(388) ANN-MARGRET STARS ON A "SHINDIG" ALBUM

RCA Victor put this one out. That was Ann's label. The same label Elvis was on.

It's a "Shindig" album that "Stars" Ann-Margret. I don't think Ann was ever on the television show Shindig but she was associated with Rock and Roll early in her career not only because of her own music because of her movie roles and of course, because of her relationship with Elvis Presley.

I've blogged about Ann before - WES BRYAN is a FAN! - and we're linking to Ann's OFFICIAL web site again!

(She's been recording a Gospel album.)

(381) RCA A GREAT BIG RECORD LABEL

Elvis Presley left the Sun record label because RCA bought his contract from Sam Phillips about a year later, in 1955. So when I met Elvis in 1957 the old hound dog was already on a great big label, RCA.

Elvis is still on RCA!

We're linking to the RCA site!

In the 1920's RCA (Radio Corporation of America), which manufactured radios - the way most Americans first heard a record, purchased Victor and the label became RCA Victor. In the early 1950's RCA Victor was one of the big five. The others were Capitol, Mercury, Columbia, and Decca. EMI, the biggest label in the United Kingdom bought Capitol in 1955.

The big labels had the money to market, and marketing was an important part of moving a record into stores quickly so that sales could move it up the chart.

The smaller labels didn't have much of a marketing budget so it was up to the entertainer to promote. Sometimes playing a song on radio or TV sent fans into the record stores where there were few to no records to buy. They bought something else, something available.

By the late 1950's, the smaller independent labels that had been pioneers in releasing Rock and Roll records began to loose sales to the great big labels.

(368) RAY CHARLES SINGERS : BACKGROUND SINGERS OF IMPORTANCE 1964 HIT

From our archives post (91) THE RAY CHARLES SINGERS

from Saturday, December 15, 2007

I had a connection with Perry Como. He worked with the Ray Charles Singers as his background singers. They worked on most everything he recorded and on television.

When I recorded "Lonesome Love," at a giant studio in New York, RCA Victor, right on Broadway, the Ray Charles Singers were my background singers. I was scared to death. They came over. They didn't put on any aires. One of the guys put his arm around me and said, "Now just relax a little bit." They were Regular Joes, and helpful to me.

Now, a few years later, when I had the song "I Feel Like Crying," that Red West and I wrote in Elvis' den on Bellagio in Bel Air, and Pat Boone bought it for Cooga Mooga, Jack Spena, Pat's manager, pitched the song to Perry. Perry was doing an album and Jack and Pat thought it would be a great cut. But Perry listened to Pat Boone's version and he chuckled. "I can't do it as good as Pat can," Perry said.

UPDATE! Linking to the RAY CHARLES SINGERS SITE (Yes they are still working!)

PS. "He is sometimes known humorously as "The Other Ray Charles" to distinguish him from the great soul musician of the same name."

NEW VIDEO The Ray Charles Singers had a top ten hit in 1964 with this recording of a song that was so popular it was recorded by at least a half a dozen other artists, Love Me With All Of Your Heart.

(311) RCA - VICTOR RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA - and ELVIS PRESLEY

While so many of us pitched songs to smaller labels, the bigger labels attracted artists with bigger deals.

RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA - RCA - was the label that Elvis, Ann-Margret, and a lot of star performers recorded on. They had the money to promote and the stars working hard to keep their status. We're linking to the OFFICIAL RCA web site.

Elvis Presley recorded this one in 1956 at RCA in New York City... and singing to an RCA-VICTOR like "Hound Dog" on television was a great public relations coup for Elvis and his manager-agent-promoter Colonel Tom Parker!




Just discovered this historical music video of Elvis performing live in Tupelo in 1957. This was the Elvis Presley I first met in '57. Compare the live performance with what the producers at RCA in New York did with the song...

RCA RECORD LABEL (WITH THE HOUND DOG) FROM TED STAUTON's AMAZING COLLECTION

Take a peek at this RCA record label from Ted's collection which we linked to in it's entirety recently. Thanks again Ted for posting your collection on the web...

