Vince Maloy (28 August 1933 - 14 August 2002) was an American rockabilly singer.
Vince Maloy was born in Southern Maryland. When he was 6 years old his mother gave him a Roy Rogers guitar and he remembers someone showing him the chords two years later. He soon was winning prizes in local talent contests, but cut back his guitar playing when he entered high school. He went to work at his father's excavating business after graduation, and remembers hearing an employee picking out the blues in two fingered style.
Sitting at home one day in 1956, Maloy saw a singer on "The Milt Grant TV Record Hop.""I said, 'If that guy's done it, maybe I can do it, too'," he said. "Let me try that." Working with other local musicians they got Web Records in New York City to record his rockabilly song "Honey Baby" and he went to see Grant. "I just got out the record and went up there to tell him about it and he put me on the show," Maloy said. "I was the first guy I ever knew of who had a record out in Southern Maryland.
Over his singing career Vince only had six singles released on as many labels, which included Web, Tait, Angletone, End, Felsted and 1234. The first, and probably the best of these, was "Honey Baby" paired with "Wine Bop Bop" on Web Records (1957). Vince made over 50 appearances on the "Milt Grant Show", the Washington D.C. area's version of "American Bandstand." He also appeared on the Felix Grant Show and the Buddy Deane Show in Baltimore.
The local musicians playing on various records with Maloy included James "Dirty" Daulton of California on bass and guitar, Kenny Wathen of Breton Bay on lead guitar, Teddy Wathen of Leonardtown on bass, Tommy Ryce of Mechanicsville on electric piano and Ralph Butler of Leonardtown on saxophone. Maloy later played lead guitar, and sometimes his brother, Rom also joined him on some shows.
Vince also hosted three radio shows over the years. In the 1960s, Vince established himself as a night club performer. He took his routine to Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and played all over the Washington D.C. area. During this time, Vince became good friends with Link Wray, sometimes sharing the stage with Link and the Wraymen. It was hard work, and he had to play harder and faster than the established entertainers. Despite the fun he had making records and entertaining crowds, Maloy eventually decided he could not find true success as a musician and around 1970, he left the music business and joined the North Beach Maryland Police Department, advancing through the ranks and becoming the Chief of Police.
In the late 80’s Vince and his wife Shirley began competitive dancing and on January 23, 1994 they won the Gold Division of the West Coast Swing Dance World Championship in Nashville Tennessee. One of the highlights of their dancing was an appearance on TNN's Club Dance TV show, where a spotlight feature was broadcast on Vince and Shirley. Meanwhile Vince went on to law enforcement duties for the Federal Government and retired after a successful career in 1997. Vince and Shirley then operated a successful antique business in Leonardtown Maryland. Vince continued to operate the business, both at a storefront and on eBay after Shirley's untimely death in 2000. That year Vince found several reel-to-reel tapes full of unreleased songs in his attic that may one day see the light of day.
In the summer of 2001, Vince went back into the studio for the first time in just over thirty years. He went to Vinylux Records and sat in with members of the East Coast's best traditional rockabilly band, The FleaBops. He worked up a new version of "Indeed I Do" with the music of an unreleased song Vince did in 1959, "Be My Chick".
After a long battle with leukemia, Vince Maloy passed away in Maryland on August 14, 2002.
(Edited from This Is My Story & Vince Maloy tripod website)