FROM THE VAULTS

Fred Tomlinson (December 18 1927 - July 17 2016) was a singer, conductor, composer and musicologist who will be remembered for his involvement, via the Fred Tomlinson Singers, with such shows as Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Two Ronnies, Dad’s Army and Only Fools and Horses (among many others). But there was much more to his life and career.

Born in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, into a musical family, he was the youngest of four children of Fred, a factory foreman, and his wife, May (nee Culpan), a teacher. Fred senior was a keen amateur musician who founded and conducted the Rossendale male voice choir. One of his brothers was the composer Ernest Tomlinson.

All the children sang, and the three boys won scholarships to Manchester Cathedral choir school, with Fred junior following his two older brothers there in 1937. It was there that he came across the song Balulalow by Peter Warlock, which began a lifelong interest in his music. War economies closed the choir school in 1940 and the boys were dispersed. Fred won a place at King’s College school, Cambridge, and was there until his voice broke.

He continued his studies at the local grammar school and went on to study maths, statistics, Italian and music at Leeds University. There he met his future wife, Pamela Mellor, also a singer. Fred’s horizons broadened with exposure to more modern music. “I thought there was no one but Bach, but then I discovered Doris Day,” he said.

The Northerners. Fred's in the middle.

Following university, he did two years of national service in the RAF, mainly serving in Singapore. Then he moved to London to work for a music publisher alongside Ernest, until joining the George Mitchell Singers. Tomlinson also formed his own quartet The Northerners. He married Pamela in 1956 with George Mitchell as best man.

In 1960 the Littlewoods Pools Company asked Mitchell if he would take over as musical director of a broadcasting orchestra they

maintained. He refused but sent Tomlinson in his stead. The family moved to Southport for two years and Tomlinson did a number of broadcasts from BBC Manchester, arrangements for the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra, and also some touring. Returning to London, he re-joined the Mitchell Singers, before founding the Fred Tomlinson Singers in the late 1960s.

From then on Fred’s career was mainly on radio and television, but also in concert. His outstanding sight-reading ability meant that he was in demand in every genre, from early music through to pop.

For the Monty Python show, Terry Jones and Michael Palin wrote the words to the famous Lumberjack Song, and Fred wrote the music. Fred and his singers also performed on the song "Spam" in 1970. Palin said: “Fred insisted on high standards, and much work and rehearsal went into ensuring that something extremely silly was also extremely polished.”

Fred Tomlinson and his singers briefly became bona fide pop stars, accompanying Eric Idle in a rendition of Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life on Top Of The Pops in Autumn 1991, after Virgin's re-release of the song scaled the top ten, reaching the dizzy heights of number three in the UK charts.

As chairman of the Peter Warlock Society for 25 years, Fred joined with other musicians to give concerts, recordings and lectures. Under the pseudonym Frederick Culpan he wrote a companion piece to Warlock’s opus The Curlew using the same instrumentation. He also wrote several books about Warlock and edited many of his songs for publication.

Fred Tomlinson died at his home on Sunday 17 June 2016 at the age of 88. Pamela survives him. His elder daughter, also a singer, was killed in a car accident in 1990. His younger daughter, who had Rett syndrome, died in 2011.

(Info mainly edited from an article by Hilary Ashton for The Guardian)

James Cecil Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015) better known as Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4'11" (150 cm), and his rhinestone-studded outfits. He started as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1948 and became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983. Before his death he was

the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Born in Bolt, West Virginia, Dickens, who is related to Charles Dickens, began his musical career in the late 1930s, performing on a local radio station while attending West Virginia University. He soon quit school to pursue a full-time music career, and travelled the country performing on various local radio stations under the name "Jimmy the Kid."

In 1948, Dickens was heard performing on a radio station in Saginaw, Michigan by Roy Acuff, who introduced him to Art Satherly at Columbia Records and officials from the Grand Ole Opry. Dickens signed with Columbia in September and joined the Opry in August. Around this time he began using the nickname,

Little Jimmy Dickens, inspired by his short stature.

Dickens recorded many novelty songs for Columbia, including "Country Boy,""A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed" and "I'm Little But I'm Loud." His song "Take an Old Cold Tater (And Wait)" inspired Hank Williams to nickname him "Tater". Later, telling Jimmy he needed a hit, Williams penned "Hey Good Lookin'" specifically for Dickens in only 20 minutes while on a Grand Ole Opry tour bus. A week later Williams cut the song himself, jokingly telling him, "That song's too good for you!"

Hank Williams and Jimmy

In 1950 he formed the Country Boys with musicians Jabbo Arrington, Grady Martin, Bob Moore and Thumbs Carllile and. It was during this time that he discovered future Hall of Famer Marty Robbins at a Phoenix, Arizona television station while on tour with Grand Ole Opry road show. In 1957, Dickens left the Grand Ole Opry to tour with the Philip Morris Country Music Show.

In 1962 Dickens released "The Violet and the Rose," his first top ten single in 12 years.

During 1964 he became the first country artist to circle the globe while on tour, and also made numerous TV appearances including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In 1965 he released his biggest hit, "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose," reaching number one on the country chart and number fifteen on the pop chart.

In the late 1960s he left Columbia for Decca Records, before moving again to United Artists in 1971. That same year he married his wife, Mona, and in 1975 he returned to the Grand Ole Opry. In

1983 Dickens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

He joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the In the Heat of the Night cast CD “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” performing "Jingle Bells" with the cast on the CD released on Sonlite and MGM/UA for one of the most popular Christmas releases of 1991 and 1992 with Southern retailers.

Toward the end of his life, Dickens made appearances in a number of music videos by fellow country musician and West Virginia native Brad Paisley. He was also featured on several of Paisley's albums in bonus comedy tracks, along with other Opry mainstays

such as George Jones and Bill Anderson. They were collectively referred to as the Kung-Pao Buckaroos.

With the death of Hank Locklin in March 2009, Dickens became the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 90. He made regular appearances as a host at the Opry, often with the self-deprecating joke that he is also known as "Willie Nelson after taxes," playing on his resemblance to Nelson in his later years and his own short stature. At the 2011 CMA Awards, Jimmy was dressed up as Justin Bieber, and made fun of Bieber's then-current paternity scandal.

Dickens was hospitalized after a stroke on December 25, 2014, days after his last appearance on the Opry to mark his birthday. He died of cardiac arrest on January 2, 2015, at the age of 94. He is survived by his wife, Mona Dickens, who he married in 1971, and two daughters, Pamela Detert and Lisa King. After his funeral on January 8, 2015 at the Grand Ole Opry House, Dickens was entombed in the Cross Mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville. (Info Wikipedia)

Irene Dunne (December 20, 1898 - September 4, 1990) was a five-time Academy Award-nominated American film actress and singer of the 1930s and 1940s.

She was born Irene Marie Dunne in Louisville, Kentucky to Joseph Dunn, a steamboat inspector for the United States government, and Adelaide Henry, a concert pianist/music teacher from Newport, Kentucky. After her father's death in 1909, she, her mother and

younger brother Charles moved to her mother's hometown of Madison, Indiana. Dunne's mother taught her to play the piano as a very small girl. Nicknamed "Dunnie," she took piano and voice lessons, sang in local churches and high school plays before her graduation in 1916.

She earned a diploma to teach art, but took a chance on a contest and won a prestigious scholarship to the Chicago Musical College. She had hopes of becoming an opera singer, but did not pass an audition with the Metropolitan Opera Company.

Dunne turned to musical theatre, making her Broadway debut in 1922 in Zelda Sear's The Clinging Vine. The following year, Dunne played a season of light opera in Atlanta, Georgia. Though, in her own words, Dunne created "no great furore," and by 1929 she was playing leading roles in a successful Broadway career,

grateful that she was never in the chorus line.