HENRY Z. JONES, Actor, Singer, and Genealogist, on ELVIS PRESLEY

This is from PSYCHIC ROOTS, Serendipity and Intuition in Genealogy, by Henry Z. Jones, C 1993, and published by Genealogical Publishing House in Baltimore.

This book is about how researchers sometimes find or get information needed during a roots quest through paranormal means, such as dreams, visions, hunches, odd coincidences, synchronicity, and serendipity.

Henry was an actor in Hollywood for some time - his first career - and was on Tennessee Ernie Ford's show. He says that he was an Elvis Fan and he and his partner tried to style their voices on Elvis for some time. They were signed by the same man who produced Elvis in his RCA Victor years, Steve Sholes. Henry got involved in intense research on the Palantine German's, Germans who went to Ireland and then the United States, and is now a Fellow of the American Genealogical Society. One of the families he research is the Pressler's, who are Elvis' ancestors (and the origin of his family name)! Henry says that several of Elvis' key band members played on their sessions and his very first role was on MGM's "Girl Happy," which starred Elvis. He was thrilled and Elvis "Couldn't have been nicer to me."

So here is what happened to Henry while he was watching - in grief - when CBS- Television showed the last filmed concert of Elvis', which had occurred October 3, 1977.

"As I sat back in my chair, stressed out but determined somehow to watch Elvis' final appearances, I felt an unknown energy almost an electricity, pulsing throughout my living room. It was so strong, I could almost touch it. Then, at the very mini second the show began, a large framed picture of my daughter, hanging on the wall opposite my chair, crashed to the floor with a gigantic boom. In all my years of living in that house no picture had ever fallen and none ever did again."

(91) THE RAY CHARLES SINGERS

I had a connection with Perry Como. He worked with the Ray Charles Singers as his background singers. They worked on most everything he recorded and on television.
When I recorded "Lonesome Love," at a giant studio in New York, RCA Victor, right on Broadway, the Ray Charles Singers were my background singers.

I was scared to death. They came over. They didn't put on any aires. One of the guys put his arm around me and said, "Now just relax a little bit." They were Regular Joes, and helpful to me.

Now, a few years later, when I had the song "I Feel Like Crying," that Red West and I wrote in Elvis' den on Bellagio in Bel Air, and Pat Boone bought it for Cooga Mooga, Jack Spena, Pat's manager, pitched the song to Perry. Perry was doing an album and Jack and Pat thought it would be a great cut. But Perry listened to Pat Boone's version and he chuckled. "I can't do it as good as Pat can," Perry said.

The Ray Charles Singers have been featured at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum

Link Replaced January 12, 2011 CT

(33) EDDY ARNOLD AND THE ELVIS PRESLEY - COLONEL TOM PARKER CONNECTION

As I mentioned in my previous blog, in Nashville in 1957 I performed on television with Brenda Lee and Eddy Arnold.

Brenda was the young teen girl singer with a number of hits and Eddy was - and is - a Country Music Legend. Born in Tennessee, that state that has contributed so many greats to music, he was known as "The Tennessee Plowboy." Now here's the thing about Eddy. Eddy was born in 1918 and by the time Elvis started to rise up, Eddy was considered to be established, but one of the "old" guys.

Eddy was once managed by Colonel Tom Parker, and then Colonel took on country singer Hank Snow. Hank Snow talked up Elvis Presley to the Colonel. Very likely so did Eddy. Who ever heard of a manager having just one client?

Guess who left the likes of Eddy and Hank in the lurch and took on Elvis exclusively ?



We can't redo history!

So there I was on television with Brenda Lee and Eddy Arnold. I was about 20 and Eddy was near 40... He went on the air and forgot his toupee and without it he just didn't look like Eddy. But hey, we didn't notice...

Eddy Arnold has had a lasting career and I have great respect for him.

NEW LINKS added January 21, 2011 ! EDDIE ARNOLD FAN SITE! Click on the title!

ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY FOR EDDY ARNOLD
http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artist.php?key=arno2600

EDDY ARNOLD - INDUCTEE OF THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME http://countrymusichalloffame.org/search?cx=006497759966363918828%3At12raiceqwg&cof=FORID%3A10%3BNB%3A1&ie=UTF-8&q=Eddy+Arnold+&sa=go