(431) AFTER 1965 I WROTE MUSIC FOR TELEVISION AND FILM

After 1965 and the closure of American Music, the music publishing house where my five year song writing contact ended early with the death of the owner, Sylvester Cross, I decided to go independent, and like so many other American songwriters in that time when British Bands with their own singer-songwriters in the band were dominating the charts, I decided to try also writing music for television shows and films.

Honoring my contract that I'd left New York to move to Los Angeles for, I'd let offers to perform again and other opportunities go by the wayside. You can't live your life over, but sometimes you can't help wondering what might have been if you took a different road.

While many of my songwriter peers also took their chances at opening their own publishing houses and recording studios, many of my singer-actor peers were trying to move their singing into acting, like Elvis had been doing, but on television.

I watched a lot of television just like Elvis did and I was eager to place songs on some of them.

Very few have the lasting career of an Elvis Presley and even Elvis, despite all the movies he made that kept him in the public eye, was feeling the effects of the changes in music, what was selling, a different sound.

My friend always kept up on the latest music. He had records that were popular in the states sent to him when he was in the army in Germany, and he had the guys go down to the record stores in Hollywood and bring back records for his home juke boxes. In just a few years he'd need a "come back." But I don't want to go too far in my story yet.

(419) WES BRYAN : LOST MUSIC : BOBBY DARIN TM MUSIC and THE OLD PROSPECTOR

After Bobby Darin had TM, his music publishing company which he started in about 1963, he bought a song from me called "The Old Prospector." He recorded it on a full session himself and he took it to Vegas to pitch it to Louie Prima and Keely Smith.

This is a song that has not been released by Bobby or his heirs and, like Elvis' version of my song "The Dying Ember," which was released on Dot Records by Randy Wood as recorded by Dorsey Burnett, it's a song that could be found in some archive somewhere and, due to the full production, could be released someday

There were a couple songs I was writer on that Bobby wanted to record but Sylvester Cross at American Music wouldn't split the Publishing with Bobby, so the business man Bobby walked away. He remained my friend though.

Bobby bought Trinity Music ("TM") from Ed Burton and Joe Csida, who'd managed Bobby, for about half a million. This move from entertainer to songwriter to music publisher is one I would someday make myself, with much less risk than Bobby had taken when I started U.S. International Records.

In previous posts we've talked about Bobby's early death and his desire to provide for his son Dodd and his heirs. You can use the search feature to pull up old posts and read more and listen to some music!

(403) ONE SUMMER NIGHT : U.S. INTERNATIONAL : MY OWN LABEL

Designing a record label I would be proud of for my own business, U.S. International Records (I was thinking Big!) was a major consideration for me. Some time had passed since my songwriting contract at American Music had ended with the death of Sylvestor Cross, and I decided to do what so very many artists are doing today, go independent.

My cousin Dean, an artist, helped me by designing this, and he did the art-work the good old fashioned way - hand drawing. I still think it's a beautiful label.

As for the recording, I took a truck out to the beach in Malibu and recorded seagulls and waves and added it to the production of "One Summer Night," which got a couple great reviews and good airplay, even though there was near no money to promote it to the radio stations.

(We haven't noticed a copy on the e-bay auctions since 2007!)

After I put it out and it started to get that airplay, Randy Wood at Dot Records decided to release it on his label.

One of the people who put it on the air, on his syndicated show, and that meant the record was heard in Europe was famous DJ and funny man Gary Hollis. Gary and I are still friends to this day.

(393) AMERICAN MUSIC : SYLVESTER CROSS DIES : I KEEP WORKING WITH BOONE AND CAPEHEART

1964 seemed like a happy time to me when I was living it, and in my memory.

We songwriters were not especially concerned about the effects of the so called British Invasion of the Beatles and other groups would have on our own careers. Shows like Shindig celebrated rock and roll in Great Britain and the United States and we had confidence in our talents and abilities.

But that year there was a big change coming for those of us who were on contract with American Music, the big music publishing house that I had come to Los Angeles to work for, where Jerry Capeheart, who once worked with Eddie Cochran and who had signed me on staff was my boss.