Dunne met her future husband, Francis Griffin, a New York dentist, at a supper dance in New York. Despite differing opinions and battles that raged furiously, Dunne eventually agreed to marry him and leave the theatre. They were wed on July 16, 1928 until his death 15 October 1965. They had adopted a daughter Mary Frances Griffen in 1936.

Irene came to the attention of Hollywood when she performed in "Show Boat" on the East Coast. By 1930 she was under contract to RKO Pictures. Her first film was Leathernecking (1930), which went almost unnoticed. In 1931 she appeared in Cimarron (1931), for which she received the first of five Academy Award nominations. No Other Woman (1933) and Ann Vickers (1933) the same year followed. She sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in the 1935 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film version

of the musical Roberta.

In 1936 (due to her comic skits in Show Boat (1936) she was "persuaded" to star in a comedy, up to that time a medium for which she had small affection. However, Theodora Goes Wild (1936) was an instant hit, almost as popular as the more famous It Happened One Night (1934) from two years before. From this she earned her second Academy Award nomination. Later, in 1937, she was teamed with Cary Grant in The Awful Truth (1937). This helped her garner a third Academy Award nomination. She starred with Grant later in My Favourite Wife (1940) and Penny Serenade (1941).

A studio recording Irene made in 1941 accompanied by the Victor Young Orchestra. Among others this album features the title "Smoke Get's In Your Eyes" which she sung first in the film Roberta

Her favourite film was Love Affair (1939) with Charles Boyer, a huge hit in a year with so many great films, and a role for which she was again nominated for an Academy Award. However, it was the tear-jerker I Remember Mama (1948) for which she will be best remembered in the role of the loving, self-sacrificing Norwegian mother. She got another nomination for that but again lost. This was the picture in which she should have won the Oscar.

She began to wean herself away from films toward the many charities and public works she championed. Her last major movie was as Polly Baxter in 1952's It Grows on Trees (1952). After that she only appeared as a guest on television. Irene knew enough to quit while she was ahead of the game and this helped keep her legacy intact.

In 1957 she was appointed as a special US delegate to the United Nations during the 12th General Assembly by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, such was her widespread appeal. The remainder of her life was spent on civic causes. One of her last public appearances was in April 1985, when she attended the dedication of a bust in her honour at St. John's (Roman Catholic) Hospital in Santa Monica, California, for which her foundation, The Irene Dunne Guild, had raised more than $20 million.

She even donated $10,000 to the restoration of the town fountain in her girlhood home of Madison, Indiana, in 1976, even though she had not been there since 1938 when she came home for a visit. She died of heart failure on September 4, 1990, in Los Angeles, California.

(Info edited from Wikipedia & IMDb bio by Denny Jackson)

David Albert "Panama" Francis (December 21, 1918 in Miami, Florida – November 13, 2001 in Orlando, Florida) was an American swing jazz drummer.

His distinctive "slowing down" swing style anticipated rock steady, and his drumming brought order and focus to interactions with jazz musicians and dancers. His philosophy of the drummer as boss worked brilliantly on stage - but made for stormy scenes elsewhere.

Born in Miami, Panama's father was Haitian, while his mother

came from an English property-owning background in the Bahamas. Their clash of cultures and temperaments underpinned their son's responses to the iniquities of the American music scene. He progressed through local marching and jazz bands to touring the south with George Kelly's Cavaliers in the 1930s.

Having heard his idol, Chick Webb, broadcasting from the Savoy ballroom in Harlem, he moved to New York in 1938, making his mark in after-hours sessions. Early collaborations included Tab Smith and Billy Hick's Sizzling Six. An invitation to join Roy Eldridge - who provided the Panama nickname - followed, and

within six months he had made it to the Savoy as a member of the Lucky Millinder Orchestra. This proved the six most enjoyable years of his life, stimulating dancers and driving the band. After the Second World War, however, a dispute with Lucky resulted in his departure.

Following an unsuccessful attempt to launch his own swing band at the Savoy in 1946, Panama spent five years touring with the Cab Calloway Orchestra; discipline was strict, but the pay was good. He then spent a month with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, whose elegant informality was a culture shock after Calloway.

Panama soon settled into studio work. As rhythm and blues and rock and roll went mainstream Francis became even more sought after. He drummed on the Elvis Presley demos, and he is featured

on hits by the Four Seasons ("Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man"), the Platters ("Only You", "The Great Pretender", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "My Prayer"), Bobby Darin ("Splish Splash"), Neil Sedaka ("Calendar Girl"), and Dion ("The Wanderer").

Among the 1950s hits he played on were the Colonel Bogey march from the film The Bridge Over The River Kwai and Jackie Wilson's Reet Petite. His distinctive double beat featured at the start of the original Barbie Gaye version of My Boy Lollipop, replicated by Millie on her British hit version. In the 1960s, Panama's arrangement of Perez Prado's Patricia put it into the American charts for 15 weeks.

Here's "Panama The Drummer Boy" from above 1959 album.

Panama then worked as personal drummer for Dinah Shore, and Ray Conniff. He also played with Tommy Dorsey and Sy Oliver, becoming a highly successful studio drummer. He recorded with John Lee Hooker, Eubie Blake, Ella Fitzgerald, Illinois Jacquet, Ray Charles, Mahalia Jackson and Big Joe Turner.

Later gigs included a musician role in the Diana Ross biopic about Billie Holiday, Lady Sings The Blues, and an improbable recording date with Madonna.

Despite snide remarks by other musicians about becoming a rock 'n' roll drummer, he never gave up on jazz, playing festivals on the George Wein circuit and, in 1979, reforming the Savoy Sultans - the other major Savoy band of his time. Leading his own swing outfit, he toured the United States, Europe and Asia, including memorable residencies at Manhattan's Rainbow Rooms and Ronnie Scott's in London in the early 1980s. Neither did he forget the dancers; at Carnegie Hall, he brought former Savoy Lindy Hoppers on stage to demonstrate the music's real purpose.

Francis received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1993 and was also inducted into the Smithsonian

National Museum of American History. His drum sticks are on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Panama's wide interests included African-American history. The ups and downs of his private life, apart from an on-going relationship with his daughter Naomi, were resolved with his marriage to his last wife, Alyce, and reconciliations with children of previous relationships. Health problems curtailed his performing career,but he notably featured with the 1995 Golden Men of Jazz, led by Lionel Hampton.

Panama Francis died November 13 2001 following a stroke at the age of 82.

(Info mainly edited from an article by Terry Monaghan @ The Guardian)

From the Munich Philharmonie, 1993

Junior Mance - piano

Benny Golson - tenor saxophone

Al Grey - trombone

Jimmy Woody - bass

Clark Terry - trumpet

"Sweets" Edison - trumpet

Lionel Hampton & Panama Francis - drums

Julio Manuel Acevedo Lanuza, (December 23, 1945 – July 6, 2015) better known as Julio Angel, was a Puerto Rican trio, bolero, rock and pop singer.

Months after Julio Angel's birth, the Acevedo family immigrated to New York, New York, returning to Puerto Rico in 1955. Julio Angel showed interest in singing in his pre-teens and, a few years

later, formed a band which he and his friends named "Julito and the Latin Lads".

During the 1960s, Julio Angel made his television debut at Puerto Rico's WAPA-TV canal 4 television channel, singing with his group, participating in Myrta Silva's show, "Una Hora Contigo" ("One Hour With You"), which lead him to become one of the nueva olas

teen idols in Puerto Rico.

Around this time, Julio Angel started singing along rock stars like Neil Sedaka, Frankie Avalon and others during their concerts in Puerto Rico. In 1965, he joined Alfred D. Herger in a show named "Canta la Juventud". In 1966, Acevedo and Herger would collaborate on another show, named "2 a Go-go".Julio Angel had, previous to working with Herger, scored a radio hit with a doo-wop song named "Nunca" ("Never"). The song that made him a household name across Latin America, however, was the one named "El Diamante" ("The Diamond")

He then recorded a song named "Club del Clan" along with another of Puerto Rico's Nueva Ola stars, Lucecita Benitez, followed by his first album, the eponymous "Julio Angel". Once this album reached stores, Julio Angel was given the nickname "Puerto Rican Beatle"

by Herger.

