FROM THE VAULTS

Dobie Gray (born Lawrence Darrow Brown; July 26, 1940 – December 6, 2011) was an American singer and songwriter, whose musical career spanned soul, country, pop, and musical theater. His hit songs included "The 'In' Crowd" in 1965 and "Drift Away", which was one of the biggest hits of 1973, sold over one million copies, and remains a staple of radio airplay.

Gray's origins have always been the subject of debate, but it seems most likely that he was born Lawrence Darrow Brown in Simonton, a small town near Houston, Texas, to a family of sharecroppers and Baptist ministers. It was through his grandfather's influence that he developed a love of gospel music and singing in general, and in his early 20s he moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of a show-business career, either in acting or singing.

He met Sonny Bono, then a well-connected hustler in the Hollywood music business, and it was with Bono's help that he made his first record, To Be Loved, which appeared on the small Stripe label in 1960, under the name Leonard Ainsworth. Other recordings appeared on several small labels and there was a minor hit in 1963 with Look at Me on the Cor-Dak label. By that time he was recording as Dobie Gray, a name suggested by a popular TV situation comedy, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, whose cast included Tuesday Weld and Warren Beatty.

His true breakout was a 1965 recording of "The 'In' Crowd," whose Motown-style bounce distinguished it from jazzman Ramsey Lewis' celebrated version. Gray hit the Top 20 with "The 'In' Crowd" and also had some success with the follow-up, "See You at

the Go-Go"; this period -- spent mostly on the small, poorly distributed Cordak, Charger, and White Whale labels -- was the most soul-oriented of his career.

It would be some time before Gray returned to the charts; in the meantime, he pursued a concurrent acting career, eventually spending two and a half years with the Los Angeles production of Hair. During his Hair years, Gray also sang with the band Pollution, which recorded two albums on Prophecy beginning in 1971.

In 1972, Gray resurfaced as a solo artist on MCA, with producer/songwriter Mentor Williams in his camp. Gray promptly scored the biggest hit of his career with the Williams-penned "Drift Away," which hit the Top Five in early 1973 and remains an oldies-radio staple today.

The subsequent "Loving Arms," written by Tom Jans, grew into a much-covered repertory item, recorded by singers from the realms

of rock, country, and R&B. Gray's own sound was shifting more
toward country as well, and when he moved to Capricorn in 1975, he recorded in Nashville with new songwriting collaborator Troy Seals (he eventually relocated there permanently). Gray's popularity in Europe and Africa was growing steadily, and he managed to talk South African authorities into allowing him to play to integrated audiences during the apartheid era.

Gray's tenure in Nashville was marked by a commercial downturn, but his increased activity as a songwriter -- mostly in a country vein -- resulted in covers by the likes of Don Williams, Charley Pride, George Jones, and John Denver, among others. The disco-

flavoured "You Can Do It" became his final Top 40 hit in 1978, the same year he recorded the first of two LPs for Infinity.

When Infinity went bankrupt, Gray concentrated exclusively on songwriting for a few years, then re-emerged on Capitol in the mid-'80s as a full-fledged country artist. He made the lower reaches of the country charts with singles like "That's One to Grow On" and "From Where I Stand," but found it impossible to break through to a wider country audience, and again faded from view after two albums. In 1997, Gray released Diamond Cuts, a mix of new songs and re-recorded past hits.

In 2001 the bass-guitarist and producer Norbert Putnam, whom he had met at Quadrafonic, supervised an album titled Soul Days, in which Gray's readings of soul standards such as When a Man Loves a Woman and People Get Ready demonstrated how comfortably his voice could locate the middle ground between country and R&B, with a warm tone and a delivery that was un-dramatic but heartfelt. That same year he released a set of Christmas songs, entitled Songs of the Season, on his own label. He returned to the US charts for the last time in 2003, when he appeared on a remake of Drift Away, singing with the rap-rock star Uncle Kracker.

Gray died on December 6, 2011 of complications from cancer surgery in Nashville, Tennessee, aged 71. His remains were buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park And Mausoleum in Nashville.

(Compiked and edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic & theguardian.com)

Mary Love (born Mary Ann Varney; July 27, 1943 – June 21, 2013), was an American soul and gospel singer, and Christian evangelist. After the 1980s she was known as Mary Love Comer.

Love was born as Mary Ann Varney (or Mary Ann Allen, according to some sources), in Sacramento, California to a single 16-year-old mother who married her father shortly after giving birth. At three months old she was attacked by her father with a broken bottle, an event so traumatising her mother fled from their home. Injured and suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and pneumonia, Mary was rescued by her grandmother.

But at the age of seven her mother reclaimed her and took her to California for a life Mary later called “a horror to my soul”, as her mother moved from one abusive pimp to another. A brief spell with her father brought no relief and ended when he tried to sexually molest her. She fared no better under foster care where she was raped by a preacher and tried to take her own life on more than one occasion, but her family moved to Los Angeles when she was still a young child. She sang in church and when she got out of High School she met and became friends with a member of the group, The Vows.

Mary began rehearsing with the group and they worked together with Mary taking a major vocal role. They secured a booking at the California Club and Mary was asked to go along to perform a song they had worked on together. She did this and J.W. Alexander, Sam Cookes manager, happened to be in the club. He liked what he saw and asked her to come over to a studio on Hollywood Boulevard the next day to cut some demos. This she did and it resulted in her cutting a demo with Sam Cooke of "Talking Trash" a song destined for Betty Everett and Jerry Butler. They liked the way she worked and so she was used to cut numerous demos.

She began singing on sessions in Los Angeles before recording "You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet" for the Modern record label in 1965. Later records for the label met with little success until the

single "Move a Little Closer" made #48 on the R&B chart in 1966. Her recordings for Modern, some of which were issued in the UK, became popular on the English Northern soul scene. She revisited the lower reaches of the R&B chart with "The Hurt Is Just Beginning" which reached #46 for Josie in 1968, but thereafter she made few recordings for some years.

Despite her achievements and superficial success, Mary’s complex and troubled life contrasts starkly with her career. Life then intruded once more as a failed marriage and addiction to both alcohol and drugs shattered her personal life and hampered her professional career. This time it took more than music to ease the pain, but she came back impressively, writing and performing. After an inevitable flirtation with disco she returned to recording religious music, devoting her life to God’s word and works.

In 1984 Mary recorded “Save Me" for Eddie Garons Golden Boy Records in L. A. although it was released on the Mirage label.

Shortly after this Mary began to collaborate with Brad Comer who was soon to be her husband. In the early 1980s, she re-emerged as Mary Love Comer, singing gospel-flavoured soul with a Christian message.

Her 1980s Co-Love gospele cordings were of such quality that they were partly responsible for rejuvenating the modern soul scene in the UK, where ‘Come Out Of The Sandbox’ and ‘The Price’ became indispensable for lovers of inspired black music of any genre or period. Love followed through this success with trips to the UK and Europe in the 1990s. With her husband the couple also ran their own church in Moreno Valley, California.

An album of her material, Now and Then, including some old unreleased recordings, was issued in the UK. She made special appearances onstage at the Jazz Café in 2000, and at a Kent Records anniversary show in 2007, both in London.

Sadly, her final years brought more trauma; her husband left her and she suffered from ill health, before finally she died on June 21, 2013, at the age of 69.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, The Independent, Ace Records and Soul Source)

Here's Mary live at a Cleethorpes soul weekender.

Clemente Anselmo Arturo Cattini (born 28 August 1937) is an English rock and roll drummer, who was a member of the Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician. He is one of the most prolific drummers in UK recording history, appearing on hundreds of recordings by artists as diverse as Cliff Richard and Lou Reed, and has featured on 44 different UK number one singles.

He was born Clemente Anselmo Cattini in Stoke, Newington, London, in 1937(some sources say 1939), and because of the onset of the Second World War he was one of hundreds of thousands of children evacuated from the city. As a boy he listened to a good deal of big-band music, and was a particularly big fan of the Latin-flavoured music of bandleader Edmundo Ros, whose recordings led the young Clem to think in terms of rhythm. He played hockey as a teenager, but the injuries he suffered made him think of music as a career instead. He was swept up in the rock & roll boom in his late teens, drawn in by Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" and the records that followed after it from America.

He was a frequent habitué of the legendary 2i's Coffee Bar, backing performers such as Terry Dene, before joining the touring band known as the Beat Boys, backing singers managed by Larry Parnes, including Marty Wilde and Billy Fury. He then joined Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, playing on their hit "Shakin' All Over", and became Joe Meek's in-house drummer, backing artists such as John Leyton and Don Charles, before helping found the Tornados in 1961, and playing on their international No. 1 hit "Telstar".

After leaving the Tornados in early '65 Clem issued a solo single under the name of "Clem Cattini Ork". He then went on to become one of Britain's most prolific session musicians, drumming on recordings by the Kinks, Herman's Hermits, Dusty Springfield, the Merseys, Bee Gees, Lulu, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, P. J.

Proby, the Hollies, Paul and Barry Ryan, Gene Pitney, Donovan, Love Affair, Jeff Beck, Engelbert Humperdinck, Nirvana, the Ivy League, Edison Lighthouse, the Yardbirds, the Family Dogg, Marc Bolan, Clodagh Rodgers, Keith West, the Flower Pot Men, Georgie Fame, Roy Harper, Ralph McTell, Harmony Grass, Joe Cocker, Graham Gouldman and Brian Auger plus the Walker Brothers to name but a few.

