BUDDY HOLLY and THE CRICKETS : CRICKETS WERE INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME IN 2012

  The Crickets who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 were Jerry Allison, Joe B. - Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, and Sonny Curtis.  The picture is of Jerry and Sonny with Buddy.

Here's an updated link! ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME PAGE - THE CRICKETS

Buddy left Sonny and Joe B behind when he went on the tour where the plane crashed and killed him, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, so they survived and went on.  They played surf inspired music in the early 1960's.

WES BRYAN CENTRAL PARK NEW YORK PUBLICITY PHOTO

An Acting - Singing publicity photo taken in Central Park, New York City, of me in about 1957- 1958. I was being groomed by United Artists to be The Next James Dean. Mine was an opportunity many actors could only dream of. I got a Gold Record for performance of my first single LONESOME LOVE! But at the end of the story who could ever replace the one true JAMES DEAN?

FABIAN BREAK DOWN AND CRY : 1962 : JIMMY BOWEN and WES BRYAN SONGWRITERS

FABIAN was hot and we were happy to place a song with him!

Recently we saw that this record, a promo copy and the LONDON -AMERICAN record put out in England were up for auction, and more, it finally showed up on Youtube!

Additional Notes March 23, 2011 Wes said, "Jimmy Bowen and I wrote "Break Down and Cry" with Frankie Avalon watching ... but we had Pat Boone in mind for this hit... Pat had just taken over the management of Fabian, and Jack Spena at Pat's company had also taken over Fabian management... "Break Down and Cry" was a strong song... Pat Boone felt it would fit Fabian better."

BUDDY HOLLY THE BIG BOPPER RITCHIE VALENS POSTER FOR THE LAST PERFORMANCE

SEE OUR PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED - Part of WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC HISTORY! Use the Google Search This Blog Feature!

(291) PAT BOONE records I FEEL LIKE CRYING

When I was first in New York there had been a comparison of my voice with Pat Boone's. Then, while in Los Angeles, I was recruited by Pat to work for his company as a demo maker and songwriter. Pat recording this song (and "Wishing Again") which was written by Red West and me. (Today I Feel Like Crying is on Pat's album "The Fifties - Complete.")
So I was working for Pat's publishing company, Cooga Mooga, and Pat was not only recording, but producing, and interested in presenting songs to other singers. Guess who I wanted to record this song? Perry Como!

As you may know from reading my blog, when it came to the crooners Perry Como was one of my favorites. And while working for Pat, I was introduced to Perry through Jack Spena.

LONESOME LOVE ON LONDON

To provide my record for distribution in England, a master was taken to England where it was pressed on LONDON label as a 45 RPM... That's George Stravo Orchestra and Chorus behind me. On radio and television programs I played the guitar and sang, unplugged as they would say now.

(231) BUDDY KNOX - HAPPY ROCKABILLY

Here's a little picture news article that came out in the late 1950's about Buddy Knox who was maybe my best friend amongst a group of great men who I became friends with while in New York City, beginning my career as a singer-songwriter. Buddy's apparent happiness - his sense of fun, his generosity of spirit, and his gentlemanly ways - Buddy was a college man- made him easy to work with and a great friend to have...It was easy to "brand" Buddy as happy and it helped that he came from a town called HAPPY TEXAS!

ROULETTE - RADIO STATION COPY OF MELODIE D' AMOUR - WES BRYAN

My tour for Roulette to promote Melodie D'Amour took me through many cities including my new home town of Los Angeles in 1961. I performed on the Wink Martindale Show on KCOP and on Alan Freed's Radio Show, as well as the amusement park in Pacific Palisades with the Pacific Ocean view.

Meanwhile I was a staff song writer at American Music, the publishing house owned by Sylvester Cross.

Here's a "Radio Station Copy" of the record that Elvis said was one of his favorites. He put it in his juke box at the house and carried a copy with him to Vegas.

I'LL ALWAYS BE YOURS - BOBBY DENTON on JUDD RECORDS

Bobby Denton recorded "I'll Always Be Yours" on the Judd label. The label was owned by Jud Phillips, the brother of Sam Phillips.

WES BRYAN - COOL MAGAZINE

Here's one of the magazines I was mentioned in back in March of 1958 as the New James Dean. It had an article about James "Jimmy" Dean as well. (That's another fellow on the cover - another hipster!) The comparisons of me and James Dean went on and on. More than one man hoped to fill those big shoes James Dean left but I was the one with United Artists behind me. I was being groomed by United Artists to play Jimmy in a "Bio Pic" about his life, which was never meant to be. But about this time in New York I met the great actor Paul Newman. He said to me, "There's a great need to fill James Dean's shoes and you're it!

Oh - that's Ronnie Burns on the cover... Guess who his dad was? George Burns. That's right. George who gave Ann-Margret her start in Las Vegas! If I remember the photo spread inside, it had Ronnie at home pool side with a lot of sexy girls sitting around him...

(181) DORSEY BURNETT - THE DYING EMBER

While a staff songwriter at American Music, I wrote this song with Fred Horton. Fred wasn't staff but the owner-boss Sylvester Cross OK'd him. The song was meant for Elvis Presley but Dorsey got it - long story- and recorded it first. I think of this song as one of my best. Read our other blogs about Dot Records by using the search feature of this GOOGLE blog!