Sylvester Cross, the owner of American Music died. I'd signed a five year contract but it was cut short. We kept going to work until Sylvester's wife sold the American Music catalogue for a song (!) and shut down operations.

I kept working for Jerry and for Pat Boone, making demos.

(356) JAMMING AND INNOVATION : JIMMY BOWEN AND WES BRYAN BEAT THE QUOTA AT THE SONGWRITING FACTORY

Jimmy Bowen and I had to write a certain number of songs while we we worked for Sylvester Cross at American Music. One night we wrote dozens of songs.

Of those dozens a few were made into demos and then presented to artists. But that wasn't the point the evening we were jamming together.

We were under a certain pressure at all times to meet quota but Cross wanted quality.

We were also having a good time at it. We were kind of making fun of our situation, a couple laborers in a song-writing factory, but at the same time being willing to go with the flow, keep the critical voices in our heads on vacation.

Jamming with other musicians and songwriters fuels creativity. PS. FROM WES: JIMMY PLAYED THIS ONE ON THE DICK CLARK SHOW.

(182) GLEN CAMPBELL RECORDS JERRY CAPEHEART'S TURN AROUND LOOK AT ME

Jerry Capehart was the man who signed me to American Music. (I've seen Jerry's surname spelled Capeheart and Capehart by the way, and I don't remember which he preferred.) I was honored to be signed by a man who was a great songwriter himself. Jerry and I remained friends until he also passed into Eternal Life.

This is the YouTube video of Glen Campbell singing Jerry's "Turn Around Look At Me."

Versions of Jerry's hit song were later recorded by the Vogues and Elvis Presley. This one, the original circa 1961, came out on Crest Records. Guess who owned Crest Records? Sylvester Cross who owned American Music! And guess who was a staff songwriter at American Music? Glen!

VIDEO REPLACED MARCH 2013 ]

(123) ELVIS THE ALBUM SELLER and MOVIES

It was our job at American Music to "pitch" our demos to an artist if we had a connection there, but meanwhile Sylvestor Cross, the owner of the company, was always on the phone, making deals for the music we wrote, and despite the staff meetings, it was he who often made the final decision about what songs would go to Bobby Darin, which songs would go to Elvis Presley, and so on.

I was friends with Elvis and attending his house parties every weekend that he threw one, but Cross send demos that my co-workers and I had written by messenger - company mail. He didn't expect me to exploit my friendship with Elvis in that way, and Elvis knew it and appreciated it. So did I. I didn't want to make business an issue between us. That doesn't mean Elvis never entertained any of the songs we at American Music wrote, just that I wasn't showing up at the house with that purpose.

Once Elvis was making movies, and movie soundtracks, it wasn't often that he was looking for music for a single. Elvis was becomming what we called "an album seller" rather than "a single seller." And he had established his own publishing houses, which was a move a lot of singers, be they singer-songwriters or covertune types, took. It was an investment in the songs you recorded to own a peice of them as publisher, and a way to make even more money.

Movies and soundtracks would take him away from the Elvis who sang "Hound Dog." Elvis wasn't concerned. Not yet anyway.

(94) AMERICAN MUSIC AND ELVIS

While Sylvester Cross never pressed me to take demos directly to Elvis when I went to parties at his home or socialized with Elvis, he did thank me more than once for "bringing Elvis to my house." What he meant was not his home, but his music publishing house. What he meant was that because of me Elvis was open to getting demo from various American Music songwriters delivered to him for his consideration.

Actually American Music had a lot to thank Elvis Presley for already. It happened this way. Sylvester had the copyright on "Blue Christmas," which had been recorded by Ernest Tubb, the country music star. He'd hit with it in the 1940s. In about 1958 Elvis recorded it, because it was his personal favorite Christmas song! Every year American Music got a giant revenue from the song because it was so associated with Elvis and his version sold so well.

Now, Elvis also had an interesting relationship with the songwriters at American Music, which was at the time located at 9109 Sunset Boulevard, cross street Doheny, adjacent to Beverly Hills. When Elvis was at MGM or Paramount, on his way home to Bel Air, he would pass by driving in his car, usually later in the day, 5 or 5:30 say. If none of us were standing outside, Elvis would honk six times, then take off. This was his hello. If we were standing out there he would stop and chat with me, Glen Campbell, Jerry Capehart - whomever was out there.

