P.J. PROBY PROMOTIONAL VIDEO CIRCA 2011 !

Friends, we felt real lucky to have received this P.J. PROBY Promotional Video in our very own e-mail from P.J.'s manager Manja, who is in Holland. P.J. has just finished with the Elvis themed show and other venues are calling. There aren't many left of our generation who are as active in entertainment.



We're so Excited for P.J.!  This video shows his range - which has always been incredible - his talent and energy. Hey P.J. I want a silver suit too!

HELLO TO NEW FRIENDS USING TRANSLATORS IN FARSI AND ARABIC and A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OUR RECENT READERSHIP

Christine Trzyna here: Sleuth that I am (it must be all those NANCY DREW books I read in the fifth grade along with the English Classics!) I recently discovered that our blog is being translated in some languages we don't have translator flags for including Farsi and Arabic. We are a bit in awe that there are people in the Arabic and Farsi speaking countries interested in early American rock and roll and the cover tune era!

We appreciate our friends; the old friends as well as the new ones we're making!

You know we don't write for statistics but we do find our readership interesting. In the last 30 days the United States takes the lead as we tend to expect. Coming in second place are readers from Germany. Readers from France and the United Kingdom are almost tied. As are Canada and the Ukraine! We had a dozen or so readers from Australia and Poland. This week Latvia and India checked in! Welcome to you all!

UPDATE MAY 23 2012 - WE'VE INSTALLED THE NEW GOOGLE TRANSLATOR TO HELP YOU READ THIS BLOG! GIVE IT A TRY!

(374) FROM OUR ARCHIVE (316) VIVA LAS VEGAS AND GLEN CAMPBELL

Friday, June 18, 2010

(316) VIVA LAS VEGAS and GLEN CAMPBELL

Glen Campbell was aboard at American Music where I worked. When he moved to Los Angeles after Jerry Capeheart signed him, he spent a lot of time with me at my place. I got Glen Campbell the gig with Elvis Presley for the music for VIVA LAS VEGAS. Glen had asked me to introduce him to Elvis many times so I eventually did introduce the two men. Elvis asked Glen for a demo record and Glen provided it. Glen gave Elvis a demo of an instrumental he did called "Buzz Saw" that really showed off his musical genius. Because Elvis loved the demo he made the phone calls and Glen was assigned to be the LEAD GUITARIST - the LEADER OF THE BAND - for the movie music. As a member of the Musicians Union he was paid triple scale for the soundtrack work. This was before Glen become famous. He was a songwriter and studio musician much in demand for years before "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," the Jimmy Webb composition.

(373) GLEN CAMPBELL : ALZHEIMERS : LAST TOUR AND ALBUM

We're linking here to a recent LA Times Blog article about Glen Campbell, who has announced that, at 75, he has Alzheimer's but will go on one last tour.

And to what we believe to be his own site which has some excellent photos including of his latest album: http://surfdog.com/glencampbellshow/index.html

Glen was blessed with amazing musical talent, has had a long and winding road of a career and is known for his dozens of hit records, but his journey in life was not and is not easy going.

GLEN CAMPBELL : A AND W ROOTBEER 1966

Yes, Glen even worked on commercial jingles and promotions for products like rootbeer. But besides the interest here in Glen Campbell, let's just say in posting this that there has never been any shame attached to an honest day's work.

And for all of you who love music (and you have to love music to be in the business) there is no shame in background singing, jingle writing, or any of the behind the scenes work, like songwriting or music production; not everyone can become a star or have a public career that goes on for years. I feel lucky to have participated as much as I have! Wes

(372) GLEN CAMPBELL 1964 ALBUM SHOWS OFF HIS 12 STRING GUITAR PLAYING EXCELLENCE

Jerry Capeheart, Eddie Cochran's old manager, discovered Glen Campbell and invited him out to Los Angeles, gave him an American Music songwriting contract. Glen played in studios as a musician, making his living behind the scenes, until performing called to him again.

(371) CAPITOL RECORDS : A GREAT BIG RECORD LABEL

Throughout this blog we've posted on many of the smaller or regional record labels.

These labels were extrememly important to my generation of rockabilly and early rock and roll artists, as was the personality DJ who still was able to pick his or her favorites and give them a spin on the radio, often making stars out of artists. Many of these smaller labels had near no budget for promotion but the great big labels, such as Capitol Records did and so being signed by them usually meant that you'd have a publicity machine behind your efforts.