In the 1970s, he played on recordings by Marvin, Welch & Farrar, Lou Reed, Cliff Richard, Justin Hayward, Phil Everly, Julie Covington, Claire Hamill, Alvin Stardust, the Bay City Rollers, Kenny, the Wombles, Carl Douglas, Christie, Tim Rose, Demis Roussos, the Goodies, John Betjeman, Malcolm and Alwyn, John Schroeder, Paul McCartney, Hank Marvin, Mike Batt, Chris Spedding, Bob Downes, Dave Kelly, Christopher Neil, Evelyn

Thomas, Barbara Pennington, Slapp Happy, Mike Berry and Grace Kennedy, and prog rock bands including Beggars Opera, Amazing Blondel and Edwards Hand.

Cattini has played on at least 44 UK number 1 singles, including "Telstar", Ken Dodd's "Tears", Rolf Harris's "Two Little Boys", Clive Dunn's "Grandad", "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)" by Benny Hill, "Whispering Grass" by Windsor Davies and Don Estelle, Peters and Lee's "Welcome Home", Typically Tropical's "Barbados", J. J. Barrie's "No Charge", Renée and Renato's "Save Your Love", and "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo" by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay.

He also played in the orchestra for BBC TV's Top of the Pops, and toured with Cliff Richard, Roy Orbison, Lynda Carter, the Kids from "Fame" and many others. He was also considered for Led Zeppelin – he was initially on Jimmy Page's shortlist of drummers when forming the band before they settled on John Bonham. He

had earlier played alongside John Paul Jones on Donovan's hit single "Hurdy Gurdy Man".

In the 1980s, he reactivated the Tornados' name for tours and, in 1989, played in the West End run of The Rocky Horror Show. In the 1990s, Cattini also reactivated the Tornados name, which counted for enough even 30 years after the fact to keep him busy on-stage when he wasn't working in the studio. In the 21st century, he has come to be regarded as one of the most beloved figures from early British rock & roll.

In October 2000 Cattini was awarded a gold badge by BASCA for
his services to the music industry. He more recently recorded the drums for the track "No Tears to Cry" from Paul Weller's 2010 album Wake Up the Nation. He was portrayed by James Corden in the 2009 film Telstar, and appeared himself playing John Leyton's chauffeur.

In 2016, he recorded a new version of the 1960s hit "Telstar", with the North London ska band the Skammer. (Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)

Ivan Rebroff (31 July 1931 – 27 February 2008) was a German vocalist who rose to prominence for his distinct and extensive vocal range of four and a half octaves, ranging from the soprano to bass registers.

Instantly recognizable in trademark Russian chic - Cossack hat and brightly coloured peasant garb or fur greatcoat - Ivan Rebroff, was a European singing sensation. During the 1960s and 70s, he projected a television-friendly image and a sentimental picture of Mother Russia at odds with cold war rhetoric. More importantly, his voice gained him admirers worldwide. His repertoire comprised folk songs and carols, opera and operetta, hymns and songs from musicals, delivered variously in Russian, German, French, English and Afrikaans.

Rebroff, the epitome of a Russian singer for many, was, in fact, born Hans-Rolf Rippert in Berlin's Spandau district. He always played his cards close to his chest about his origins. His engineer father apparently came from Hessen, while his mother, he said, was Russian. He grew up in Belzig in Brandenburg and Halle in Saxony-Anhalt. At first he tried for a career in opera but despite his range failed to secure a future, instead he fell back upon his Russian heritage and soon found himself as soloist for Cossack Choirs (Don Cossack Choir, Black Sea and Ural Mountains Cossack Choir.

He progressed from singing in choirs to studying singing, piano and violin in Hamburg between 1951 and 1959 on a Fulbright scholarship. His professor of singing and voice, Adolf Detel, guided him towards eastern European song. After graduating, Rebroff showed his versatility, donning many musical hats including major operatic roles and performing the work of Hugo Wolf.

In 1968 he made his French breakthrough at the Théâtre Marigny in the leading role of Tevye in Un Violon sur le Toit (the French version of Fiddler on the Roof) and bringing If I Were a Rich Man in its original version to the French public's notice. His unbroken 1476 performances and French

renditions of the popular musical won him international acclaim. France's love affair with Rebroff had begun and Rebroff joined Zero Mostel, Chaim Topol, Shmuel Rodensky, Alfie Bass and Lex Goudsmit in the international pantheon of Tevye interpreters.

Rebroff employed his extraordinary vocal range - described in the Guinness Books of Records as extending "easily over four octaves from a low F to a high F, one and a quarter octaves above C" - on albums with titles such as Kosaken Müssen Reiten (Cossacks Must Ride, 1970).

There are two, not necessarily contradictory accounts of why he adopted the stage name "Ivan Rebroff". In Russian that surname means "rib" and consequently carried an echo of Rippert since Rippe means "rib" in German. Rebroff was also supposedly the name of a famous singer with Moscow's Bolshoi theatre.

(Reinforcing this russification, "Ivan" is also German slang for Russian, much in the vein of "Tommy".)

Throughout his career Ivan had an impressive recording portfolio with an amazing 49 golden albums worldwide in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, USA, Canada, Iceland and almost every European country. He sang opera, light classics and folk songs in many languages. Laterally he based himself on the Greek Island of Sporade but worked tirelessly with a punishing average of 150-200 concerts per year. When he was in Australia in 2004 his schedule included 12 shows in 14 days.

Until almost the end of his life, he maintained a rigorous touring schedule, and his last concert was in Vienna in December 2007. Rebroff died February 28, 2008 in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany of heart problems.

Rebroff never married. After his death, Horst Rippert emerged to lay claim to part of his estate. The German press described him as his "secret brother".

Compiled and edited mainly from articles by Ken Hunt for The Guardian & Toeslayer blogspot.com)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliot Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer and performer. One of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country, with over 40 albums under his belt, he is considered one of the country's legendary foundations of folk music.

Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adnopoz. His family was Jewish. He attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and graduated in 1949. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy. Encouraged instead to follow his father's example and become a surgeon, Elliott rebelled, running away from home at the age of 15 to join Col. Jim Eskew's Rodeo, the only rodeo east of the Mississippi.

Jack & Woody

They travelled throughout the Mid-Atlantic states and New England. He was only with them for three months before his parents tracked him down and had him sent home, but Elliott was exposed to his first singing cowboy, Brahmer Rogers, a rodeo clown who played guitar and five-string banjo, sang songs, and recited poetry. Back home, Elliott taught himself guitar and started busking for a living. Eventually he got together with Woody Guthrie and stayed with him as an admirer and student.

With banjo player Derroll Adams, he toured the United Kingdom and Europe. By 1960, he had recorded three folk albums for the UK record label Topic Records. In London, he played small clubs and pubs by day and West End cabaret nightclubs at night. When he returned to the States, Elliott found he had become renowned in American folk music circles.

Woody Guthrie had the greatest influence on Elliott. Guthrie's son, Arlo, said that because of Woody's illness and early death, Arlo never really got to know him, but learned his father's songs and performing style from Elliott. Elliott's guitar and his mastery of Guthrie's material had a big impact on Bob Dylan when he lived in Minneapolis. When he reached New York, Dylan was sometimes referred to as the 'son' of Jack Elliott, because Elliott had a way of introducing Dylan's songs with the words: "Here's a song from my son, Bob Dylan."

Dylan rose to prominence as a songwriter; Elliott continued as an interpretative troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in his idiosyncratic manner. Elliott also influenced Phil Ochs, and played guitar and sang harmony on Ochs' song "Joe Hill" from the Tape from California album.

Elliott also discovered singer-songwriter Guthrie Thomas in a bar in Northern California in 1973, bringing Thomas to Hollywood where Thomas' music career began.

Elliott appeared in Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue concert tour and played "Longheno de Castro" in Dylan's movie Renaldo and Clara accompanied by guitarist Arlen Roth. In the movie, he sings the song "South Coast" by Lillian Bos Ross and Sam Eskin, from whose lyric the character's name is derived.Elliott also appears briefly in the 1983 film Breathless, starring Richard Gere and directed by Jim McBride.

Elliott plays guitar in a traditional flat-picking style, which he matches with his laconic, humorous storytelling, often accompanying himself on harmonica. His singing has a strained, nasal quality which the young Bob Dylan emulated. His repertoire includes American traditional music from various genres, including country, blues, bluegrass and folk.

Elliott's nickname comes not from his travelling habits, but rather the countless stories he relates before answering the simplest of questions. Folk singer Odetta claimed that her mother gave him the name, remarking, "Oh, Jack Elliott, yeah, he can sure ramble on!"

Elliott's first recording in many years, South Coast, earned him his first Grammy Award in 1995. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998.

At the age of 75, he changed labels and released I Stand Alone on the ANTI- label, with an assortment of guest backup players including members of WIlco, X, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The album was produced by Ian Brennan. Jack said his intention was to title the album Not for the Tourists, because it was recorded partially in response to his daughter's request for songs he loved but never played in concert. When asked why he did not, he told her, "These songs are not for the tourists."

Rambling Jack is still active at 87 years old and can be found on tour. (Info Wikipedia)

Werner Müller (2 August 1920, Berlin – 28 December 1998, Cologne) was a German composer, Kapellmeister and conductor of Western classical music. In some of his works he collaborated with Caterina Valente and Horst Fischer, the trumpeter.

In his youth Werner studied music and performance on bassoon, piano and violin and
was a proper musical whizzkid, proficient enough on violin to play Mozart concertos at the age of ten.