(84) BOBBY DARIN, FRED HORTON, GLEN CAMPBELL, and ME

Fred Horton and I wrote "Ashes of Time." Fred didn't work for American Music like I did, but the collaboration was OK'd by Sylvester Cross. Bobby Darin loved the song and I pitched it to him and he went around humming it a bit.

Bobby Darin bought my song "The Old Prospector" for TM Music, his publishing company. He took it to Vegas to pitch it to Keely Smith and Louie Prima. They didn't record it.

Glen Campbell is one of the artist who recorded "Ashes of Time," on his album called "Country Music Star Number One." This album came out in 1969. By then a lot of things had changed. I was no longer working for American Music at all. I had my own company called U.S. International Records. Still, Fred and I were happy that my old co-worker Glen had decided to use our songs.

Linked above: Here's a bit from Answers.com on the album, and all the songs for the album which were written by Fred Horton and me.

(83) BOBBY DARIN EARLY 1960'S STYLE / CHRISTINE WHITE

By the end of 1960, Bobby Darin had four Gold records and had won two Grammy awards and he had become an actor - a movie star - too. He had moved to Los Angeles, California, in order to make the movie "Come September." Sometimes I wonder if he lead the parade of us singer-songwriter-musician-singer-entertainer types from New York to the West Coast.

"Come September"was a light comedy. Now my friend Frankie Avalon had been making the beach blanket movies and it had been a while since anyone really expected me to be The Next James Dean. He got teamed up with Annette Funicello. Bobby Darin was teamed up with Sandra Dee, a child star who had matured to about sixteen years old. Bobby was about twenty four when they met, and Bobby, who was aggressive for anything he wanted badly - like fame and fortune - went after Sandra. They were married.

And well, it was a volatile situation.

When Sylvester Cross got wind that I knew Bobby Darin, he decided I should pitch American Music songs, including a couple I wrote, to him in person. Why not another Gold for the singer who had "Splish Splash," and "Dream Lover?"

I did, and guess who I ran to at the movie studio when I went to pitch Bobby?

My old friend Christine White!
Fate... that's what it was.

Christine White, James Dean's great friend, who I'd met in 1956 on the street in Hollywood on my first tourist trip down from Oregon, was in town working on a television series. She invited me to one of her celebrity filled house parties in the Hollywood Hills and that reignited our friendship!

NEW LINK TO BOBBY DARIN'S OFFICIAL SITE!

(82) STAFF MEETINGS AT THE SONG WRITING FACTORY

At staff meetings at American Music, Sylvester Cross, the owner, held court. We would go over the songs we had written, the demos we'd recorded, and talk about which artists might be interested in having a hit with one of our songs. Sometimes we even had meetings on Sundays, to get the week started early. Sylvester was always interested in making a buck and not wasting any time to do so.

Usually we tried to record demo's M.O.R. - Middle of the Road - So that any artist or producer who was listening could imagine the song going one way or another - to country or to popular music - or whatever way they wanted. Still, there was a lot of creativity expressed in our output. And today floating around are demo records that preserve the early work some of the session players and studio men then who were writing songs and making demos and went on to their own fame later.

Bobby Darin had gotten his start making demos in studios in the Brill building and around New York. Bobby was able to use his voice to sound like a number of other artists and tried to make demos for artists specifically by sounding like them. On occasion someone would try to sound Elvis to pitch Elvis. Usually he took this as a compliment. Even I, with a little extra time in a recording studio, pressed a little Elvis trying to sound Elvis. Our mutual friends would take the demo to Elvis to see if I'd done an authentic enough job of it. Elvis' compliment then was "I couldn't have done it better myself!"

(81) GOLDSTAR and PHIL SPECTOR'S WALL OF SOUND

Now Sylvester Cross, the owner of American Music publishing, was a cheapskate. But when we were recording demos at Goldstar recording studio we were warned to stop whatever we were doing if we saw Phil Spector lurking around. Cross was convinced that Phil had a reputation for stealing other people's lyrics and licks for good reason. Phil Spector seemed way too talented to me to do so and everyone else was trying to steal his Wall of Sound technique, for which there was a lot of mystery at the time.