The late 1960s proved a busy period for the Puerto Rican singer, as he released three albums, by then signed with RCA Victor. These albums were named "2 a Go-go", "El Idolo" ("The Idol"), and "Que Cosa Trae La Musica Esta Noche" ("Let's See What Music Brings Tonight"). In 1969, he scored another international major hit with "Tan Bonita Como Tu" ("As Pretty as You"). He then collaborated with the famous Trio Los Condes.

After continuous musical success during the 1970s (during which he moved to WAPA-TV's main rival channel, Canal 2 and sang on Pepsi Cola's Puerto Rican commercials), Julio Angel released, in the 1980s, an album named "Ensueno" ("In Dreams") in which he

paid homage to other musical establishments such as Cuba's Casino de la Playa, the Rafael Munoz Orchestra and Cesar Concepcion's Orchestra. In 1982, he re-released "El Diamante" in Puerto Rico, which once again charted among the top local hits of the time.

During 2013, Julio Angel suffered a brain stroke. He recuperated from it, but at the same time, he was diagnosed with cancer, which led to depression. He made an unsuccessful suicide attempt in 2013, for which he was hospitalized for ten days at Pavia hospital in San Juan. Julio Angel sought professional help for his depression. In 2014, he was told he was cancer-free.

His health condition and his health care choices triggered a battle between three of his children and a fourth, his son Julio Jr. Allegedly, Julio Angel had told his children Yashira, Alejandro and Everling that he did not want to go to an asylum and wanted to stay at home. His son Julio Jr. then, according to a lawsuit filed by his other three children, took him to an asylum without telling his siblings. Julio Angel suffered two falls during this period, dislocating a shoulder the first time and breaking an arm the second time.

In late June 2015, he was flown by his family to Miami, Florida, to seek for medical help after it was learned that the cancer had returned. He went to the United States to spend father's day with three of his four children. Julio Angel was in failing health most of 2015. On July 6, he died at a hospice in Florida, aged 69. (Info Wikipedia)

Janet Carroll (December 24, 1940 – May 22, 2012) was an American film, stage and television character actress.

Janet Carroll's career spanned more than four decades and included major roles in Broadway musicals and Hollywood productions, but was perhaps most recognized for her portrayal of the oblivious mother of Joel (Tom Cruise) in the 1983 film Risky Business.

Carroll was born Janet Carol Thiese in Chicago, the daughter of Hilda Catherine (née Patton) and George Nicholas Thiese. She received formal theatrical training and began acting professionally in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous productions in local theatres. She then became a regular at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, where she acted during five seasons.

Vocally, she began classical training at age 12 with Dr. Greta Allum in Chicago. Over the years she continued building and expanding her voice and repertoire in formal study with Douglas Susu-Mago. With a fluent 3 1⁄2-octave vocal range, she was able to sing everything from opera to jazz and Broadway style to gospel music and Dixieland genre.

Notably, Carroll sang as a first soprano with the esteemed Canterbury Choral Society in New York City featuring sacred choral masterpieces of J. S. Bach, Antonín Dvořák and Gustav Mahler at Carnegie Hall and other venues across NYC.

Carroll then performed in Kansas City and Chicago, assuming significant roles in such musicals as Carousel, Guys and Dolls, Gypsy, Hello, Dolly!, Mame, South Pacific and The Pajama Game, before moving to California, where she continued her stage work, winning a Drama-Logue Award for her performance as Klytemnestra in Ezra Pound’s Elektra.

Besides Risky Business, Carroll appeared in more than 20 other films over the next three decades. She developed her television
career with recurring roles on the series Hill Street Blues, The Bronx Zoo, Murphy Brown, Married... with Children, Melrose Place and Still Standing and guest appearances in many other

television roles.

From 2004 through 2005, Carroll starred on Broadway creating the role of Aunt March in the original musical Little Women, which is based in the 1869 novel of the same title written by American author Louisa May Alcott. She promoted brands such as Century 21, Diet Coke, Outback Steakhouse and Holiday Inn, among others, in television advertisement spots.

In addition to her acting career, since 1982, she performed as a singer at Jazz Festivals throughout the United States and Canada, being accompanied by her seven piece format, while interpreting traditional jazz, swing, blues, and classic ballads or the Great American Songbook.

She performed in Victoria and Vancouver summer festivals in British Columbia, as well as in Monterey, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Santa Catalina Island, and New Orleans stages, along with concerts at United Service Organizations shows, At the Redding Jazz Festival, she was honoured with an award for Best Vocalist. In 2004, she was the featured performer at the Porrath Foundation for Cancer Patient Advocacy Event tribute to film star Rhonda Fleming.

After twelve years of formal training Janet Carroll was ordained and licensed at the West Los Angeles' Church of Inner Light. An active participant in social issues, Carroll was a longstanding member of the Screen Actor's Guild and American Federation of

Radio Artists and Actors Equity Association. She also served as the Artistic Director of The Jazz Series at Simi Valley's Cultural Arts Centre.

In 1992, Carroll collaborated as a singer on the album This Joint Is Jumpin' Live! – Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, a recording project led by Dixieland trombonist and actor Conrad Janis. She later released her solo albums Presenting... Janet Carroll and the Hollywood Jazz Cats (1992), I Can't Give You Anything But Love (2000), I'll Be Seeing You (2000) and Lady Be Good (2010).

By 2011, she was preparing the production of her fourth and fifth records titled A Tribute to the Great Ladies of Song! and Scorch Your Shorts Torch Songs!. She was diagnosed with brain cancer later that year and took a leave of absence. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy without success.

Carroll died from brain cancer at her home in Manhattan, aged 71. (Info Wikipedia)

John Howard "Johnny" Chester (born 26 December 1941) is an Australian singer-songwriter, who started his career in October 1959 singing rock'n'roll and in 1969 changed to country music.

John Howard Chester was born on 26 December 1941 and grew up in Melbourne's suburb of Preston. Chester attended Bell Primary and followed with Preston Technical School. At the age of 14-

years-old he left school and worked as a brake specialist for his father. He had learned to play the drums, from the age of six, and guitar. In October 1959 Chester formed a band, The Jaywoods, and organised dances at a West Preston church hall.

The Jaywoods' rehearsals were attracting a crowd to St. Cecilia's Hall in West Preston, which turned into regular Saturday night dance". By 1960 The Jaywoods became Johnny Chester and The Chessmen with Chester on lead vocals. Chester was also backed by The Thunderbirds, which were an instrumental group formed in 1957. Both backing bands maintained independent careers, released their own material and backed other artists. In April 1961 Chester's first stadium performance was supporting Connie Francis and Johnny Burnette.

One of Chester’s early fans was radio DJ, Stan Rofe, who introduced him to the A&R manager of Melbourne’s W&G records. Chester signed with the label and issued his debut single, "Hokey Pokey", in May 1961 with backing by The Thunderbirds.

The track became a top 10 hit in Melbourne and a series of 9 more hit singles followed, establishing him as a teen idol, in Melbourne. He had also issued his debut album, Wild and Warm in 1963 and

two extended plays, Johnny Chester's Hit Parade and My Blues and I, with W&G. In February that year he started hosting his own TV show, Teen Time on Ten, on a regional Gippsland channel.