In the 40s good and bad luck combined fortuitously when a German military school introduced him to the trombone and whilst later on his American army captors introduced him to swing. In 1946 he joined Kutte Widman as trombonist. In 1948 he was appointed leader of the RIAS-Tanzorchester and made numerous recordings.

RIAS (Radio im amerikanischen Sektor – Radio in the American Sector) was a radio station in the American Sector of Berlin (1946 to 1993). Before the age of thirty Muller was leading the hottest swing with strings dance band in Berlin and working with the likes of clarinetist Rolf Kuhn. Muller became a well known conductor and arranger, noted for his perfectionism. He backed many German pop-singers and recorded music of a wide variety resulting in many hits. He toured Japan in 1958. Below is one of his many single records released between the early 1950s and 1960s.

Muller recorded several collections of French, Italian, and other national tunes recorded for Decca which were released in Europe under the name of "Ricardo Santos," but in the U.S. under Müller's own name, as part of a series of "Musical Holiday" albums tied-in with the travel magazine, Holiday.

In 1967, Müller moved to Cologne to take over the Tanzorchester of radio station WDR, which had an even larger audience. Müller ensured his tenure with a versatile and perfectionist approach to his material. His best jazz records date from the period 1950 to 1957.

Thereafter his recordings become more light orchestral in character, and he acquired an excellent string section. A great variety and number of such albums followed in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

On his album "Hawaiian Swing", for example, he plays with right-left separation and tosses in an enjoyable assortment of percussion effects to liven up the usual selection of Hawaiian standards. On "Percussion in the Sky", he uses wordless vocals, sound effects, whistling, and other touches to lend an other-worldly feeling to numbers like "The Theme from The High and the Mighty."

"Bodybuilder," from one of Müller's later albums, The Strip Goes On, was sampled as the basis for the song "Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out" by Bentley Rhythm Ace, a big club hit in the U.K. in 1997.

Muller, who recorded some 40 albums in the 1950's, 60's and 70's, died December 28, 1998 (age 78) in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. (Info various, mainly Space-age Pop)

Carson Jay Robison (August 4, 1890 - March 24, 1957) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although his

impact is generally forgotten today, he played a major role in promoting country music in its early years through numerous recordings and radio appearances. He was also known as Charles Robison and sometimes composed under the pseudonym Carlos

B.McAfee. With over 300 copyrighted songs, European tours, recording, and script-writing and performance for network radio to his credit, Carson Robison deserves much more than the mere mention the histories of country music give him.

Carson Jay Robison was born in Oswego, Kansas. His family soon moved to nearby Chetopa. His father was a cowboy and a stock buyer. His mother played the melodeon, and his father and uncles played fiddle at square dances and social gatherings. By the time Robison was 15, he was earning money playing music.

After working as a cowboy, oilfield worker, soldier and railroad dispatcher, he began concentrating on music when he was 30 years old. He was discovered by recording star Wendell Hall and brought to New York in 1924. For the next several years, Robison was in demand as a session musician, playing and whistling on the records of Gene Austin, Hoagy Carmichael and others.

He also worked as a singer and whistler at radio station WDAF (Kansas City, Missouri) where he was known as "The Kansas Jaybird."

In 1924, he moved to New York City and was signed to his first recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company. Also that year, Robison started a professional collaboration with Vernon Dalhart, one of the era's most notable singers. Through this relationship, Robison realized huge success, mainly as a songwriter but also as a musician, accompanying Dalhart on guitar, harmonica, whistling, and harmony vocals. In one of their first collaborations, Robison accompanied Dalhart on the landmark recording of "Wreck of the Old '97" b/w "The Prisoner's Song" (1924), widely regarded as country music's first million-seller.

During this period, Robison also became a successful composer of "event" songs, which recounted current events or tragedies in a predictable fashion, usually concluding in a moral lesson. Some popular examples of his topical compositions include "The Wreck of the Shenandoah", "Remember Pearl Harbour", "The Wreck of the Number Nine", and "The John T. Scopes Trial", about the famous Scopes Monkey Trial.

In 1928, after Dalhart made a personnel change without consulting Robison, their relationship ended. Although the breakup did not prove lucrative for either artist, Robison continued to record for decades to come.
From 1928 to 1931 he teamed with Frank Luther, recording songs for various labels and appearing on WOR radio in New York City.

During his early recording days he used these aliases: Bill Barrett, Bob Andrews , Bud Birmingham, Cal Carson, Carlos B. McAfee, Charlie Wells, Claude Samuels, Dick Holmes, Eddie Bell, Frank Robeson, Harry "Rocky" Wilson, Joe Billings, Maggie Andrews, Sookie Hobbs, Travelin' Jim Smith and Chester & Rollins.

In 1932, he started his own band, Carl Robison's Pioneers (later renamed The Buckaroos), and continued touring and recording through the 1930s and 1940s. It was during this period that Robison made some of the earliest tours of a country musician in the British Isles, appearing there in 1932, 1936, and 1938.

According to Billboard, his 1942 recording of the standard "Turkey in the Straw" was that year's top selling country recording.[citation needed] In the late 1940s and early 1950s he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. His most famous recording was 1948's "Life Gets Tee-Jus Don't It", a worldwide hit for MGM Records.

Although he played country music for most of his career, he is also remembered for writing the lyrics for "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" with music composed by Frank Luther. Also, in 1956, he recorded the novelty rock & roll song "Rockin' and Rollin' With Grandmaw."

Robison was married twice. His first marriage was to Rebecca. They had a son C. "Donald." Don was raised by his Grandmother due to the untimely death of his mother, who died from TB in her

early 20s. Eventually, both father and son settled in Pleasant Valley, NY. Don followed his father to this area, as he had moved close to New York City for easy access to better his career. Don carried on his father's legacy, strictly as a non-professional music lover. He lived well into his 90s with his loving wife, Jean. This magical couple was married over 75 years.

Robison died in 1957 in Poughkeepsie, New York at the age of 66. (Info mainly Wikipedia)

Ernestine Carroll, better known as Tiny Davis (5 August 1907* – January 30, 1994) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist.

Ernestine “Tiny” Davis was a renowned jazz trumpeter and vocalist. Davis grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, to George and Leanna Carroll and was one of six children.

She got her first trumpet at the age of 13, taking her only lessons at Booker T. Washington High School and practicing 3 to 4 hours a day-often to Louis Armstrong records. After moving to Kansas City in her 20's, she took jobs playing in local clubs for $2 a night, listening to and learning from the excellent musicians around her.

When the family moved to Kansas City in 1935, Tiny joined a band called the Harlem-Play Girls but she was forced to leave the group a year later with the birth of her first child from her marriage to Clarence Davis.In 1941 she was drafted into The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. The group included Anna Mae Winburn, who prior to joining the group had been singing with and directing an all-male orchestra, singer and trumpeter Ernestine “Tiny” Davis, and alto saxophonist Roz Cron. Davis was nicknamed “Tiny” because of her large size.

She became the main attraction of the group along with her singing and playing the trumpet with the group until 1948 (including on USO tours during World War II and in the film How About That Jive). The group was unique because it was a racially integrated group, as members were Black, Indian, Latina, white, and Puerto Rican. The all-women group came together and created music that more than held its own during the Swing Era. Louis Armstrong became fascinated and impressed with Davis and tried to lure her away from the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. He even offered her ten times her salary, but she declined the offer.

‘Tiny’ Davis and saxophonist Willie Mae ‘Rabbit’ Wong traveling with the International Sweethearts on a European USO tour.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm continued to tour. The Jubilee Sessions, originally recorded for radio broadcasts aimed toward America’s black soldiers serving during 1943 to 1946, provided a rare opportunity to hear these women play.

The Sweethearts did not get as much exposure to mainstream audiences in the South as the all-white, male big bands of their day because of their racial make-up and the violent racism in the region. When the band toured in the Deep South, the white band members painted their faces dark so that the police would not remove them from the bandstand and arrest them.

Tiny was highly talented, but being a woman, she was rarely taken seriously. Strangely, World War II helped a lot of female musicians, especially the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, into the spotlight simply because male musicians were away at war. Of course, this meant that when the war finished, the Sweethearts had fewer gigs, and is one of the main reasons they disbanded by 1949.

Tiny had left her husband by the late forties and formed her own band from erstwhile members of a group called the Prairie Co-Eds, which she called the Hell Divers, although the three 78 rpm records she released on Decca, in 1949, were all billed as Tiny Davis & Her Orchestra. Whatever the name, she got many national bookings. he group played the Apollo and other New York clubs and toured in Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Trinidad, finally ending up in Chicago.

They opened a club, Tiny and Ruby's Gay Spot, in Chicago in 1954, guaranteeing them permanent gigs. But by October 1955 the club was sold for $15000 and the two women went back to playing other people's clubs. They played at Big Mike's in Old Town, the Brass Rail in the Loop, and other clubs in and around Chicago. Tiny developed arthritis which prevented her from standing for long periods on stage. Even so, it was 1982 when they last performed professionally.

In the decades after the women retired, they became adopted as cultural icons for the Gay Rights movement. The two were subjects of a 1988 documentary entitled: "Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women" which showcased their amazing stories and engaging personalities.

Tiny Davis died in Chicago, January 30, 1994 aged 87. Her last surviving sibling passed away in Memphis in 2002 at the age of 103.