(We know that Phil Spector's sensational murder trial has been in the news lately and we aren't going to go there. Suffice to say, we'll leave our blog commentary here right where we are in our story, the late 1950's and very early 1960's.)

Phil was early on associated with producing girl groups like the Crystals, and the Ronettes, African-American girl groups. He married Ronnie of the Ronettes.

Here's a You Tube presentation of the Crystals and the sound of Phil's "Wall of Sound," on the Dick Clark Show. It's fast forwarding a couple years to the mod sixties. I can't help think again about the music business - entertainment - and the ground being broken when it came to integration between Blacks and Whites during these early pre-civil rights years.



(ChristineTrzyna: Does the audience in the Ronettes video reveal segregation or integration? The Go Go Dancers in the white boots key us in to the mod sixties and what is happening here, White girls dancing in the background for a Black girl group. Most interesting to me, the line of Black girls - probably from South Central Los Angeles - doing their thing in a row in the audience. I can't help but think how great it was for them to see some other African American women as stars. And more interesting to me, the girls in the audience are going wild for the girls, just like they did for the boy teen idols we all know. I mean, when do we see boys going wild for boys? Almost never!)

Ronnie almost seems like an early Tina Turner.

Phil produced "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers. This You Tube video presentation of them singing that song is a great example of the Wall of Sound, sound and what the genius Phil Spector could do.




I knew Phil Spector from New York. In Los Angeles we got together for coffee at Canters, the Jewish deli that's still operating in the Fairfax District today. He was younger than me and typically hyper, but he was also always respectful to me. I'll say this about my time with Phil. He never talked against anyone to me.

(73) SYLVESTER CROSS - CREST RECORDS and AMERICAN MUSIC

American Music Publishing house in Los Angeles, owned then by an eccentric named Sylvester Cross, was one of the biggest publishing houses in the country. Cross owned the rights to songs that were classics and steady money makers like The Sons of the Pioneers songbook. He became independently wealthy by investing what he made at the song writing factory into real estate.

Cross figured that with a staff of talented musical employees working in various collaborations he couldn't loose. One or two hits and he had payroll made and more beach front property.

I'd been writing songs and offering my friends my songs - as they offered theirs to me - since New York. But I owned the rights to one song when I signed with American Music.

The key was to write a song that would become a hit. Then residuals would fatten the songwriter's wallet. Theoretically. We had a quota - about 20 songs a month if I remember correctly. Cross provided the funds to make a demo of a song, with basic instrumentation, which sometimes included other musicians, but often mean me - my voice and a guitar. The demo was then sent off to the artist or artists that we thought could do best with it, for their consideration.

RCS DISCOGRAPHY has a page here on Crest Records which was owned by Sylvester Cross. Now if you look at the line up you can see some names familiar to this blog... Eddie Cochran, who was managed by Jerry Capehart, who was managing Glen Campbell when Glen scored a hit with the song Jerry wrote, "Turn Around Look At Me," and Jerry Capehart himself. (Dick Bills, I believe, was Glen Campbell's uncle who he was performing with when Jerry walked in and discovered Glen.)

Link above to Rockin County Style Discography on CREST.

Once again you can see how we music makers were all intertwined.

Here's a Crest Discography by TAPIO VAISANEN...

http://www.pcuf.fi/~tapiov/discographies/crest.htm

(68) JERRY CAPEHART / AMERICAN MUSIC

American Music, one of the biggest music publishing companies in the West, was owned by an eccentric named Sylvester Cross. I was signed by Jerry Capehart there to a five year contract.

Jerry Capehart was a great part of Eddie Cochran's success. He was a successful songwriter in his own rite. Jerry had been his manager and had written hit songs with Eddie including the forever great "Summertime Blues," and "C'Mon Everybody," as well as "Teen-Age Heaven."

Jerry Capehart's own Rockin Country Style Discography link above!

Jerry Capehart is talking about Eddie Cochran in this video the short haired man in the white business shirt is Jerry Capehart. Jerry is one of many people who started out as a performer, musician, and songwriter, who went into the music business in another capacity.