He recorded further material for W&G on their sub-label, In Records but none charted and by mid-1966 he parted with the W&G and The Chessmen. He then formed the Johnny Chester Trio. As well as maintaining his musical career, for eight years, Chester was a DJ on Melbourne's radio station, 3UZ. In May 1968 Chester formed a new backing band, Jigsaw who also had an independent career. His last pop single, "Heaven Help the Man", appeared in 1968 on Astor Records. In 1969 his first two country music singles, "Green Green" and "Highway 31", were issued on Phillips Records. Johnny Chester and Jigsaw signed to Fable Records, owned by Tudor (ex-W&G Records).

In August 1970 Jigsaw, without Chester, had a number-one hit with a cover version of United Kingdom group, Christie's "Yellow River", it was co-credited with Sydney-based band Autumn which also covered the track. With Chester, they had five hit singles on the Go-Set National Top 40: "Gwen (Congratulations)" (No. 26, October 1971), "Shame and Scandal" (No. 13, February 1972), "Midnight Bus" (No. 25, December), "The World's Greatest Mum" (No. 9, August 1973) and "She's My Kind of Woman" (No. 19, June 1974).

Chester has won Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia for best selling track in 1975 In 1977 Chester toured nationally, backed by the Blue Denim Country Band, and also compared Country Road for ABC-TV. In 1979 he formed Hotspur and continued to issue country music singles and albums into the 1980s.

From 1981 to 1983, at three successive Tamworth Country Music Festivals, he won Male Vocalist of the Year. In 1994 he was awarded the Songmaker of the Year Award from the Tamworth Songwriters Association.

In October 1964 Johnny Chester married Larraine "Liz" Isbister, a stenographer. Liz had attended the same primary school and their grandparents were neighbours. The couple had begun dating in September 1959 – to the Royal Melbourne Show. As from October 2012 they have three daughters, eight grandchildren and live in Rosebud. (Info edited from Wikipedia)

Walter Norris (December 27, 1931 – October 29, 2011) was an American pianist and composer; a virtuoso whose improvisations could be both very complex harmonically yet often remain melodic. He would have been better known in the U.S. if he had not spent so much time in Germany.

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his

junior high and high school years. (1944-1950). After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force.

After his time in the Air Force, Norris played with Jimmy Ford in Houston, Texs, (1952-1953), then moved to Los Angeles where he led his own trio in Las Vegas (1953-1954)and became an integral part of the West Coast Jazz scene. While in Los Angeles, he played on Jack Sheldon's first album and on Ornette Coleman's first album, Something Else! (1958), for Contemporary Records.

Here's "Smoke Get's In Your Eyes" from above album.

In 1960, Norris relocated to New York City and formed a trio with guitarist Billy Bean and bassist Hal Gaylor, and the group made one album. Norris took a job at the New York City Playboy Club in 1963 and in time became the club's Director of Entertainment,

remaining there until 1970. Between 1970 and 1974, Norris was a free-lance performer and taught in the New York area. In 1974, he replaced Roland Hanna in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band. After a tour of Scandinavia, he remained in Europe to record a duo album with double bass player George Mraz, titled Drifting.

Returning to the states, Norris joined the Charles Mingus Quintet in 1976. In the dressing room prior to a performance, according to Norris, he made the mistake of calling the temperamental Mingus "Charlie" instead of "Charles," which angered Mingus. At that
moment, the stage manager entered the room and told the musicians they were needed onstage immediately, which provided

a temporary escape from confrontation. Norris quit the band and accepted a job in Berlin, Germany, as pianist with the Sender Freies Berlin-Orchestra. He moved to Berlin in January 1977 and lived there from that point. He insisted that his fear of Mingus was the primary cause of the move to Europe.

the 1990s, Walter Norris visited the U.S. several times, recording dates for Concord and displaying his impressive musical growth of the previous 20 years. The resulting recordings were all significant, but especially Sunburst (with saxophonist Joe Henderson), Hues of Blues (with George Mraz), and the Live at Maybeck Recital Hall solo piano album. In 1998, without a record contract, Norris self-financed the album From Another Star, made in New York with bassist Mike Richmond, pressing 1,000 copies.

A documentary film directed by Chuck Dodson, was completed in 2010 and cn be seen here: https://vimeo.com/55061860
In 2005 an autobiography, "In Search of Musical Perfection" and method book "Essentials for Pianist Improvisers" were released. In July 2006, Norris recorded at his home in Berlin with Los Angeles bassist Putter Smith.

He died on October 29, 2011 at his home in Berlin, Germany, two months prior to what would have been his 80th birthday. (Info edited from Wikipedia & All Music)

Billy Williams (December 28, 1910 – October 17, 1972) was an African-American singer.

Born Wilfred Williams in Waco, Texas, Williams became the lead singer of the Harmony Four. This singing quartet was formed by Howard Daniel at Wilberforce College in central Ohio during 1930. This group began with traditional gospel music but eventually became The Charioteers.

They soon made the jump to network radio with Bing Crosby and

others. Bit parts in movies followed, as did records-first with Decca and Vocalion, and finally a long term deal with Columbia Records (on both the parent label and its affiliate Okeh). By the early and mid 1940s they specialized in pop and jazz standards with tenor lead by Billy and smooth harmonies by the rest of the group.

In 1947 they had their own top ten seller in everybody's big song of the year with "Open The Door Richard" and followed that with their cover of other artists songs of the time. One final chart hit for

The Charioteers came in 1949; the version of the song "A Kiss And A Rose." By late 1949 after close to two decades as the front man for the group Billy Williams decided to call it quits with The Charioteers and form a new vocal quartet and give himself more of a say in matters musical and financial. The Charioteers lost their leader and also the long association with Columbia and were seldom heard from again.

The new foursome was the self named Billy Williams Quartet who landed a guest spot on the television weekly called "The Admiral Saturday Night Revue" for the NBC television network. In May of 1950 MGM Records signs the group to its label and soon has appearances at New York's Roxy Theatre and Blue Angel nightclub and they land a spot on the Henry Morgan radio show. In

September the quartet is signed on as a regular feature of a revamped Saturday Night Revue show called "Your Show Of Shows" to star Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca for NBC.

They become one of the first Black performers to have a regular spot on a network variety show, and used a memorable opening with a dramatic line-up by the group as they led into their songs. Their television exposure helps the group as they spend the summer of 1951 doing an extended and well received stay in Los Angeles at the Tiffany Club. The quartet also has their first charted record during the summer with "Shanghai" on MGM records that is a top twenty seller. As they begin their second year on the NBC tv show, their cover of the Four Aces "Sin" hits the pop charts.

During the 50’s the group also made some notable recordings on the Mercury and Coral labels, but by 1957 the quartet was no more. Billy hung on trying to make it as a solo performer without much luck until he unearthed a tune written in 1936 called "I'm Gonna

Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter", gave it a pop flavoured delivery spiced with a few Timmie Rogers derived "oh yeahs", and lo and behold, a pop smash was hatched. It was incomprehensible, but there it was-a number three nationally, and close to five months on the pop charts.

The record was huge, and it was at the right time for Billy to make history when he became the very first guest on the national telecast of American Bandstand. Summing up his life at that point, to Dick Clark's question of what was keeping him busy Williams answered slyly "oh yeah !" And so Billy Williams had done that very special characteristic of entertainers-the re-invention of oneself. He followed up his huge and unexpected success with similar attempts including "Got A

date With An Angel" and "Nola." Both charted briefly, and once again Billy Williams was adrift in the world of pop music. He kept at it even though such releases as "Good Night Irene" and "Begin The Beguine" went nowhere. A duet with budding songstress Barbara McNair also disappeared. And soon so did Billy Williams who became a fifties memory throughout the sixties.

Sadly, Billy Williams faded into obscurity and in the early 1960s he lost his voice due to complications from diabetes. His final years were spent living in donated quarters in Chicago, where he did

social work, contributing to a model cities project and helping alcoholics. This man whose vocal talents were featured for three decades unfortunately came to an inglorious end. In October of 1972 at the age of 61, he passed away.