*Regarding her birth date; her application for social security (filed in 1941) gives a birth year of 1910, but other sources, including a film interview, give 1909. The African American Registry's Web site lists Davis' birthdate as Aug. 5, 1907)

(Compiled and edited from the History Post blog, aaregistry.org, Wikipedia, AllMusic, jamiebobanie blog to name a few)

Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits.

He was born Lonnie Melvin Tillis in Tampa, Florida. At a young age, a bout of malaria left Mel with a speech impediment, stuttering. His mother encouraged him to minimize his stutter with humour. He became a natural storyteller, learned the guitar and patterned his love of music after the greats of the day; Red Foley, Bob Wills, The Carter family, and others.

As a child, he learned guitar, and in high school studied both the violin and the drums. At the age of 16, he first performed publicly at a local talent show. Mel graduated from Pahokee High School with the goal of playing football for his beloved Florida Gators.

He instead found himself serving as a baker in the Air Force, serving in Okinawa and fine tuning his talents with his first band, The Westerners, which played local clubs.

After exiting the Air Force in 1955, Tillis went to college and held odd jobs and worked as a fireman on the Atlantic Coast Line railroad before moving to Nashville to pursue music full-time. He found little success as a writer or performer there and soon returned to Florida. The in 1956, he co-penned the song "I'm Tired" which became a hit for Webb Pierce and secured Tillis' place as a songwriter. This led to a job with the Cedarwood Publishing Company.

In 1958, he scored a Top 30 hit on the US Country Charts with his recorded version of "The Violet and the Rose" and followed this with "Wine" (1964), Who's Julie?" (1969) and "These Lonely Hands of Mine" (1969). Additionally, he co-penned the Bobby Bare hit "Detroit City" (1963) and wrote the Kenny Rogers' song "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" (1967). At the end of the '60s, Tillis and his esteemed new backing band the Statesiders came into their own as performers; with two 1969 Top Ten hits, "These Lonely Hands of Mine" and "She'll Be Hanging Around Somewhere."

During the 1970s, he expanded his success with further hits which include "Heaven Everyday" (1970), "Commercial Affection" (1970), "Arms of a Fool" (1970) and "Take My Hand" (1971, a duet with Sherry Bryce).

During the next several decades, his songs could be found in many movie soundtracks of which include "W.W. and the Dixie Danckings"(1975), "Every Which Way But Loose" (1978), "The Villain" (1979), "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980) and "Cannonball Run" (1981)

Mr Tillis recorded more than 60 albums over his six-decade career, including six No. 1 hit singles. He is perhaps best known for 1970s hits such as “I Ain't Never", "Good Woman Blues", and "Coca-Cola Cowboy". In 1974, he hosted his own TV series. In 1976, he won the the Country Music Association’s most coveted prize: Entertainer of the Year.

Following his heyday in the 1970s, Tillis remained a songwriter in the 1980s, writing hits for Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis. He also wrote his autobiography called Stutterin' Boy. (The title comes from Tillis' speech impediment.) Tillis appeared as the television commercial spokesman for the fast-food restaurant chain Whataburger during the 1980s. Tillis continued to record and have occasional hits through the decade, with his last top-10 hit coming in 1984 and his last top-40 country hit in 1988; like most country artists of the classic era, his recording career was dented by changes in the country music industry in the early 1990s. He also built a theatre in Branson, Missouri, where he performed on a regular basis until 2002.

The singer-songwriter also penned hundreds of songs that were covered by fellow stars like Kenny Rogers, George Strait, and Ricky Skaggs. The Grand Ole Opry inducted Mel Tillis on June 9, 2007. He was inducted into the Opry by his daughter Pam. Along with being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, it was announced on August 7 that year that Tillis, along with Ralph Emery and Vince Gill, were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Tillis remained active as a recording artist, as well as a performer and songwriter into the 2000s.. His daughter Pam Tillis became a successful Country music performer.

Mel had been ill since early 2016 when he underwent surgery for diverticulitis, in intestinal condition. He battled sepsis and never truly recovered, his publicist said. On November 19, 2017, Tillis died of respiratory failure in Ocala, Florida, at the age of 85.

(Compiled from numerous sources including Wikipedia, AllMusic and various obits.)

Annie Laurie (tentatively identified as Annie L. Page, August 11, 1924 – November 13, 2006) was an African American jump blues and rhythm and blues singer. She is most associated with the bandleader and songwriter, Paul Gayten, although she also registered hit singles in her own name. Laurie first recorded in the mid-1940s and her professional career lasted until the early 1960s.

Appraisal of her qualities appears to vary between Dinah Washington stating that Laurie was her favourite singer, to Irma Thomas, who opined - "Annie Laurie? She was okay."

Laurie was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Her personal details are obscure, but she has been tentatively identified by blues researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc as Annie L. Page, born there in 1924.

Her singing career started by vocalising for two territory bands led by Dallas Bartley and Snookum Russell, on the chitlin' circuit. In 1945, she recorded a version of "Saint Louis Blues" with the Bartley led band for Cosmo Records. She relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, and was engaged by Paul Gayten.

In 1947, she was performing in concert in New Orleans with Gayten, when the latter asked the young Fats Domino to come and play "Swanee River Boogie" on stage.

Recording for both the Regal and De Luxe labels between 1947 and 1950, Laurie sang on several sides backed by Gayten's orchestra. Her first success was with her version of "Since I Fell for You" (1947), of which recording studio owner Cosimo Matassa said: "Annie Laurie did

the first really good record that I liked... [She] was just fantastic; I mean nobody will ever make another version like that. She followed its success up with "Cuttin' Out" (1949), "You Ought To Know" (1950), "I Need Your Love" (1950), "Now That You're Gone" (1950) and "I'll Never Be Free" (1950). Laurie also toured with Gayten's orchestra in 1951.

Laurie's association with Regal Records ended in 1951, and she started recording for Okeh. By 1956 her releases were issued on Savoy Records, for whom she recorded in New York City with Hal Singer's orchestra, featuring guitarist Mickey Baker.

Her biggest hit came in 1957 when De Luxe Records released "It Hurts to Be in Love," which was co-written by Julius Dixson and Rudy Toombs. Other releases with De Luxe included the Andy Gibson co-written track, "Hand in Hand" and "Love Is A Funny

Thing (both 1957). In July 1960, Laurie appeared in concert, sharing the bill with Screamin' Jay Hawkins, the Five Satins, Joe Turner, Faye Adams, Ben E. King, and Nappy Brown, at Chicago's Regal Theatre. The same month she had her final chart hit with "If You're Lonely."

By 1962, her affiliation had switched to Ritz Records, and she recorded several sides for them. However she left the music industry at this time, devoting herself to the Jehovah's Witnesses

According to Eagle and LeBlanc, she died in Titusville, Florida, in 2006, aged 82.

(Info edited from Wikipedia)

Porter Wayne Wagoner (August 12, 1927 – October 28, 2007) was an American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. Known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, Wagoner charted 81 singles from 1954–1983. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.

Wagoner was born in West Plains, Missouri, the son of Bertha May (née Bridges) and Charles E. Wagoner, a farmer. His first band, the Blue Ridge Boys, performed on radio station KWPM-AM from a butcher shop in his native West Plains, Missouri, where Wagoner cut meat. In 1951, he was hired by Si Siman as a performer on KWTO in Springfield, Missouri. This led to a contract with RCA Victor. He released Hank Williams'"Settin' The Woods On Fire" and had his first top 10 hit in 1954, with "Company's Comin".

With lagging sales, Wagoner and his trio played schoolhouses for the gate proceeds; but in 1953, his song "Trademark" became a hit for Carl Smith, followed by a few hits of his own for RCA Victor. Starting in 1955, he was a featured performer on ABC-TV's Ozark

Wagoner,Red Gale & Dan Warden

Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri. He often appeared on the show as part of the Porter Wagoner Trio with Don Warden and Speedy Haworth. Warden, on steel guitar, became Wagoner's long-time business manager. In 1957, Wagoner and Warden moved to Nashville, Tennessee, joining the Grand Ole Opry.

Like many of his contemporaries in country music, Wagoner toured and performed outdoors for fans at American Legion houses in rural towns. Fans sat on wooden benches facing what was often a makeshift stage. Wagoner would mingle with the audience during performance breaks and usually remembered the names of the towns he visited.

Through the 1960s, his hits, many he wrote or co-wrote,were "Carroll County Accident,""A Satisfied Mind,""Company's Comin',""Skid Row Joe,""Misery Loves Company" and "Green Green Grass of Home. He had many hits with Dolly Parton and also won three Grammy Awards for gospel recordings.

His syndicated television program, The Porter Wagoner Show, aired from 1960 to 1981. There were 686 30-minute episodes taped; the first 104 (1960–66) in black-and-white and the remainder (1966–81) in colour. At its peak, his show was featured in over 100 markets, with an average viewership of over three million. Reruns of the program air on the rural cable network RFD-TV and its sister channel in the UK Rural TV.

The shows usually featured opening performances by Wagoner with performances by Norma Jean, or later Parton, and comedic interludes by Speck Rhodes. The shows had a friendly, informal feel, with Wagoner trading jokes with band members (frequently during songs) and exchanging banter with Parton and Howser. In 1974, Dolly Parton's song "I Will Always Love You", written about her professional break from Wagoner, went to number one on the country music charts.

