Houston Wells (25 February 1932 - 28 December 2013) was a British country singer.
He was born Andrew Smith in 1932 in East Woodburn, a small village 40 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne. His mother’s family was Irish and he joined in family sing-songs, learning the traditional songs. He began work for the Forestry Commission, married and started a family and eventually joined the merchant navy. A stint on the SS Iberia eventually saw him living for a time in Canada, where by the late 1950s he had settled in Powell River, about one hundred miles North of Vancouver. There, he worked as a logger and developed his love of country music. The possessor of a rapidly maturing and tuneful voice, the young ex-seaman took to singing in bars whenever the opportunity arose.
Houston’s wife and children elected to stay in the UK when the Canadian period began. So, in 1959 Houston moved on, travelling around by Greyhound bus and initially stopping over with relatives in Detroit before sailing back to England on The Corinthia. The marriage did not last however and the young, newly single Andrew Smith settled in Wickford, Essex where his parents and brother were living. He began singing in Leigh-on-Sea, forming Andy Smith and the Marksmen. He acquired a manager, Terry McGrath, who placed him with the maverick producer Joe Meek.
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| Wells with Jim Reeves |
Working as an independent, Meek leased his product to the major labels and although EMI was interested in Andy Smith, they didn’t care for the name. “They told me that there were too many Andys around,” said Wells, “They gave me a choice of Houston Wells or Chuck Wells, and I wasn’t having Chuck.” The transformation was complete: an American name, an American sound and the look of a riverboat gambler.
The first single, released on Parlophone in 1962, was “This Song Is Just For You”, and within the first 20 seconds there were echo-drenched guitars, changes in tempo, high notes and yodels. It was an impressive début. The follow-up “North Wind”, though not a big seller, sounded like Frankie Laine on speed with a rock backing. Wells made the Top 30 for the first and only time with his third Parlophone single, “Only The Heartaches”, but both that and “Above And Beyond” (1966) were Top 10 singles in Ireland, and Meek produced an album, Western Style (1964). “Joe was nuts about country music,” said Wells, “but we could hardly recognise ourselves. We sounded like the Chipmunks because he sped up the tracks and I could never understand why.”
Houston Wells and the Marksmen were regularly on tour, firstly on beat shows and then working with such country legends such as Jim Reeves, Hank Locklin and Johnny Cash. Although Houston Wells and the Marksmen was the UK’s top country band it was not lucrative. The constant pressure for concerts, tours and recordings coupled with the equally constant lack of funds placed pressures on the group and in 1964 they split. Meek immediately replaced The Marksmen with The Outlaws and as Houston Wells & The Outlaws they toured Ireland as well as returning to the studios to make more recordings, including Galway Bay and Wild Side Of Life.
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| Wells with Hank Locklin |
There followed a number of years during which Houston largely based himself in Ireland but toured not only the emerald isle but much further afield, working exhausting schedules across the UK, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and many other European countries as well as a tour in the USA. During these years Houston worked with different bands. Initially there was The Masters, then in 1966 when The Masters split, Houston joined forces with The Premier Aces. With both bands, Houston enjoyed the trappings of success for the first time. They earned good money for their personal appearances and enjoyed charting records in the Irish Charts.
In 1968 Houston formed The Trident Showband, working 7 nights per week, travelling hundreds of miles on a regular basis, including touring with Hank Locklin, but the hours were crazy and members of the band began to yearn to spend more time with their families and loved ones. Thus in 1971, Houston resolved to bring the band to a close and they split amicably. Houston moved to New Zealand.” As none of his records had been released there he went back to logging and working with earth-moving machinery.
Smith’s hobby was shooting and he was part of the New Zealand team for the World Sporting Championships in 1996. Smith considered his Houston Wells days were over. “When I left the music scene in the UK,” Wells told Spencer Leigh of the Independent in 2008, “I never dreamt that there would be much interest in what I had done. I certainly didn’t expect my old records to be reissued. I had never received any royalties and nobody told me that they were being reissued. I was surprised when my son Robert told me that they were out again in the UK.” As a result, Wells came out of retirement for a double CD, Then And Now: From Joe Meek To New Zealand.
His final recording was a cover version of “Almost Persuaded” in 2012. Wells died after a long battle with cancer on 28 December 2013 in Taupo, New Zealand.
(Edited from Paul Hazell’s bio, The Independent & echo-news.co.uk.)