The city authorities could not find anyone to claim the body or to provide for a decent burial. He deserved better. But luckily for us, we have the music. From the soaring tenor singing of The Charioteers, to the dramatic vocals of the Billy Williams Quartet, to the playful oldies of his solo days, Billy Williams was a true American original. Remember his music, and most of all, remember him.

(Info from various sources, but mainly edited from “The Charioteers, The Quartet, and Billy Williams” by J.C.Marion)

Here's a vintage clip from The Charioteers

Virgil Lewis Johnson (December 29, 1935 – February 24, 2013) was an African American deejay, formerly at radio station KDAV in Lubbock.

Virgil Johnson was the lead singer of the Velvets, a vocal quintet from Odessa, West Texas. They are best remembered for their 1961 hit "Tonight (Could Be The Night)", which peaked at # 26 on the Billboard pop charts. On that song the Velvets can be heard

chanting "doo-wop" behind lead singer Johnson, one of the first uses of the phrase in a song. Still, the Velvets were not really a doo-wop group. Their sound was highly polished and the backing usually included strings.

Johnson was born in Cameron, the seat of Milam County in east central Texas. The family relocated to Lubbock, and Johnson graduated there from the historically black Dunbar High School, an institution known for its outstanding academics and reputation within the community. Later he would be principal of his alma mater and obtained a graduate degree from Texas Tech University

in Lubbock. He was teaching eighth-grade English at Blackshear Junior High School in Odessa, the seat of Ector County, in 1959, when he recruited four of his students to form a singing group. They were Mark Prince (bass), Clarence Rigsby (tenor), Robert Thursby (first tenor), and William Solomon (baritone).

The quintet began to perform at school sock-hops and campus functions, with Johnson as lead singer. In 1960 they impressed Roy Orbison, who heard them whilst visiting Odessa, and recommended the group to Fred Foster, the owner of Monument Records and the producer of Roy's big hit at that time, "Only the Lonely". Foster signed the group and came up with the name The Velvets. In fact, he decided it should be the Velvets

featuring Virgil Johnson because there was another group called the Velvets, years before. They had a song out called "I" on Bobby Robinson's Red Robin label.

In 1960, the singers impressed the native Texan Roy Orbison, who heard them while he was visiting Odessa. Orbison recommended the five to Fred Foster, the owner of Monument Records in Nashville, Tennessee, who had produced Orbison's hit "Only the Lonely". Foster originated the name "The Velvets featuring Virgil Johnson" to distinguish the five from an earlier group called simply "The Velvets". The group recorded "That Lucky Old Sun"/"Time And Again" and "Tonight (Could Be The Night)"/"Spring Fever". Orbison wrote the two B-sides, but "Tonight" was the work of Johnson. Their accompaniment came from Boots Randolph and Floyd Cramer.

After the success of "Tonight", the group's next release was "Lana"/ "Laugh", both written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. "We should never have put those two songs out together", says Johnson. "Part of the country was playing one side and another part of the country was playing the other side". "Laugh" stalled at # 90,

but "Lana" (soon also recorded by Orbison himself) was # 1 in Japan. Monument continued putting out Velvets' singles, nine in all, until 1966.

Some of them were quite good, but there were no further chart entries and the group called it a day and went back to a Texas they had never really left. Johnson resumed teaching. He retired from his job as principal of Lubbock's historically black Dunbar High School (1985–1993) and as principal of Dunbar-Struggs Middle School (1968–1984). In 1993, Dunbar became Magnet Junior High School Science Academy. In Lubbock, Johnson was a deejay on Radio KSEL before he switched to KDAV after his retirement from education. Clarence Rigsby, meanwhile, died in a car crash in

1978.

Johnson was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame in 1997, along with Glenna Goodacre and Dan Blocker. In 1994, Johnson was inducted into the Buddy Holly West Texas Walk of Fame, renamed in 2006 as the West Texas Hall of Fame, located at Seventh Street and Avenue Q in Lubbock.

Over the weekend of March 15, 2008, Johnson and another KDAV deejay, Bud Andrews, were featured on Bob Phillips' Texas Country Reporter syndicated television program. In 2008, he was listed among the "100 Most Influential People" from Lubbock, as part of the city centennial observation.

Virgil died on February 24, 2013 at the Covenant Hospital in Lubbock, TX. He was 77. (Info mainly edited from Wikipedia)

Russell Irving "Russ" Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer, who is best known for his performance in the title role of the 1958 Tom Thumb and the 1961 movie musical West Side Story as Riff, the leader of the Jets gang. He is also known for appearing in such films as Seven

Brides For Seven Brothers, The War of the Gargantuas, Peyton Place and The Haunting, as well as for his portrayal of Dr. Lawrence Jacoby in the television drama Twin Peaks.

Tamblyn was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actors Sally Aileen (Triplett) (1912-1995) and Eddie Tamblyn (Edward Francis Tamblyn) (1908-1957). He is the older brother of Larry Tamblyn, organist for the 1960s band The Standells.

He was discovered at age 10 by Lloyd Bridges, who cast him in a play he was directing. In his first film, three years later, he played a friend of The Boy with Green Hair, Dean Stockwell. In his first

starring role, he played The Kid from Cleveland, a runaway who becomes batboy for the 1948 Cleveland Indians. He was the boy with an unhealthy fascination with guns in the original Gun Crazy, and Elizabeth Taylor's kid brother in the original Father of the Bride. His training as a gymnast in high school and abilities as an acrobat prepared him for his breakout role as Gideon, the youngest brother, in 1954's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

He appeared with Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford in The

Fastest Gun Alive (1956), where he performed an extraordinary "shovel" dance at a hoe-down early in the film. Though uncredited, he served as a choreographer for Elvis Presley in 1957's Jailhouse Rock. Tamblyn portrayed Norman Page in the 1957 film of Peyton Place, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Tamblyn then played Tony Baker in 1958's High School Confidential prior to his being drafted into the United States Army.

His performances in film musicals have included the title role in 1958's Tom Thumb and Danny, one of the sailors in the 1955 film version of Hit the Deck. His most famous musical role was Riff, the leader of the Jets in West Side Story (1961).

He was Oscar-nominated for the steamy-for-the-50s Peyton Place, playing the boy wrongly accused of skinny-dipping with Lana Turner's daughter. In The Haunting, Tamblyn's character inherits the haunted mansion, and cynically dismisses all talk of ghosts. He also starred in one of the all-time great cheesy Japanese science fiction films from the legendary Toho Studios, titled The War of the Gargantuas in its American release.

By then, Russ decided to be more of an artist than just another actor. He fired his agent, took up painting, and began accepting only the roles that interested him. Among his best work from that time, he co-wrote and starred in an anti-nuke musical, Human Highway. He worked with the dancers on the series Fame, and appeared in a few episodes playing "Russ, the choreographer". He played Dr Jacoby on Twin Peaks, and later took the same character to General Hospital in 1997 dancing with his daughter Amber during the Nurses Ball.

Tamblyn has also appeared in television series such as Tarzan, Fame (the 1980s television spin-off of the film of the same name), Quantum Leap, Nash Bridges and in Babylon 5 (episode "A Distant Star"). Russ Tamblyn also played Chuck Margaret on The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.

The actor’s last co-starring roles were shot overseas with the British-produced chiller “The Haunting” with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. “I loved working with Harris and Claire, they were powerful actors who knew exactly how to make a character real and sometimes terrifying. I watched in awe whenever they were in front of the camera.”

As so many other actors of his era he has taken on choreographic duties and managing his actress/daughter Amber Tamblyn who is recognized for her performance in “Joan of Arcadia.” “I have no complaints,” he said. “I was lucky as hell to be given the chances I go and I’m still around to talk about it. And yes, I still miss all those guys who made Westside Story magic time!”

