Benjamin Eidson, known professionally as Benny Joy (November 5, 1935 – October 24, 1988) was an American rockabilly guitarist and singer who released three singles in his recording career, and was popular regionally in Florida. As a result of the rockabilly revival in England, Joy's material was met with renewed interest.
Born in Atlanta, Benny moved to Tampa, Florida at the age of five. He sang in the local church choir when he was eight and got his first guitar when he was about 12. Though he never took a music lesson in his life, Joy was gifted enough to become quite proficient on the instrument. Around 1951 he formed his first band with Big John Taylor (real name John Wilkie Taylor, born 1937), who also played guitar. They performed at high school gyms and drive-in theaters, mainly country music, but with blues influences, as Benny loved black music and was always hanging around Afro-Americans. He quickly gained a reputation for his spontaneous dancing theatrics.
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| Benny with Big John Taylor |
The manager of the independent record label TRI-DEC Records, Daz Dodds, was encouraged to sign the two musicians, which resulted in several demos accompanied by Taylor, including Joy's best-known song "Spin the Bottle" being released as a single in 1957 to regional success. Much of Joy's material from the recording sessions, which was mostly self-composed, such as "Little Red Book", "Hey High School Baby" and "Miss Bobby Sox" had a common theme revolved around teenage angst.
Throughout the late ‘50s, young Joy was the prince of the dancehall circuit in central Florida. He had a raw sound that combined country & western with rhythm & blues — one that he claimed to have developed before ever hearing Elvis. In 1958, Joy switched to Ram Records, releasing his second single the Buddy Holly-influenced "Ittie Bittie Everything".
Also during the year, he became one of the earliest rockabilly music artists to tour Europe as Joy supported the Platters, Barry De Vorzon, and Raymond Scott, among others. Joy followed it up with a similar tour six weeks later in the summer of 1959, by which time his final single "Crash the Party" was issued on Decca Records to both the U.S. and Europe.
Benny Joy and Big John Taylor left Buck Ram in 1959 after a number of disagreements and also had their own arguments, which made them part company in 1960. A major label deal failed to lead to a career upswing for Benny. Two Decca singles with slow country songs came out in 1961, light years removed from the earlier energetic recordings.
Joy failed to have a breakout record and began working as a disk jockey and on the television program American Bandstand. In 1962, Benny Joy relocated to Nashville to be a songwriter. He scored a few hits, although his tunes that got cut seem to tell the story of Joy’s dark side: Carl Smith recorded “Take My Ring Off Your Finger,” Stonewall Jackson did “I’ve Got To Change,” Charlie Rich sang “She Loved Everybody But Me,” and both Little Jimmie Dickens and Lefty Frizzell sang “Running Into Memories of You,” a co-write with Mel Tillis. Even the great soul singer Jackie Wilson cut a Joy-penned tune called “Teardrop Avenue,” and rumour has it King Presley himself was considering “Sincerely, Your Friend” for his next album when he died.
Apart from an Italian release in 1959, none of Benny’s records were issued in Europe and he would have remained a complete unknown there if it hadn’t been for Cees Klop from Rotterdam. He issued two LP’s by Benny Joy on his White Label imprint, first “Rock-A- Billy With Benny Joy” in 1978, then, in 1981, “More Rock-A-Billy With Benny Joy”. The albums did much for Joy’s reputation among rockabilly fans and there was talk of appearances in the UK. Alas, plans were shelved when he was found to be suffering from cancer. His premature death in October 1988 (aged 52) brought to a close one of the more colourful footnotes in the history of rock n roll.
(Edited from Wikipedia & tims.blackcat.nl)