THE NEXT JAMES DEAN FAN PHOTO

ROULETTE RECORDS : WES BRYAN : I GUESS I'LL NEVER KNOW

ROULETTE RECORDS used the carnival roulette wheel as a pictorial representation of the chances taken on artists when they signed and recorded someone. Being signed by Roulette was eased for me by Jimmy Bowen and Buddy Knox, who were already signed by the label. I would tour for two years with Buddy Knox and meet up with Jimmy Bowen along the road to perform with him too. Besides my own songs, recorded on United Artists, Clock, and Roulette records, I also covered Rock and Roll hits by stars like Carl Perkins and Eddie Cochran.

HONEY BABY WES BRYAN on CLOCK RECORDS

HONEY BABY BY WES BRYAN on CLOCK RECORDS

Here's my record on Clock - the label with the ringing alarm clock icon. Clock records won me in a bidding contest among labels. It was owned by the Moody's, a couple of British men who had a lot of hit records for the size of their company.

(35) FREEZE! A DANCE CRAZE SPARKED ON AMERICAN BANDSTAND BY THIS "SINGING - ACTING SENSATION"

I played live at record hops, accompanying myself on a guitar, and when I was on television performing, I sang either live or along with a recording. I never just lip sync-ed (silently moved my lips) to a tune and as a result I kept my voice honed. Having to perform live, with no technology to cover your mistakes, meant having to be your best at all times. There was no slacking off. Touring was grueling and I often suffered from sleep deprivation, but being your best at all times also meant clean living. Though years later I would realize that some of my peers had begun to take drugs to keep going, for the most part the ones I associated with at the time kept drinking to a minimum and relied on their youthful energy to keep going!

I had lost all shyness of performing. I was better than ever! My confidence had grown as I traveled and met people all around the country and from all walks of life. I felt myself to be part of the vital New York music scene too. I had begun writing songs and presenting them to my peers. Besides my own hit songs, I performed many of the popular Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll songs of my era.

In the summer of 1958, on the United Artists record label, I put out another single. This one had "Wait for Me Baby," on one side, and a song called "Freeze," on the other.

Once again I made an appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show, performing "Freeze." It seemed that my first appearance on Dick Clark's, singing "Tiny Spaceman," with a prop flying saucer going around my head, had been an eon ago - when it had been a bit more than a year.

Now "Freeze" was meant to be a record hop - dance party tune. When I sang the word "freeze!" the kids on the dance floor would stop for a moment wherever they were. It was like vogue-ing, late 1950's style. The song started a bit of dance craze around the nation!

(My writing partner, Christine, has a memory of learning this dance as a kid. She says a neighbor's mom owned an old copy and her friends played the record while they ran through the lawn sprinklers! Their idea was to stick someone else in the sprinkler for a moment at freeze!)

Now at this point Elvis Presley was over in Germany in the United States Army. He had the opportunity to be part of Special Services and spend his time there as an entertainer but Elvis (some say Colonel Tom Parker chose this for him) chose to be regular army. Elvis was granted the privilege of living off base and rented a house over there, and he had some of his favorite companions come over there to keep him company including Cliff Gleaves, the hep cat DJ, who clicked his fingers and joked "We have James Dean in the car with us," about me. Officially autographing was kept to an hour or so every day, when Elvis was in residence.

I, like just about everyone else, kept reading the fan magazines, to keep up on Elvis, but also to keep up on the competition. Frankie Avalon - Fabian - Pat Boone. Meanwhile Elvis kept up on us. He was very worried about Fabian as his competition. He had magazines, demo-records, the top 40, and even movies brought over so he wouldn't loose touch with what was happening in the United States.

Frankie Avalon was a friend of mine in New York. His dad came to town from Philadelphia to visit and we all went out to dinner. Despite my success with "Freeze!" Frankie was one of my singer-songwriter peers - and another fellow who was being marketed as a "Singing-Acting Sensation" - who urged me to consider changing labels. Believe it or not, I too was up for the parts he got as a beach boy! Frankie, Buddy Knox, and some others, felt that I could be doing more with my career, even as the whole Next James Dean promotion continued to propel me forwards. They felt that United Artists Records was just too new at the music business and as for my acting career - well, it had stalled out for reasons I can't reveal here - but it was stalled.

Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis's manager, had enough records to put out while Elvis was in Germany to keep the fans thinking of - and buying - Elvis. Throughout Elvis' time in Germany he and I passed hellos and good wishes through people we knew in common. I think we were all waiting to see what would happen when Elvis returned to the States.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2011

FREEZE HAS APPEARED ON YOUTUBE! THANKS FRIEND!

LONDON AMERICA RECORDS DEMO OF HONEY BABY BY WES BRYAN

Here's a recording I originally did on Clock Records appearing as a demo for radio play, I believe, made in England on London - American Records. At the time, I didn't know how I got airplay in England, but I knew that American Rock and Rollers, including the Everly Brothers, were popular there. Cliff Richard was the "English Elvis."

WES BRYAN : TINY SPACEMAN ON UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS

This is a blurry photo, but well, I wanted you to see what the record label itself looked like - red and black - which was repeated on the cover, a collage of photos of me, looking moody, red background. The other side of the sleeve has me looking up a tree in Central Park, a photo taken by my manager, but which has been incorrectly credited in at least one published book I know about as James Dean himself and as taken by his photographer, Dennis Stock.

LONESOME LOVE - WES BRYAN LOOKING VERY JAMES DEAN LIKE!

LONESOME LOVE COVER: THAT's ME LOOKING LIKE JAMES DEAN. The photo was taken by my manager in Central Park, New York City. I was about 20 years old. It was 1957.