Russ underwent open heart surgery in October 2014. There were complications following the surgery and during the rehabilitation, although his health had reportedly improved as of February 2015.

(Info edited from NNDB.com & Wikipedia)

Russ Tamblyn dancing in the Fastest Gun Alive (1956)

Rex Elvie Allen (December 31, 1920 – December 17, 1999) was an American film and television actor, singer and songwriter, known as "the Arizona Cowboy" and as the narrator of many Disney nature and Western productions. For contributions to the recording industry, Allen was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk

of Fame.

He was born in Willcox, Arizona, in 1921, and entered show business professionally when he won a state-wide talent contest in 1939, which led to a singing job on the radio. In 1946 he became a regular on the National Barn Dance, one of the top country-and-western radio shows in the country, and this led to a recording contract with Mercury and his own CBS radio show in Hollywood. Republic signed him in 1949, released his first film, The Arizona Cowboy, in 1950, and the following year Allen was the fifth biggest money- maker of western stars (after Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Tim Holt and Charles Starrett). From 1952 to 1954 he was third only to Rogers and Autry.

His trick pony, Koko the Wonder Horse, made his debut in Allen's

second film, The Hills of Oklahoma, and was to be in all his other films and later became an integral part of Allen's touring live act, billed as "The Miracle Horse of the Movies", until he died in 1968 at the age of 28.

Allen's Republic films, 31 in five years, included Under Mexicali Stars (1950, the first in which he had Buddy Ebsen as a comic sidekick, and one of Allen's best roles, as a singing Treasury agent who catches a gang of smugglers who are using a helicopter to get stolen gold across the border), Rodeo King and the Senorita (1951, a remake of an earlier John Wayne film, The Cowboy and the Lady, and one of Allen's personal favourites), and Colorado Sundown (1952, with

Slim Pickens replacing Ebsen).

Like many of Allen's films, Colorado Sundown was directed by Republic's veteran William Witney, one of the great serial directors noted for his energetic style. "Witney was my favourite director," said Allen. "He could get more on the screen for a dollar than any director I've ever known." That skill was put to good use on Down Laredo Way (1953), made with a noticeably lower budget than the earlier films and a sign that the genre was fading. Allen's last western for Republic was The Phantom Stallion, made in 1954, the year the B western officially died.

Allen already had a thriving record career, his hit records for the Mercury label including Streets of Laredo (1947), The Roving Kind (1951) and Crying in the Chapel (1953), and in 1958 he

appeared in his first television series, Frontier Doctor. He also made personal appearances, did television commercials, and in 1961 was one of five stars who appeared on a rotating basis in the television show Five Star Jubilee, the others being Snooky Lanson, Tex Ritter, Jimmy Wakely and Carl Smith. (The show was never telecast in New York because of its primarily rural appeal.)

In 1962 Allen narrated Walt Disney's live-action feature about the life of a wolf, The Legend of Lobo, "a tale of the old West told in story and song", for which he also provided music with the Sons of the Pioneers, and his warm approach was greatly admired. The critic Bosley Crowther commented, "The theme and the drama, what little of the latter

there is, is carried in the narration, which cheerily endows the wolf with a great deal more charm and character than is evidenced on the screen", while the historian Leonard Maltin recently wrote: "Lobo's biggest asset, aside from the always first-rate raw footage, is the soundtrack . . . Allen, a former cowboy star, became a Disney favourite in the 1960s, and with good reason. His friendly, easy-going approach to the script brings a great deal of life to any subject."

Allen ultimately narrated more than 80 Disney films and television shows, including The Incredible Journey (1963) and Charlie the Lonesome Cougar (1967), and in 1973 narrated the Hanna-Barbera animated feature Charlotte's Web. He also made guest appearances on t

elevision variety shows such as The Red Skelton Show.

In the 1970s, though retired from film and television, he still led an active life. He owned a 20-acre ranch, the Diamond X, in Malibu Canyon, and spent over half the year on personal appearance tours - after Koko died, he would be accompanied by Koko junior, a chocolate-coloured stallion with a honey mane exactly like his famous sire.

Rex Allen died on December 17, 1999, two weeks before his 79th birthday, in Tucson, Arizona, after he sustained fatal injuries when his caregiver accidentally ran over him in the driveway. Cremated, his ashes were scattered at Railroad Park in Willcox where most of his memorabilia are on display.

One of his children, Rex Allen Jnr, followed him into show business, and had a successful career as a Nashville recording artist. (Info mainly edited from an article by Tom Vallance @ the Independent.co.uk)

Julius La Rosa (January 2, 1930 – May 12, 2016) was an Italian-American traditional popular music singer, who worked in both radio and television beginning in the 1950s.

Julius La Rosa is one of those singers whose appreciation for a song's lyrics and meaning harks back to the Golden Years of Frank Sinatra. The Brooklyn native got his start as a singer in 1951 under the ravenous wings of Arthur Godfrey. He was stationed at the

Navy base in Pensacola, FL, where Godfrey was undergoing training to get his pilot's wings. At the time, La Rosa was singing in the enlisted men's club. Godfrey heard him and invited him to come up after his discharge to appear on his radio and television shows in New York.

Julius La Rosa's tenure on Godfrey's shows lasted from 1951 to 1953. When Archie Bleyer, Arthur Godfrey's bandleader, formed Cadence Records in 1952, the first performer signed was La Rosa. Cadence's first single, which was also La Rosa's first recording, was "Anywhere I Wander." It reached the top 30 on the charts, and his next recording, "My Lady Loves To Dance," was a moderate success, but La Rosa would hit gold with his third recording, "Eh, Cumpari" in 1953.

“Eh Cumpari” hit #1 on the Cash Box chart and #2 on the Billboard chart, and La Rosa got an award as the best new male vocalist of 1953. Like the other "Little Godfreys," as the cast members were known, Godfrey discouraged La Rosa from hiring a manager or

booking agent, preferring to have his staff coordinate and negotiate on La Rosa's behalf, but Julius hired his own agent and manager: Tommy Rockwell.

With hit recordings and his appearances on Arthur Godfrey's shows, La Rosa's popularity grew exponentially. At one point, La Rosa's fan mail eclipsed Godfrey's. A year after La Rosa was hired, he was receiving 7,000 fan letters a week. On the morning of October 19, 1953 after La Rosa had finished singing "Manhattan" on Arthur Godfrey Time, Godfrey actually fired him on the air, announcing, "that was Julie's swan song with us." La Rosa tearfully met with Godfrey after the broadcast and thanked him for giving him his "break." La Rosa was then met at Godfrey's offices by his lawyer, manager and some reporters. Tommy Rockwell was highly critical of Godfrey's behaviour, angrily citing La Rosa's public humiliation.

Reporters asked television host Arthur Godfrey why he fired popular singer Julius LaRosa on the air. Godfrey answered that he had to do it because LaRosa had showed “a lack of humility.” Many decided that the notoriously egotistical Godfrey, not LaRosa, was the one who needed a lesson in that virtue.

After leaving Godfrey in 1953, La Rosa learned his job by working shows in clubs and on television. Drawing on his studies in theatre, he worked summer stock, performing in Stalag 17 and Carousel. As a singer, he put together a show called "An Evening with Julius La

Rosa," which was not successful, so he hired a manager and started working shows in Las Vegas. That's when he got a call that suddenly changed his life. He was asked to do a radio show as a disk jockey for WNEW in New York in 1969, so for the next eight years, success was his for the taking. When new management arrived at the station, his contract was not renewed, so he went back to singing and summer stock again.

During 1998 and 1999, La Rosa was a disc jockey on 1430 WNSW based in Newark, New Jersey, hosting "Make Believe Ballroom Time". La Rosa, profiled by jazz critic and composer Gene Lees, continued to work clubs and release records until the early 2000s. New York Times film critic Stephen Holden said "His singing is very direct and unpretentious - he can wrap his voice tenaciously

around a melody line and bring out the best in it." La Rosa was a frequent contributor to comedian Jerry Lewis' annual Labour Day telethon programs for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, often hosting the New York outpost of the shows.