Wagoner brought James Brown to the Grand Ole Opry, produced a rhythm & blues album for Joe Simon, and appeared in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man. During the mid-1980s, Wagoner formed an all-girl group, The Right Combination, named after one of his hit records with Parton. He also hosted Opry Backstage during the 1990s on The Nashville Network. Though Parton's departure caused some animosity on both sides, the two reconciled in the late 1980s and appeared together a number of times in the following years; Parton inducted Wagoner into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.

Wagoner was honoured on May 19, 2007 at the Grand Ole Opry for both his 50 years of membership and his 80th birthday. It was telecast on GAC's Grand Ole Opry Live that day with artists including Parton, Stuart and Patty Loveless. Grand Ole Opry Live host Nan Kelley was part of the birthday celebration as well.

On June 5, 2007, Wagoner released his final album called Wagonmaster. The album was produced by Marty Stuart for the Anti- label. The album received the best reviews of Wagoner's career and briefly charted on the country charts; a music video was also produced of one of the tracks, a cover of Johnny Cash's "Committed to Parkview". He toured during the summer of 2007 to promote the album, including a late-July appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.

Until his final illness, Wagoner appeared regularly on the Grand Ole Opry and toured actively. He died from lung cancer in Nashville on October 28, 2007, with his family and Dolly Parton at his side. Wagoner's funeral was held November 1, 2007, at the Grand Ole Opry House. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville. (Edited from Wikipedia)

Sir George Albert Shearing, OBE (13 August 1919 – 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, including the jazz standard "Lullaby of Birdland", had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.

The youngest of nine children, Shearing was born in Battersea, south-west London, into a poor, working-class family. His father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains by night, having cared for her children during the day. Blind from birth, George showed musical aptitude, memorising tunes he had heard on the radio and picking them out on the family's piano, taking lessons from a local teacher and then continuing his studies for four years at the Linden Lodge School for blind children in Wandsworth.

Offered university musical scholarships, he turned them down in favour of paid work as a solo pianist in local pubs, starting when 16 at the Mason's Arms, Battersea, and concentrating first on popular songs and then branching out into jazz. He achieved a degree of prominence with Claude Bampton's newly formed, all-blind stage orchestra in 1937, joining as second pianist: press coverage of the time describing this as "a phenomenal venture".

A fellow band member, the partially sighted drummer Carlo Krahmer, encouraged Shearing's jazz interests. Spurred on by access to Krahmer's record collection, Shearing formulated an approach heavily influenced by Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller,

plunging into the London after-hours club scene and sometimes playing alongside visiting American stars such as the tenor-saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, while observing Waller at first hand. He made his first solo radio broadcast in 1938 and began to record regularly, either as a soloist or with groups led by Vic Lewis and the top players of the day. In 1941 he met and married Trixie Bayes.

With what now appears to be dazzling speed, he moved through bands and small groups fronted by prominent leaders including the clarinettist Harry Parry, Bert Ambrose, Harry Hayes and the French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli, with whom he recorded frequently, Grappelli being at that point resident in London as a refugee from German-occupied Paris.

So complete was Shearing's mastery of jazz piano that the Melody Maker poll voted him the top British pianist for seven years in a row. Aware of being the proverbial big fish in a rather small local pond, Shearing accepted an invitation from the British writer Leonard Feather, a friend from London who had already emigrated, to visit New York in late 1946. He stayed for three months and recorded a trio date for the Savoy label. Encouraged by this experience and enthralled by what he had heard, Shearing moved for good in December 1947.

By now heavily into bebop, he began to attract attention as the intermission pianist at the Hickory House on 52nd Street, sometimes acting as Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist on her pianist's night off before finally landing a quartet engagement at the Clique Club with the fine clarinetist Buddy De Franco.

Set to record, De Franco had to drop out for contractual reasons and Feather came to the rescue, suggesting that Shearing might try a quintet instead, adding guitar and vibraphone to the usual piano, bass and drums trio.

Voiced in block chords with Shearing using the "locked-hands" style pioneered by the pianist Milt Buckner, where the melody is harmonized in the right hand and echoed in the left, the quintet's new approach caught on immediately, their recording of September in the Rain, made for MGM in February 1949, selling 900,000 copies. Where bebop had seemed over-complex to many listeners, here was a musical style that sounded modern and new, but was easy to enjoy. By now one of the hottest tickets in jazz, Shearing's quintet toured endlessly, recorded incessantly and played residencies at the best clubs in every major American city.

Gradually, Shearing began to introduce a classical element to his concerts, sometimes performing as a soloist with orchestras, and with the quintet featured for the rest of the concert. He also formed a big band and recorded with Latin ensembles, adding a conga player to the quintet. Beauty and the Beat (also 1959), his album with the singer Peggy Lee, was another runaway success. Credited with some 300 compositions of his own, Shearing gained his greatest success with Lullaby of Birdland (1952), commissioned as the theme music for a radio programme based around the famous Birdland club in New York.

By 1968, Shearing's nimble, witty jazz style was showcased in smaller line-ups, with trios giving way to duos, this pared-down format allowing him a free rein to move from Bach to bebop in a single number. He also formed a vital partnership with the singer Mel Tormé, their collaboration resulting in Grammies in 1983 and 1984, and he briefly reformed his quintet in 1994 for recordings.

Shearing remained fit and active well into his later years and continued to perform, even after being honoured with an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. He never forgot his native country and, in his last years, would split his year between living in New York and Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, where he bought a house with his second wife, singer Ellie Geffert. This gave him the opportunity to tour the UK, giving concerts, often with Tormé, backed by the BBC Big Band. He was appointed OBE in 1996. In 2007, he was knighted. "So", he noted later, "the poor, blind kid from Battersea became Sir George Shearing. Now that's a fairy tale come true."

In 2004, he released his memoirs, Lullaby of Birdland, which was accompanied by a double-album "musical autobiography", Lullabies of Birdland. Shortly afterwards, however, he suffered a fall at his home and retired from regular performing. He died of heart failure in New York City, 14 February 2011 at the age of 91.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)

Here’s George at a live recording from the Munich Philharmonie during 1992

Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari, known as Nino Ferrer (1934–1998), was an Italian-French singer, songwriter, and author. One of the tragic icons of modern times is that is the ageing rock idol. Nino Ferrer was an artist of great integrity and talent, both as a performer and as a composer of songs that have proved enduringly popular. But he kept changing styles, and never found his true musical voice except in works practically unknown to the general public.

Nino Ferrer was born on 15 August 1934 in Genoa, Italy, but lived the first years of his life in New Caledonia (an overseas territory of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean), where his father, an engineer, was working. Jesuit religious schooling, first in Genoa and later in Paris, left him with a lifelong aversion to the Church. From 1947, the young Nino studied ethnology and archaeology in the Sorbonne university in Paris, also pursuing his interests in music and painting.

After completing his studies, Ferrer started traveling the world, working on a freighter ship. When he returned to France he immersed himself in music. A passion for jazz and the blues led him to worship the music of James Brown, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. He started to play the double bass in Bill Coleman's New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

He appeared on a recording for the first time in 1959, playing bass on two 45 singles by the Dixie Cats. The suggestion to take up solo singing came from the rhythm 'n' blues singer Nancy Holloway,

whom he also accompanied.

In 1963, Nino Ferrer recorded his own first record, the single "Pour oublier qu'on s'est aimé" ("To forget we were in love"). The B-side of that single had a song "C'est irréparable", which was translated for Italian superstar Mina as "Un anno d'amore" and became a big hit in 1965. Later again, in 1991, Spanish singer Luz Casal had a hit with "Un año de amor", translated from Italian by director Pedro Almodóvar for his film Tacones Lejanos (High Heels).

His first solo success came in 1965 with the song "Mirza". Other hits, such as "Cornichons" and "Oh! hé! hein! bon!" followed, establishing Ferrer as something of a comedic singer. The
stereotyping and his eventual huge success made him feel

"trapped", and unable to escape from the constant demands of huge audiences to hear the hits he himself despised.

He started leading a life of "wine, women and song" while giving endless provocative performances in theatres, on television and on tour.

In Italy, he scored a major hit in 1967 with "La pelle nera" (the French version is "Je voudrais être un noir]). This soul song, with its quasi-revolutionary lyrics imploring a series of Ferrer's black music idols to gift him their black skin for the benefit of music-making, achieved long-lasting iconic status in Italy.

"La pelle nera" was followed by a string of other semi-serious Italian songs, which included two appearances at the Sanremo Music Festival (in 1968 and 1970). In 1970, he returned to France and resumed his musical career there. Ferrer rebelled against the "gaudy frivolity" of French show business, filled with what he perceived as its "cynical technocrats and greedy exploiters of talent" (he had considered leaving show business altogether in 1967, when he left France for Italy). In his lesser-known songs, which the public largely ignored, he mocked life's absurdities. He agreed with Serge Gainsbourg and Claude Nougaro that songs are a "minor art" and "just background noise".

In 1975 he started breeding horses in Quercy, France. In 1989,

Ferrer obtained French citizenship, which he explained as his "celebration of the bicentenary of the French Revolution."
He went on to record the French national anthem, accompanied by a choir.

A couple of months after his mother died, Ferrer, on 13 August 1998, two days before his 64th birthday, took his hunting gun and walked to a field of wheat, recently cut, near the neighbouring village of Saint-Cyprien. There, he lay down in a grove nearby and shot himself in the heart. His wife Kinou, with whom he had two sons, had already alerted the gendarmerie after finding a farewell letter in the house

Next day, there were front-page headlines in most French and Italian newspapers, such as "Adieu Nino!", "Nino Ferrer Hung Up His Telephone", "Our Nino Has Left for the South." They called him the Don Quixote and the Corto Maltese of French show business. But most prefer to remember him as the Lucky Luke of rhythm 'n' blues.

