richards was considered to be "The British Elvis" and has had a career that spans decades and is still performing today, for some reason he never caught on in the United States and has remained a British phenomenon. Mysterious indeed! Because Cliff has sold singles and albums - millions - just like Elvis.

Could it be that because we Americans had Elvis we didn't need Cliff too?

Of course Cliff has an official site!Link above! He's very near 50 years of success!

Take a look at his fan club which has a picture of Cliff when he was very young.
http://www.cliff-guaranteed.co.uk/

Here's a circa 1961 video of Cliff and the Shadows. Cliff was called "A Living Doll."

VIDEO REMOVED JANUARY 2012

Guess who did a cover of Fabian's hit "Turn Me Loose?"

(198) EDDIE COCHRAN 20 FLIGHT ROCK and PAUL MC CARTNEY

The "20 Flight" refers to 20 stairs on a staircase... His "20 Flight Rock" is a humorous Rockabilly song that was a hit about 1957. Eddie Cochran died in 1960 but by then he had captured the interest of a few young upstarts who would become the Beatles.

Here's Eddie Cochran playing "20 Flight Rock" thanks to a YouTube presenter:

Paul McCartney talks about meeting John Lennon and playing Eddie Cochran's 20 Flight Rock on a right handed guitar... He says that because he knew all the words John was impressed and that's probably how he got to be in the Beatles.

In England, "20 Flight Rock" was covered by Cliff Richard, one of the British "Elvis's.

UPDATED July 2012 ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY FOR EDDIE COCHRAN

VIDEOS REMOVED January 2012