La Rosa was inducted into the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2008. He said, "Music is 'a very egotistical thing.''It makes me feel good 'and fortunately, I have the capacity to make people feel good who hear me feeling good.” He and his wife lived for over 40 years in Irvington, New York, until November 2015 when they moved to Crivitz.

La Rosa died of natural causes on May 12, 2016, at age 86, at his home in Crivitz, Wisconsin.

(Info edited from Wilkipedia & All Music)

Frederic Efrem "Fred" Rich (January 31, 1898 – September 8, 1956) was a Polish-born American bandleader and composer who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s. Among the famous musicians in his band were the Dorsey Brothers, Joe Venuti, Bunny Berigan and Benny Goodman. In the early 1930s, Elmer Feldkampwas one of his vocalists.

Pianist, band leader and composer, Fred Rich was born in Warsaw, Poland. He formed his own band in the 1920s and made his

reputation in the recording studios and on radio. His theme songs were “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” and “So Beats My Heart For You.” Between 1925-1928, he toured Europe and had the singular distinction of being the first orchestra of its kind to appear in a Royal Command Performance, before King George V (in 1928).

He served as musical director for the CBS network from 1928 to 1938. He also led several successful dance bands, his first in New York (resident at the Astor Hotel) between 1922 and 1928.

Like many prolific leaders of bands and studio groups, most of Rich's records are typical ordinary dance fare of the era. However, during the period between November 1929 and March 1931, there was a scattering of outstanding hot jazz versions of popular tunes, with notable solos by Bunny Berigan, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, and others. These celebrated recordings from 1930 include: A Peach Of A Pair; I Got Rhythm; Cheerful Little Earful; and I'm Tickled Pink With A Blue-Eyed Baby. (November 19, 1930.)

He recorded for Okeh, Columbia, Paramount, Camden and Vocalion and several others, often recording under the names of Fred Richards, Chester Leighton’s Sophomores, Frank Auburn, Lloyd Keating & His Music, alsomany more. As "Freddie Rich," he recorded dozens of popular-title piano rolls in the 1920s for the

Aeolian Company, both for its reproducing Duo-Art system and its 88 note Mel-O-Dee label.

In the late 1930s, he became a musical director for various radio stations and under various names, the Freddie Rich organisation remained on the scene until 1942, when he moved onto a staff position with United Artists Studios in Hollywood, where he was to remain for most of his career. Rich's band played for several network radio programs, including The Abbott and Costello Show.

In 1943, Rich joined ASCAP, moved to the West Coast and settled down in Beverly Hills. He now concentrated on working in Hollywood as musical director and composer of incidental music and the occasional film score, sometimes billing himself as

'Frederic Efrem Rich'. His compositions include three symphonies and such popular songs as "Penthouse", "Donn-Ama", "Blue Tahitian Moonlight", "On the Riviera" and "Time Will Tell".

Rich suffered a serious setback after a fall in 1945, which left him partially paralysed. While this curtailed his work in Hollywood, he remained active as a conductor of studio orchestras until the early 1950's. Rich died at his home in Beverly Hills in September 1956, aged 58 after a long illness.

(Info edited from Wikipedia & IMDb bio by I.S. Mowis)

Here's a big band short of the 1930's with Bunny Berigan in the trumpet section and Jimmy Dorsey in the reed section.

Christopher Morris, known by the stage name Lance Fortune (born 4 January 1940, Birkenhead, Cheshire, England) is an English pop singer.

Until he received a guitar at Christmas 1956, this grammar school student had studied classical piano. He formed a rock and roll

group called the Firecrests while a student at Birkenhead School, and served as lead vocalist; they recorded the songs "That'll Be the Day", "I Knew From the Start", and "Party", but were strictly a local attraction.

Morris sacrificed a scholarship at a Welsh university to work as an odd-job man at the famous London coffee bar, the 2I’s, and it was there that he was heard singing by top manager and impresario Larry Parnes in 1959.

Although he did not manage him, Parnes rechristened him Lance Fortune (a name he had previously given to Clive Powell, a singer and pianist, whom he later renamed Georgie Fame).

The newly christened Fortune signed to Pye Records as a solo artist and released four singles, two of which became hits in the UK Singles Chart in 1960. His first single ‘Be Mine’, an Adam Faith -styled pop song, backed by John Barry’s musicians, eventually climbed to number 4 in the UK.

The producer/engineer was Joe Meek and this was his first all solo production. During the time it took to reach the charts in Britain, Fortune toured with his idol, Gene Vincent. He also managed to put the follow-up ‘This Love I Have For You’ into the Top 30 but it was his last taste of success - long-term fame was not on the cards for Mr. Fortune.

In April 1960, Fortune and Jerry Keller replaced Eddie Cochran on Gene Vincent's then current UK tour, after Cochran's untimely death in a road accident.

Later during 1963, Lance joined Redruth based Dave Lee & the Staggerlees, replacing their Bass player, John Chapman, Lance also sang with the group. The group moved up to Sheffield and according to Kernowbeat , the band were active until the mid 90s, touring clubs.

According to Vince Eager on Whirligigtv he states that Lance suffered a stroke during the 2000’s (but I have not found any evidence regarding this on the web). Here's a photo of Lance taken at a Stagerlees reunion in 2008.

(Info edited from Wikipedia, All Music & liverpoolbeat.com)

Richard Herbert Hayes (January 5, 1930–March 10, 2014) was an American actor and singer and, in his latter career, a game show host and disc jockey.

Richard Herbert Hayes was born on January 5, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York. Hayes was a part of the glee club in high school. Hayes got his first singing job on Bob Emery's Rainbow House children's radio program. He heard the program on WOR radio one day when he was 14. After auditioning to sing on the show, he got a part in the show's choir. The series was cancelled shortly after Hayes

joined the cast.

Hayes was discovered by personnel from Mercury Records in 1948. Hayes was singing at the Leon & Eddie's nightclub in New York City. He was approached by somebody who invited Hayes to perform on Art Ford's local Saturday night TV series on station WPIX in New York.

Hayes eventually became a regular performer on Art Ford Saturday Night. A vice president from Mercury saw Hayes on the series and invited him to record for Mercury. Hayes had much success as a recording artist while in his late teens. Between 1948 and 1953, Hayes had fourteen top 25 hits. That included four top-10 hits recorded and produced during his time at Mercury Records. His most successful record was his rendition of The Old Master Painter which was released in 1949. The song, produced by Mitch Miller, reached no. 2 on the National charts in December 1949 and remained on the charts for twelve weeks until March 1950.

Hayes was also noted for his military service and career during that time. He was drafted into the military, (Army specifically), in 1953. His rank was second lieutenant. Hayes was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey then Governors Island, New York. He served during

the Korean War which ended in June 1953, a few months after Hayes' conscription, and the Cold War. The fact that he was in the army and his musical/acting background, Hayes earned a permanent spot as the emcee and co-host with Arlene Francis on the ABC competition series Soldier Parade in 1954. He was hired after the departure of Steve Allen. He remained on the show until its cancellation in June 1955. He also left the army that same year.

Hayes left Mercury Records in 1954 in hopes of joining Columbia Records where Miller had gone four years earlier. But when Columbia turned him down, Hayes joined the ABC label. He left ABC in 1957 and joined the Decca label. He remained with Decca for two years before Columbia finally signed Hayes in 1960. He left Columbia in 1961. He

released more than 40 sides with ABC, Decca and Columbia but none of them ever made the charts. Finally he recorded for Contempo Records until 1964.