(Edited mainly from Wikipedia)

Huelyn Duvall (born August 18, 1939) is an American Rock and roll and rockabilly musician.

Born Huelyn Wayne Duvall on August 18, 1939 in Garner Texas to Bill and Ila Duvall. His Father was a school teacher, his mother was a housewife. He got his first guitar when he was 14, most of the influences were the local radio which was country music.

Huelyn"s Father was the superintendent of the school in Huckabay, where he graduated in 1957. The school only had about 300 students total. It was in nearby Stephenville (population was about 10,000, known for Dairy Cattle Milk Production), that Huelyn got involved with recording.

In 1955-56 he started hearing a lot of rock and roll artists such as Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Buddy Knox, Buddy Holly and several others. In 1956 while still in high school Huelyn met Lonnie Thompson (a lead guitarist) he was in college. They both liked the new music and started playing together. At a local radio station they would record enough songs on the weekend to have one played each day the following week. Next weekend start the process all over again.

Lonnie had a Les Paul custom guitar and Ralph Clark a blonde bull bass. Huelyn's dad bought him a Gibson J50 guitar (after his Harmony guitar had "Got Squashed under one of the new styled power seats"). James Mathison a drummer joined the group shortly after and Johnny Thompson (Lonnie's twin brother) played rhythm guitar and backup vocals with Lonnie. Between February and September 1957 the group did approximately 50 local shows from high schools to colleges to radio stations to theaters to sock hops to everything in between. They became regulars at the Majestic Theatre in Ft. Worth at the Cowtown Hoedown and at the Big D Jamboree in Dallas.

In the summer of 1957 Lonnie introduced Huelyn to Danny Wolfe who was a musician, singer and songwriter. They quickly started to put material together for a recording session as Danny had got Huelyn a contract with Challenge records, a Gene Autry company that had just gotten started. The first recording session was at the Owen Bradley Studio in Nashville on September 27,
1957, they recorded "Teen Queen", "Comin' Or Goin'", "Boom Boom Baby" and Pucker Paint. Grady Martin played lead guitar, Floyd Cramer on Piano, "Buddy" Harmon on drums and The Jordanaires.

During the 50’s Duvall performed with Eddie Cochran, Johnny Horton, Bobby Darin, Dale Hawkins, The Champs, and others. His Little Boy Blue charted on Billboard in 1958 and Eddie Cochran told him it was one of his favourite songs. Duvall recorded Boom Boom Baby two years prior to Billy "Crash" Craddock and his version of Double Talkin' Baby was sent to Gene Vincent as well as Modern Romance to Sanford Clark.

By 1959 without a hit record and no management support, there was no way of make a living in music and supporting a band. Between 1959 and 1960 Huelyn and his band played Friday and Saturday nights at a place called ANDY'S in Strawn about 25 miles from Stephenville. They were called Huelyn Duvall and The Arrows. It was around this time Huelyn met his future wife Sandy. They married July 1, 1961 and moved to Houston where they spent nine years.

From 1962 through 1969 Huelyn worked in computers for Systems

Services Co. in Houston and also attended the University of Houston. Their first daughter DeLayna was born March 28, 1962 and Leah (Named after the Roy Orbison classic) was born April 2, 1965. In 1970 worked for a large electronics component manufacturer in Mineral Wells as Director of Data Processing until 1980. In 1980 went to work for Brazos Valley Computer Center in Mineral Wells doing bank computer processing as the Executive Vice President and later owner of the business.

The mid-80's saw a resurgence in original rockabilly artists and many of them started to perform again. In 1985 Huelyn was approached by Cees Klop to perform in Europe. The first show was in Eindoven, Holland at the Rockhouse 25th Annual Rock and Roll Meeting with Eddie Bond and Janis Martin. Next it was to London for the famous "Mean Fiddler" venue produced by Willie Jeffery. All the shows were sold out and the crowds were excited to see Huelyn back singing the great songs he had recorded in the 1950's.

His dynamic stage act continues to this very day as he regularly tours with top Swedish group “Wildfire Willie & The Ramblers”. A strange side note to Duvall's career: it is his voice yelling "Tequila!" at the end of the hit 1958 instrumental by the Champs.

(Mainly edited from rockabillyhall.com)

Rockabilly legend, Huelyn Duvall Rockin' it up with the song "Teen Queen" backed by the Howlin' Hound Dogs and Iz, at the Red,Hot & Blue Rockabilly Fest. on Labour day weekend,Sept.2011 in Montreal,QC,Canada.

Dillwyn Owen Paton "Dill" Jones (19 August 1923 - 22 June 1984), was a versatile and accomplished Welsh jazz pianist. He was a master of the Harlem stride style of Fats Waller and a well-known interpreter of the piano music of Bix Beiderbecke.

Jones was born in Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire, on 19 August 1923. He was brought up in New Quay on the Cardiganshire coast. Music was in the family as his mother was a pianist and his aunt played organ at the Methodist Tabernacle. He began playing when he was seven years old and by the age of 10 was turned onto jazz by hearing records by Fats Waller and Bix Beiderbecke on the radio.

After leaving college Jones followed his father into banking but was called up by the Royal Navy for wartime service in the Far East from 1942 to 1946. When the war ended he enrolled at Trinity College of Music in London but did not complete the course, preferring the informality of late night jazz sessions.

He turned professional in 1947 joining Vic Lewis in 1948 then with Harry Parry 1949 - 1950 and Kathy Stobart also in 1950 before plying his trade as ship's pianist on the luxury liner, the Queen Mary, sailing between New York City and Southampton. This gave him the chance to visit New York's jazz clubs and see the likes of Coleman Hawkins and Lennie Tristano.

During the 1950s he was associated with all the local bop based musicians - he had played in Tony Kinsey's Trio in 1953, played with Joe Harriott, and had also been a key member of the Tommy Whittle quintet from April 1954 until September 1956. He also gigged with Don Rendell, Ronnie Scott and Jimmy Skidmore as well as introducing jazz programmes for the BBC.

He formed the Dill Jones Quartet in 1959 and only made a few records in Britain under his own name. Perhaps his finest was the 1959 EP recorded by the enterprising Denis Preston at Lansdowne studios, Dill Jones Plus Four. Anyone lucky enough to own this record will hear not only Jones' urbane piano style on themes by Duke Jordan and Sonny Rollins, but also the lyrical eloquence of tenor saxophonist Duncan Lamont.

Dill also worked with the Bert Courtley Sextet but following a decade as one of London's busiest and most adaptable jazzmen Jones moved permanently to America in October 1961. Settling in New York City, he became an expert in the Harlem stride style. Jones was soon in demand, and earned his reputation playing with the likes of Roy Eldridge, Gene Krupa, Jimmy McPartland, Max Kaminsky and Yank Lawson, becoming a much respected member of the New York jazz community.

Between 1969-73, Jones he was a member of the JPJ Quartet with Budd Johnson, Oliver Jackson and Bill Pemberton. In 1972, Jones recorded a glorious album for the American Chiaroscuro label, Davenport Blues, a tribute to Bix Beiderbecke which affirmed once more the pianist's total lack of regard for stylistic straight-jackets and which is among his finest recordings. After 1974, he performed both as a soloist and with a band at clubs around the New York area. Dill also worked with the Countsmen and the Harlem Blues & Jazz Band.

Jones never forgot his homeland, and in 1978 he came back to the U.K. to perform at the inaugural Welsh Jazz Festival in Cardiff. He also returned for a visit in 1983. He and also appears on several tracks on a fellow Welsh jazz musician's CD: Wyn Lodwick and Friends - My 50 Years In Jazz - featuring Dill Jones.

He died from throat cancer in Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York, on 22nd June 1984, at the age of 60.

Jet said he was "instrumental in bringing jazz to British television when he hosted the BBC Jazz Club." He was honoured later that year at the National Eisteddfod in Lampeter by being posthumously admitted to the Gorsedd of Bards, cited as "one of the leading jazz pianists in the world".

The New York Times wrote in his obituary "A versatile, accomplished pianist, he was a master of the Harlem stride style of Fats Waller and a well-known interpreter of the piano music of Bix Beiderbecke"

A double CD anthology of Dill Jones` work was released in 2004, entitled Davenport Blues - Dill Jones plays Bix, Jones And A Few Others. Included amongst the 31 tracks are many of Jones' own compositions, including "New Quay Blues" and "There Are no Flowers In Tiger Bay".

Roland E. Janes (August 20, 1933 – October 18, 2013) was an American rockabilly guitarist and record producer, who was active at Sun Records between 1956 and 1963.

He may not be a household name, but Roland Janes is a Memphis legend, with a musical career that spans six decades. Along with Scotty Moore and Carl Perkins, he developed the rockabilly guitar style at Sun Records. He played on the majority of Jerry Lee Lewis’s 200+ Sun recordings. Janes was a modest man who could submerge his own ego and virtuosity for the good of a session.

Born in Brookings, AK, in 1933, Janes was the product of a musical family -- his father, a lumberjack, moonlighted as a guitarist, and his siblings and cousins played a variety of instruments as well. After his parents divorced, Janes spent his adolescence shuttling between Brookings and his mother's home in St. Louis. Around the age of 13, he first picked up the mandolin, soon moving to guitar and playing country music in combination with his cousins.