(YOU CAN USE THE SEARCH FEATURE OF THIS GOOGLE BLOGGER TO look up "personality DJ's" such as Cliff Gleaves, or Wolfman Jack!)

By 1964 Capitol had The Beatles of Great Britain and The Beach Boys of Los Angeles, California. They also had Glen Campbell, who was starting to move forward in his entertainment career after years of performing in small venues. (But let's hold a bit on the Glen Campbell story, which has been in the media lately.)

We're linking to the present day Capitol Records site where we noticed that BRIAN WILSON of the Beach Boys and RINGO STAR of the Beatles are still signed artists with this label!

OLD GOLDEN HOLLYWOOD

Probably the 1930's. A bit before my time in Hollywood, which began in the late 1950's when the Capitol Records building towered over the record business. Looks like Vine Street to me.

Used under terms and conditions with thanks from Dover Publishing

CAPITOL RECORDS : MISSING ROYALTIES : ARE YOU AN ARTIST WHO FORGOT TO CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS AT THE OFFICE?

ARE YOU A "MISSING IN ACTION" SONG WRITER OR MUSIC PRODUCER WHO HAS BEEN MISSING SOME ROYALTY CHECKS?

CAPITOL RECORDS MAY BE LOOKING FOR YOU TO PAY YOU WHAT THEY OWE!

Linking here to a small database of people who left town and forgot their pay!

WES HERE : I looked at a number of these and recognized a few names!

Liberty Records was sold to United Artists and then UA sold them to EMI which owns Capitol Records.

CAPITOL RECORDS and THE PLAZA HOTEL

From Our Archives

Capitol Records and the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood circa 1960, credited to photographer Roy Hankey, through Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection Database. We've been looking through free image collections for a good photo of the Capitol building which looked a bit like a stack of records.

Besides Capitol records, we also see the Plaza Hotel- where I had tea with actress and James Dean's great friend Christine White, the Huntington-Hartford, and the Broadway Department store.

UPDATE July 2011. We're linking to a Hollywood/ Capitol Records Memory Site by Nori Muster. This site includes "The Capitol Tower Turned fifty in 2006. Read correspondence, remembrance, and images from the grand opening, including the 1956 press release, information sheet, tour guide script, and Tower booklet." and more!

(370) BUDDY KNOX and WES BRYAN SINGER-SONGWRITERS COMPOSE ALL BY MYSELF RECORDED ON LIBERTY RECORDS

Here are two variations of the LIBERTY RECORDS labels for the song Buddy Knox recorded with the Johnny Mann Singers as background, that he and I wrote called "All By Myself." It sold well enough to get a Gold Record and went for a second pressing. The song also appeared on an album of his. Glenda Music was Buddy's own publishing company.



This was the promo copy that went to DJ's only. It was played on radio stations.

This was the store copy.

(369) JOHNNY MANN SINGERS : BACKGROUND SINGERS OF IMPORTANCE

Like the Ray Charles Singers, the Johnny Mann Singers have recorded for years and sometimes the two groups recorded the same songs, popular music that appealed to three generations. The Johnny Mann Singers covered some of the songs Elvis recorded and songs recorded by the Beatles too. My friend Buddy Knox had them for his whole album that the song he and I wrote, "All By Myself", was on. Snuffy Garret was the producer on that album Buddy Knox on Liberty Records.



In this video the Johnny Mann singers record commercial music for KEARTH 101, a popular radio station in Los Angeles with a rock and oldies format.

FOURTH OF JULY 2011

BEACH BOYS 1964 ON BRITAINS READY STEADY GO SHOW!

JAQUES DELILLE Quote on Friendship

"Fate chooses your relations, you choose your friends." - Jacques DeLille

(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.

(367) 1964 MY FRIEND ERSEL HICKEY'S CROOKED LITTLE MAN BECOMES A CLASSIC : SERENDIPITY SINGERS

Ersel Hickey, one of the first friends I made in my New York days, wrote this song called "Crooked Little Man" /"Don't Let The Rain Come Down, and in 1964 the Serendipity Singers had a top ten hit with it. Before you know it, the Beach Boys recorded it too. The Serendipity singers were considered a folk group, in the tradition of Peter, Paul, and Mary. And in 1964 they performed at the Democratic National Convention.

This song was also recorded by Johnny Rivers. Trini Lopez performed it and so did many other performers. We've even heard a punk rock version. It's called a "classic" now. Back then the song writing residuals bought Ersel got a house.