Hayes was well-known during television's golden age as the unnamed boyfriend opposite his real-real-life wife Peggy Ann Garner to Barbara "Babs" Smith on the ABC sitcom Two Girls Named Smith for two seasons in 1951. He perused a further career in television making several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Robert Q. Lewis Show between 1956-1964. Hayes also was a regular guest on Arthur Godfrey's television and radio

series between 1958 and 1972.

Shortly after the release of his last record in 1964, Hayes worked on several game shows. He first worked as an announcer on the original ABC game show Supermarket Sweep from 1965-1967. From 1970-1971, Hayes was the host of the syndicated version of the game show Name That Tune. He also was the host of the Canadian syndicated hidden camera game show All About Faces from 1971-1972.

In the late 1970s, Hayes moved back to New York where he became a congenial radio host. He first spent several years at WMCA in New York then he went to WWDB in Philadelphia and from there went to WCAU, (now WOGL), where he stayed until retiring in 1990.

Hayes was originally married to actress Peggy Ann Garner from 1951-1953. Hayes was Garner's co-star on Two Girls Named Smith. Garner and Hayes divorced in 1953. Hayes married a second time. With his second wife, Hayes had four children; Drew, Jackie, Jim and Gideon. His son Drew works for Cumulus Talk Radio in Los Angeles.

Hayes died on March 10, 2014 at the age of 84 in his home in Los Angeles, California after battling a long illness. (Info edited from Wikipedia)

Jack Henry Greene (January 7, 1930 – March 14, 2013) was an American country musician. Nicknamed the "Jolly Greene Giant" due to his height and deep voice, Greene was a long time member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Greene was born in Maryville, Tennessee and learned to play guitar when he was ten years old. His first involvement with the music industry came when he was still a teenager, working as a disc jockey at radio station WGAP in Maryville.

By the age of 18, Greene was a regular on the Tennessee Barn Dance show on WNOX (Knoxville, Tennessee). In the early 1950s he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he formed his own band, The Peach Tree Boys. Greene was lead vocalist, drummer, and guitarist for the group for eight years. In 1959, he moved back to Tennessee and settled in Nashville and formed another band, The Tennessee Mountain Boys. A major career break came Greene's way in 1961 when his band served as the opening act for Ernest Tubb. Impressed, Tubb

asked Greene to become a part of his backing band, the Texas Troubadors in 1962.

For the next few years, Jack Greene was a drummer, guitarist, vocalist, and master of ceremonies for the Troubadors' performances. He soon began serving as opening act on a regular basis for Tubb, as well as playing in the band. In 1964, Jack released his first solo record with The Last Letter. Another single, Don't You Ever Get Tired (Of Hurting Me), followed in 1965 but failed to make the Country music charts, having the bad luck to come out at the same time as Ray Price's version. Tubb encouraged Jack Greene to leave the Texas Troubadors and pursue a solo career.

Greene's first Top 40 hit came in early 1966 with Ever Since My Baby Went Away, peaking at #37. Later that year, Decca released what would become his signature song, There Goes My Everything. The song reached #1 and stayed on top of the Country charts for 7 weeks while becoming a crossover hit; the album

stayed No. 1 for an entire year. In 1967, he received the prestigious awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year, and Album of the Year from the Country Music Association. In all, he recorded nine number one country hits on various charts including 5 number one Billboard hits.

In 1969, he had 2 number 1 hits with Until My Dreams Come True and Statue of a Fool. He completed the year out with the Top 5 Back In The Arms Of Love. It was also in 1967 that Jack Greene became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He became an Opry mainstay, performing there frequently each year until his health failed.

In 1970, Greene gained a duet and a touring partner in Jeannie Seely. Together they had three Country hits including Wish I Didn't

Have To Miss You, which reached #2 on the charts and became Greene's last top ten hit. Jack and Jeannie's stage show became one of the biggest touring acts during the 1970s. Jack continued to have both solo hits and duets with Seely.

Decca became MCA Records in the early 1970s but Greene kept on having chart success with Satisfaction (1973), I Need Somebody Bad (1973), and It's Time To Cross That Bridge (1974). Afterwards, his chart success declined rapidly as another song in 1974 and one song in 1975 were minor hits, and he was dropped by MCA Records in 1976.

Jack Greene enjoyed a brief comeback with the Frontline Records label in 1980 as the song Yours For The Taking peaked at #28 on the Country charts. The song would be Greene's last in the Country Top Forty. He achieved several more minor hits however on

Frontline and then on EMH and Step One Records. He continued to tour regularly and appear on the Grand Ole Opry; 2007 marked his 40th anniversary with the Opry.

Greene continued to record sporadically in the 2000s including the duet You Have Won My Heart with Santana Maria. However, it failed to chart. Greene recorded his final studio album Precious Memories, Treasured Friends in 2010. An album of duets, it featured fellow Country stars like Lorrie Morgan and George Jones.

In failing health, Greene retired from performing in 2011. He died on March 14, 2013 from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 83 in Nashville, Tennessee.

(Info edited from Wikipedia)

Having lot's of problems with Zippyshare mp3 players. Seems to be redirecting to a Ransomware site. So am no longer using mp3's or Zippyshare as as a file host. I apologise to any of my readers who have had problems but it's beyond my control.

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Regards, Bob

Lew Williams (born January 12, 1934, Chillicothe, Texas) is an American rockabilly singer and songwriter, known as the "Cab Calloway of rockabilly".

Williams began singing at age four, and moved with his family to Dallas at age eleven. He played in local clubs after graduating

Adamson High School and entered Midwestern State University in 1952. However, a few months later he secured a job as a headliner for a radio program on Frederick, Oklahoma station KTAT.

The following year, Williams recorded demos at Jim Beck's recording studio and managed to get a single released on Flair Records in June 1953, but "I've Been Doin' Some Slippin' Too" was not a hit, and he did not release further material from these sessions. He sent some of the demos to Imperial Records, who offered him a publishing contract; Williams attempted to secure a recording contract as well but was unsuccessful initially.

Imperial finally signed him as a recording artist in 1955, and his first releases came out in 1956. A few singles were issued in 1956 and 1957, with Jimmie Haskell producing and Barney Kessell on guitar; they did not sell and Williams was dropped early in 1957.

He graduated from the university in 1957 and devoted himself to songwriting full-time. He wrote material for Jimmy Hughes (with Mae Axton), Ferlin Husky, Floyd Cramer, Porter Wagoner, and Hoyt Johnson (de). After serving time in the Army, Williams took the pseudonym Vik Wayne for one final release on Dot Records, "The Girl I Saw on Bandstand".

Lew made his last appearance as a performer in January 1959 and then concentrated on song writing and talent management. A couple of months later, with a partner, Adrene Bailey, he opened
Le-Drene Productions, a recording studio and talent agency. They managed and booked artists and produced rock and roll stage shows, primarily for their radio station clients. They also had a touring event, The Battle of the Bands, which utilized local bands

in each sponsoring station's broadcast area. And they produced a talent contest for their radio station clients, The Starmaker, which provided a recording contract to the winners in each contest.

After the partnership dissolved, Lew continued producing musical and other events for radio stations and their sponsors. Lew owned an interest in two more recording studios in Dallas but was out of the music business entirely by the end of 1963.

Being familiar with the growing African-American market, in 1964 he began producing the Miss Tan America talent and beauty pageant, and ran it for several years until desegregation reduced

interest in such pageants.

Other business ventures included early forays into professional sports management back when it was far from the hugely lucrative business it is today. In the mid '60s he became involved in the mail order business and over time moved into the publishing field.

After Bear Family Records released some of his material in the 1990s, fed by the burgeoning interest in rockabilly in Europe and Japan, he made a comeback, appearing in Las Vegas in 2000 and touring widely thereafter until 2005. (Info mainly Wikipedia & lewwilliams.com)

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Richard Hayes born 5 January 1930

Jack Greene born 7 January 1930

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Lew Williams born 12 January 1934