In 1953 Janes relocated to Memphis, and when work proved scarce he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. During his tour of duty he played guitar in military service clubs, and following his discharge returned to Memphis to back pianist Doc McQueen, through whom he met guitarist/engineer Jack Clement, who in turn brought him to Sam Phillips' Sun Records.

Janes served as the linchpin of the Sun house band from 1956 to 1963. During that time, he played on landmark Lewis sides like "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "High School Confidential," and was a founding member of Riley's crack backing band, the Little Green Men, in addition to collaborating on records headlined by everyone from Charlie Rich to Sonny Burgess. The guitar intro to Riley’s “Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll” is legendary. Janes also worked with a young Roy Orbison on his first Sun recordings, including "Chicken Hearted" (1958).

His Roland Janes Band also cut its own Sun session on February 11, 1959 -- essentially the Little Green Men with Riley on second guitar and Eddie Cash on vocals, the group recorded five songs, none of them officially released until 1987.

Billy Lee Riley's Little Green Men: Riley, Roland Janes, Marvin Pepper, and J.M. Van Eaton

For Phillips' brother Jud's eponymous label, Janes released the 1959 instrumental "Guitarville" and “Patriotic Guitar” on his Judd label, credited to Roland James (with an m). Later in 1959 Riley and Janes recorded as The Spitfires for the Jaro label. One side of their instrumental single was “Catfish”, a re-recording of the unissued “Rolando” from the February session. The tune sounded suspiciously like Buddy Holly’s “Modern Don Juan”.

Janes played regularly on Sun record releases adding guitar that "was both surgically precise and wildly kinetic, perfectly complementing the delirious energy that galvanized Sun's most memorable contributions to the early days of rock & roll." Janes was also responsible for "nearly single-handedly inventing many of the engineering methods used in modern recordings, from microphone placement and cabling to board and tape deck tricks." In 1960 Janes and Riley formed their own label, Rita Records, and had a hit with Harold Dorman's "Mountain of Love".

He left Sun in 1963 and opened his own studio, Sonic Recording Service, where he produced records by Jerry Jaye, Travis Wammack, and others. The studio closed in 1974, but in 1977 Janes returned to the music industry as a producer and engineer at the Sounds of Memphis recording studio, as well as a teacher of recording techniques. In 1982, he retired from teaching and went to work for Sam Phillips again. For the remaining 31 years of his life he worked as a producer and engineer at Sam Phillips Recording Service for Knox and Jerry Phillips and continued as an active session musician, playing guitar on Mudhoney's 1998 album Tomorrow Hit Today

Janes recorded all kinds of music, mostly with young musicians. Occasionally he still did session work for others. He was elected to The Southern Legends Entertainment & Performing Arts Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame not long before his death (following a heart attack) on October 18, 2013, aged 80.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic and article by Colin Escott @Bear Family) :

James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is considered by many to be the world's number one rock n roll guitarist. On top of that he has worked countless country sessions for everyone from Merle Haggard to Emmylou Harris on both guitar and dobro. His primary guitar has always been a 1953 Fender Telecaster.

Burton was born in Dubberly in south Webster Parish near Minden, Louisiana, to Guy M. Burton (1909–2001) and the former Lola Poland (1914–2011), a native of rural Fryeburg in Bienville Parish. She was the daughter of James and Althius Poland. Burton's wife is Louise Burton.

Self-taught, Burton began playing guitar at a young age, influenced by Chet Atkins, Elmore James and several others. The mix of country and blues was new at the time. "I was just trying to create my own identity, mixing blues and country together", Burton later explained, commenting on his famous tone, and on his technique of using fingerpicks with a flatpick instead of the more conventional thumbpick.

At the age of only 14, James became a professional musician, working club gigs and private parties. In 1954 he became the youngest staff musician on the weekly radio show Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, where he grew up. The first record that he played on was "Just For A While"/"You Never Mention My Name" (1956) by Carol Williams, the very first release on Mira Smith's Shreveport-based Ram label ; James also plays guitar on several other early Ram singles. In addition to his work on the Hayride, Burton played in the band of Dale Hawkins, with whom he recorded and co-wrote "Susie-Q" in February 1957. It went to # 27 on the Billboard charts and Burton's guitar lick on "Susie-Q" has become one of the classic riffs in rock n roll.

Burton then joined the band of Bob Luman, with whom he went to Los Angeles in October 1957 for an Imperial recording session. There James came to the attention of Ricky Nelson, who invited him and Luman's bassist, James Kirkland, to meet his parents.

Ricky's father, Ozzie Nelson, offered Burton and Kirkland a regular spot on Ricky's television show, "The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet". Before James knew it he was living with the Nelson family in Hollywood. The first Ricky Nelson session that Burton worked was the one in November 1957 that resulted in the single "Stood Up"/"Waitin' In School", but it's not him taking the solos - that's Joe Maphis. But on every Ricky Nelson record after that for the next seven years, it is James Burton, starting with "Believe What You Say". On that recording James is using banjo strings for that extra twangy sound and the result is one of the greatest guitar solos ever. It's no exaggeration to say that it is Burton's work that elevates Ricky Nelson's Imperial records to greatness.

By 1965, Nelson was only on the road one month a year and Burton got bored. He accepted an invitation from TV producer Jack Good to become a regular on the weekly 'Shindig' show and to recruit a group, the Shindogs. After a year on 'Shindig', Burton disappeared into the studios for several years. While working with Ricky, he had hardly done any session work for others, but now - helped by his TV exposure - he was doing five or six sessions a day, sometimes seven days a week. He recorded with such varied acts as Merle Haggard, Frank Sinatra, the Monkees, Judy Collins, the Everly Brothers and Johnny Mathis.

In November 1967 he cut his first album, "Corn Pickin' and Slick Slidin'" (Capitol), with steel guitarist Ralph Mooney. Up until then he had only recorded three solo singles, credited to Jimmie Burton, Jim & Joe and Jimmy Dobro respectively. Burton had started to play the dobro in 1963 ; the high point of his dobro work is his accompaniment on Merle Haggard's tribute album to Jimmie Rodgers, "Same Train, A Different Time" (1969). Burton released only two solo albums in his entire career, the second being "The Guitar Sounds Of James Burton" (1971).

In 1969, Elvis Presley asked Burton to be his lead guitarist and manage his band. James agreed and moved to Las Vegas, Elvis's principal base of operations. He remained with Presley's touring band until the singer's death in August 1977. Through the last five years with Elvis, Burton had been working with Gram Parsons and then (after Parsons' death in 1973) Emmylou Harris.

After Presley's death, Burton went on the road with John Denver and stayed with him for fifteen years. During this period he continued to do session work (for Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Kenny Rogers and many others) and played with the touring band of Jerry Lee Lewis in the early 1980s (starting 1979, James played on several of the Killer's albums).

In 2001 Burton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a sideman. In the 21st century he still does occasional session work, toured Europe with the James Burton Band (in which his son Jeff is the lead singer) and has organized the James Burton International Guitar Festival in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and most recently in August 2014 in Shreveport.(Info mainly from Black cat Rockabilly)

Ron Dante (born Carmine John Granito on August 22, 1945, on Staten Island, New York) is an American singer, songwriter, session vocalist, and record producer. Dante is best known as the lead singer of the fictional cartoon band The Archies; he was also the voice of The Cuff Links and co-produced Barry Manilow’s first nine albums. He is also the singer of many, many iconic commercial jingles.

It all started in Staten Island when young Carmine Granito broke his arm and the doctor gave him a choice of playing a sport or an instrument to help the healing process. The Elvis-loving preteen chose guitar and soon was playing and singing in a neighborhood doo wop band called the Persuaders. At the age of 15, the youngster, now known professionally as Ron Dante, headed to Manhattan to break into the music business. After a few false starts, he ended up working as a demo singer for Don Kirshner's Aldon Music.

He released "Little Lollipop," his first single under the name Ronnie Dante, in 1964 on the Almot label, but it didn't go anywhere. Neither did his next, the novelty song "Don't Stand Up in a Canoe." In a twist that foreshadowed his future career path, Dante did have a hit in 1964 as the anonymous singer of the "Leader of the Pack" parody "Leader of the Laundromat" by the invented group the Detergents.

He spent the next few years writing songs for Bobby Darin's company and releasing singles that didn't worry the charts much.

In 1968, his life changed when he auditioned for a new project Don Kirshner and producer Jeff Barry were working on and got the gig as lead singer. The band was the Archies and the first record to come out was "Bang-Shang-A-Lang." It was a hit, but the next song they released defined an era. "Sugar, Sugar" launched the bubblegum sound and reached number one on the singles chart.

The Archies project continued for a few more years, with the hits drying up and Dante learning the ins and outs of record production, eventually helming their final album, 1971's This Is Love. During that time, he was free to work with other producers and he teamed with Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss on the smash 1969 song "Tracy," credited to the Cuff Links.

Dante released his first solo album, Ron Dante Brings You Up, in 1970, with Jeff Barry producing and Dante co-writing
most of the songs. It didn't take off the way anyone hoped and Dante went back to releasing one-off singles under his own and other names, as well as doing the voice for another cartoon band, the Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. He also did plenty of work singing commercial jingles, providing vocals on campaigns by Pepsi, McDonald's, and many others, including Coke's famous "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" spot. At one of these sessions he met Barry Manilow, who was working as Bette Midler's piano player and as a composer of jingles. The two hit it off and began recording demos of Manilow's songs. Their hard work paid off in 1974 when "Mandy" became a huge hit and launched the singer's career.