The Serendipity Singers have had many changes through the years. Some incarnation of the group was performing through the 1990's.

(366) FERLIN HUSKY PASSED MARCH 17 2011 REMEMBERING FERLIN LINK TO HIS OFFICIAL SITE!

FROM OUR ARCHIVES in Memorial of Ferlin Husky!



POST (204) FERLIN HUSKY and PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS


UPDATED VIDEO JULY 2011 Now, if you've read about me as a cover blurb on Cool Magazine's hipster cover in 1958, along with James Dean and Ferlin Husky, and Ferlin as one of the men on the video from a YouTube presenter said to be one of the earliest of Elvis (along with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Blue Moon Boys Bill Black and Scotty "The Guitar that Changed the World" Moore), you may be wondering "who is Ferlin Husky?" What a name? Right?

Like Elvis Presley, Ferlin Husky's a southerner who recorded Country, Country-Pop, religious music and funny songs. Here is COUNTRYPOLITAN's Profile of Ferlin Husky: http://www.countrypolitan.com/bio-ferlin-husky.php

And above the link to Ferlin's Official Web Site! Ferlin recorded "Gone" in 1954 as a country song which didn't chart well, but a new producer worked on the 1957 version and he continued to sing this song throughout his career. Now, this may seem improbable but the American Invasion of Britian continued when in 1965 the Paul Revere and the Raiders covered "Gone." Yes! Really! Ferlin also recorded a couple of my songs, and I'm proud of that!

WAIT FOR ME BABY WES BRYAN

The flip side of Freeze, a Doo Wop song sung by me with the great Ben Alexander on the sax! We'll be replacing this video soon: the Youtuber who first presented it is reworking his channel and has been in touch!

WES BRYAN TAKES A QUESTION : COPYRIGHT ? NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION

Adam : "I'm an aspiring song writer. I was wondering where I might find information on using famous quotes in song lyrics."

Wes : We're linking to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION here which has some good information and links about music copyright. You may want to contact them and see if they can guide you to the correct answer.

I think the question may be who owns the copyright to a quote and if they are policing the use of their words. Fair Use of a quote for this blog includes attributing it to the person who said (or wrote) those words. There are many ways to express the same thought though, and we notice that some quotes are repeated (and published in books and on the net) with slight changes, attributed to different people. This question also falls into the same category of "song sampling" by rap artists and Fair Use of music on the net.

Our favorite, RCS Discography, carefully follows the 4 bar sampling policy. While, as we all know, YouTube established new ground in the (temporary) use of listening tomusic, including songs I wrote and recorded. So how much use anyone can get out of anything that someone else originated gets to be a complicated question at times.

(364) DONNIE BROOKS RECORDED UNDER SEVERAL NAMES BEFORE HE HIT IT BIG

I first met DONNIE BROOKS in the late 1950's - early 1960's in New York City. Then, since he also moved out to LA, I saw him on this coast.

He became a very good friend of mine, as well as Dorsey Burnett's and P.J. Probys.

We're linking to the DONNIE BROOKS ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME LINK ABOVE!

Donnie, like many others who moved between studio work - making demos - and entertainment, recorded under different names and on different record labels before he settled on Donnie Brooks and had that hit. In 1964 he moved on to Frank Sinatra's label, Reprise (where Jimmy Bowen had become a producer), and eventually Gene Autry's Challenge, continuing his career into the 1970's.



And sadly, an article from the United Kingdown, Independent newspaper, his obit...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/donnie-brooks-439032.html

(363) LEON RUSSEL ROCK AND ROLL OF FAME 2011 : ELTON JOHN COLLABORATORS

On David Letterman 2011 and his Induction in 2011 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by one of my favorites, Elton John, LEON RUSSEL was a session player when I worked a bit with him, and he always seemed to me to be shy or to himself.



Elton and Leon have collaborated lately and appeared recently on the David Letterman show.

FREEZE by WES BRYAN

What a surprise! Every once in a while another Wes Bryan recording shows up on YouTube and it's my eagle eye writing partner Christine who usually discovers them!

I loved recording this song, the first I wrote that I recorded and had success with.
Ben Alexander played that hot sax. I was honored to record with him. Ben played with many of the Big Band and Jazz artists. I met up with him in Harlem and we practiced and practiced and practiced some more.

We congratulated each other on this hit at the Turf restaurant in New York...

THANK YOU TO THE YOUTUBER who posted this! Wes