Dante became Manilow's musical director and producer throughout the 1970s. At the same time, Dante released singles under his own name and under pseudonyms (Bo Cooper, Ronnie & the Dirt Riders), even cutting a disco remake of "Sugar, Sugar" in 1975. He also rode the disco wave with Dante's Inferno, a late-'70s group that featured Dante, Toni Lund, and Monica Burruss on shared vocals.

Around this time Dante began to branch out from music, becoming a Broadway producer and winning Tonys for 1978's Ain't Misbehavin' and 1980's Children of a Lesser God. He also became publisher of The Paris Review for six years starting in 1978, thanks to being a neighbor of the magazine's founder, George Plimpton. He did make another solo album, 1981's Street Angel, and produced records for Irene Cara and Barry Manilow after that, but he then took a long break from releasing anything.

It wasn't until the late '90s that Dante returned to making albums, with a series of recordings of his favorite songs and some originals. First came 1997's California Nights, then 1999's Favorites, and lastly, 2004's Saturday Night Blast. He revived the Archies name soon after that, brought in two vocalists to play Betty and Veronica (Danielle van Zyl and Kelly-Lynn), and released The Archies Christmas Party album in 2008 on the Fuel 2000 label. By now he owned the rights to the Archies recordings and oversaw the reissue on CD of all the band's original albums. As of 2018 Dante continues to play live shows.

(Compiled and edited mainly from Tim Sendra @ All Music)

James Clifford Dempsey (23 August1937 - 29 November 1997) was an American singer, songwriter and top session guitarist. Jimmy Dempsey was born in Atlanta Georgia with a rare brittle bone condition. Throughout his life this condition resulted in 74 broken legs, 10 broken arms and a broken back. As a result, Jimmy walked on crutches his entire life. For most people that’s where the story would have ended. But for Jimmy, it was just the beginning.

At the age of 2 1/2 Jimmy began his career in the music business as a child singer and radio personality with an appearance on the Major Bowes National Network Radio Show in New York City. After that appearance he was invited to sing at the famous Stage Door Canteen in Hollywood California with Eddie Cantor, Phil Harris, Alice Faye and Betty Grable. Upon returning to Atlanta at age 5 he began appearing at many live events and singing on 5 radio shows a day. Between the ages of 8 and 11, he traveled on the weekends throughout the south and in his home town of Atlanta, performing on stage shows between the movie serial matinees with most of the major cowboy movie stars of that era such as Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter and The Son's of the Pioneers just to mention a few. He also did appearances with Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Bela Lagosi, Lon Chaney Jr. and the Three Stooges.

Throughout his teens he continued performing at local events and became a very popular figure in the Atlanta area. He was a favourite fixture for some time on the Atlanta TV Show - Ed Caparal’s Bandstand Matinee where he amazed everyone with his dancing prowess even while on crutches. At age 17 he began his recording career and by the age of 18, Jimmy bought his first guitar. Within a week had taught himself well enough to play his first show as a backup guitarist for the Lanny Frye Combo and then the Cherokee Boys a popular local Atlanta band. Shortly after that, Jimmy put his own band together and started doing local shows and dances in Atlanta and throughout the south.

During the 50’s and 60’s Jimmy had a total of 12 released and 5 unreleased vocal records. In the late 50’s, Jimmy started doing local studio work that led to him recording and working for Bill Lowery, one of music’s biggest producers and executives. While with Lowery, Jimmy did a lot of work with two fledgling artists at that time named Jerry Reed and Ray Stevens.

Some of the other artists that Jimmy worked with through Lowery were Joe South, Billy Jo Royal and The Vogues and on and on. By this time, Jimmy was in high demand as a studio player in Atlanta, even lending his skills on the guitar to rock and soul superstar Little Richard. He also appeared at numerous events around town and throughout the south with a multitude of stars such as Brenda Lee, Connie Stevens, Faron Young, Ray Price, Carl Perkins and so many more.

He became the lead guitarist for the Longhorn Ranch Boys, a popular Atlanta bar band, during the 1950s, and in 1958 began leading the Cherokee Country Boys, with whom he made his recording debut. In 1962, Dempsey left the group to found his own trio. Among his best-known singles were "Bop Hop" and "Rhode

Island Red," as well as humorous originals such as "Bessie Was a Good Old Cow" and "Betcha Can't Eat Just One." From the late '50s through the early '60s, Dempsey was part of the Ernest Tubb Radio Program; he also appeared on a German show, American Music.

Throughout the 60’s Jimmy also became very popular on the Atlanta nightclub scene, sometimes playing several different clubs in the same night. He might go from working a show with Aretha Franklin at one club to headlining at a jazz club across town with the “Little” Jimmy Dempsey Trio.

In the 70’s Jimmy found himself in high demand for session work in Nashville. Travelling back and forth from Atlanta to Nashville on a weekly basis became increasingly inconvenient therefore Jimmy made the difficult decision to move his family from his hometown of Atlanta to Nashville. As th 70's drew to a close,

Jimmy, who had worked in the business since age 5, was contemplating retirement. To the shock of all who knew him, in 1980, at the ripe old age of 43, Jimmy simply unplugged his guitar and said his good-byes to Nashville and the recording business. Jimmy and his wife Tena fulfilled their dream of retiring to a big farm. He devoted a number of years to owning and training harness racing horses.

In September 1997, Jimmy received the “Atlanta Society of Entertainers Musician of the Year Award”. Jimmy received yet another honour by being named as an inductee into the Inaugural Class of the “North American Country Music Hall of Fame”.

Jimmy died from a heart attack at his home 29 November 1997

(Edited mainly from littlejimmydempsey.com)

Lalomie Marion 'Lomie' Washburn (25 August 1941 - 18 December 2004) was a talented yet underappreciated R&B singer and song writer.

Born in Tennessee, but growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, she had shone in the local church choir like a lot of future Soul stars. Also, she had started to become an observant songwriter at a young age. Supported by her sister Thelma (who cared for Lalomie’s children whilst she was away working), she began to make a mark on the local music scene. She worked alongside acts of the stature of Ike and Tina Turner and Ernie Fields Junior and developed her own striking image, complete her trademark white afro.

Despite having a quite wonderful voice, clear, powerful and warm, her first real success would come in providing songs for other acts. She became part of the sextet High Voltage and with this band she got to record for the first time, but they soon broke up when two of the band joined fledgling Funk titans Rufus. For Lalomie this was bittersweet as she provided “I’m A Woman” and “Your Smile” for the third Rufus record. The former, in particular, would play a large part in establishing them and in turn, Chaka Khan too. She would continue to write for Rufus and also Chaka’s solo career, whilst in 1975 she hooked up with the remnants of cult Psychedelic outfit H.P. Lovecraft under slightly adjusted Love Craft name.

Though the album Love Craft produced We Love You Whoever You Are failed to make much of a mark, the disparate styles all concerned brought to the table meant for a one of kind record. Lalomie wrote or co-wrote all the songs and the record traversed Funk, Psych, Soul, Art Rock anything else they could squeeze in. She was what in the 70s would be called a “free spirit” and thrived in the environment of experimentation.

Though Love Craft folded soon afterwards Parachute Records, an off-shoot of Casablanca, snapped her up in 1977 as a solo entity. There she was supplied with top sessionists like Joe Sample and guitarist Wah Wah Watson as a backing band. With Washburn’s ex-Love Craft band mate Frank Capek collaborating with her to produce some top-notch songs, all was set for Lalomie to make the album of her life.” My Music Is Hot.”

Sadly it wasn’t the massive hit record that it so clearly deserved to be. It seems the record label didn’t do much in terms of promotion and the middle 70s were of course the time of maximum market saturation.

My Music Is Hot couldn’t find its way out of the mountain of vinyl released each week back then. Even so, you wonder why because this LP stands miles out from the crowd. Although it wasn’t a commercial success Lalomie picked up a following in Germany, releasing some good singles including 1991’s Try My Love which was particularly popular in the U.K

She was a featured vocalist on Quincy Jones's album 'The Dude' (1981) and appeared on Bridgette McWilliams' album 'Too Much Woman'. (1997)

In 1994, she was a featured vocalist on Misty Oldland's album 'Supernatural'. In 1997, she released a second solo, self titled, album for the European Soulciety label. She also worked with Buddy Miles and the singer D.J. Rogers. She even returned to tour her old Omaha stomping ground, but sadly she passed away on 18th September 2004 from liver cancer in Los Angeles. In 2005 she was inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame. (Info compiled and edited from various sources mainly an article by Ian Canty for Louderthanwar.com)

Dobie Gray born 26 July 1940

Mary Love born 27 July 1943

Clem Cattini born 28 July 1937

Ivan Rebroff born 21 July 1931

Ramblin' Jack Elliott born 1 August 1931

Werner Muller born 2 August 1920

Carson Robison born 4 August 1890

Tiny Davis born 5 August 1907

Mel Tillis born 8 August 1932

Annie Laurie born 11 August 1924

Porter Wagoner born 12 August 1927

George Shearing born 13 August 1919

Nino Ferrer born 15 August 1934

Huelyn Duvall born 18 August 1939

Dill Jones born 19 August 1923

Roland Janes born 20 August 1933

James Burton born 21 August 1939

Ron Dante born 22 August 1945

Little Jimmy Dempsey born 23 August 1937

Lalomie Washburn born 25 August 1941