Search This Blog
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Solid sendin'...............with Roy Milton!!
Milton's grandmother was a Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and grew up on an Indian reservation before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He joined the Ernie Fields band in the late 1920s as singer and, later, drummer.
Moving to Los Angeles, California in 1933, he formed his own band, the Solid Senders, with Camille Howard on piano. He performed in local clubs and began recording in the 1940s, his first release being "Milton's Boogie" on his own record label. His big break came in 1946, when his "R. M. Blues", on the new Juke Box label, became a hit, reaching # 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and #20 on the pop chart. Its success helped establish Art Rupe’s company, which he shortly afterwards renamed Specialty Records.[2]
Milton and his band became a major touring attraction, and he continued to record successfully for Specialty Records through the late 1940s and early 1950s. He recorded a total of 19 Top Ten R&B hits, the biggest being "Hop, Skip and Jump" (# 3 R&B, 1948), "Information Blues" (# 2 R&B, 1950), and "Best Wishes" (# 2 R&B, 1952). He left Specialty in 1955. However, releases on other labels were unsuccessful, and the development of rock and roll had rendered him something of an anachronism by the middle of the decade.
Nevertheless he continued to perform, appearing in 1970 as a member of Johnny Otis’ band at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and resuming his recording career in the 1970s with albums for Kent Records and the French label Black & Blue.
Milton died in 1983 in Los Angeles.
From:
Roy Milton - The Real Solid Sender ©1999JCMarion
Milton spent the years of his youth on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma before making his home in Tulsa. He got a job as a singer with a territory band fronted by Ernie Fields. He got the opportunity to play the drums when the band's regular drummer didn't show. Milton moved west to Los Angeles and formed a trio that played clubs in the greater L.A. area in the early nineteen forties.In the year1945 Milton signed a recording contract with a new area independent label called Juke Box Records (soon to be renamed Specialty). The band also filmed three soundies with singer June Richmond. Milton and the band made their first record on his own Roy Milton label (#503) of "Milton's Boogie", and it was followed by a record of a tune called innocently enough, "R.M. Blues" first on the Roy Milton label, then on Juke Box #504 (soon Specialty #504). It was such a huge seller in the summer of 1946 that it established Specialty records as a major producer of the new Rhythm & Blues music on the west coast. Rupe realized the great appeal of Milton and his band and they were a major force in the first few years of the R & B explosion charting twenty times on the charts and becoming one of the biggest acts to tour the United States. Further enhancing the band as a top flight draw was the presence of Camille Howard on piano and vocals and later, Lil Greenwood and Mickey Champion also on vocals.
Milton spent the years of his youth on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma before making his home in Tulsa. He got a job as a singer with a territory band fronted by Ernie Fields. He got the opportunity to play the drums when the band's regular drummer didn't show. Milton moved west to Los Angeles and formed a trio that played clubs in the greater L.A. area in the early nineteen forties.In the year1945 Milton signed a recording contract with a new area independent label called Juke Box Records (soon to be renamed Specialty). The band also filmed three soundies with singer June Richmond. Milton and the band made their first record on his own Roy Milton label (#503) of "Milton's Boogie", and it was followed by a record of a tune called innocently enough, "R.M. Blues" first on the Roy Milton label, then on Juke Box #504 (soon Specialty #504). It was such a huge seller in the summer of 1946 that it established Specialty records as a major producer of the new Rhythm & Blues music on the west coast. Rupe realized the great appeal of Milton and his band and they were a major force in the first few years of the R & B explosion charting twenty times on the charts and becoming one of the biggest acts to tour the United States. Further enhancing the band as a top flight draw was the presence of Camille Howard on piano and vocals and later, Lil Greenwood and Mickey Champion also on vocals.
Milton expanded his original trio in 1945 to a seven piece unit that became known world wide as The Solid Senders. After the huge success of "R.M. Blues" Milton quickly recorded a series of jump and blues numbers for the Juke Box label. "True Blues" and "Camille's Boogie" featuring pianist Howard was #510. "It Should Have Been This Way" and the hit "Red Light" followed on #511. The year 1947 found Specialty Records with a slew of Milton releases - #513 : "Sunny Side Of The Street" / "I'll Always Be In Love With You", #514 : "Blues In My Heart" / "Grooving With Joe", #515 : "Mr. Fine" / "Rainy Day Confessin' Blues", #516 : "Little Boy Blue" and a fine selling version of "Them There Eyes", #517 : "Pack Your Sack Jack" and a hit vocal for Camille Howard on "When I Grow Too Old To Dream", #518 : "Big Fat Mama" and Camille Howard's huge hit recording of "Thrill Me", and #519 : "Roy Rides" / "What's The Use". In mid 1948 Milton records the last two Juke Box originals - #522 - "My Blue Heaven" / "Keep A Dollar In Your Pocket" and #524 - "Train Blues" / "I've had My Moments".
By now in 1948, Camille Howard is recording under her own name and is a a successful recording artist in her own right even as she is part of the Milton unit. #314 - "Everything I Do Is Wrong" and "Hop Skip, And Jump" keep the hits coming for the Milton band. "New Year's Resolution" and "Porter's Love Song" are Specialty # 317. In early 1949 Milton tries his hand on the hit tune "The Hucklebuck" on #328, which is seemingly owned in the R & B field by Paul Williams. Milton follows with another jump hit in "Junior Jumps" and the flip side is "There Is Something Missing". "I'm Wakin' Up Baby" and "Taint Me" on #341 misses, but not so "Information Blues" on #349 which is released late in 1949 and goes over big on the West coast.
Soon after New Year's of 1950, Milton is involved in a serious automobile accident while on a swing to the Pacific Northwest. The accident occurs near Grant's Pass, Oregon and Milton is hospitalized for the better part of a week. At this time Camille Howard lets it be known that she will venture forth on her own as a solo performer leaving the Milton unit after close to five years as an integral part of the band. In February as Milton prepares to resume recording and personal appearances, he announces that Lil Greenwood would replace Howard in the Solid Senders. "Information Blues" continues to be a good seller on the West coast. Milton and the band play at a big bash for KOWL disc jockey Roy Adams. Soon after, Specialty releases "Junior Jives" and "Where There Is No Love" on #358. In June the Gotham Record Company of Philadelphia buys a number of masters from Miltone Records of L.A.including the releases on Roy Milton Records (later Miltone), among them "RM Blues". A big Welcome Home party is given for Milton after the conclusion of the first part of his big coast to coast tour for the year 1950.
In mid 1950 the new line up for the Solid Senders is - Roy Milton-leader and drummer; Eddie Taylor-tenor sax; Jackie Kelso-alto sax; Charles Gillum-trumpet; Jimmy Rogers-guitar; Lawrence Cato-bass; Miss Perry Lee Blackwell-piano; Lil Greenwood-vocals. The record of "Junior Jives" continues to sell big in the South. The Milton crew appears at the big Cavalcade of Jazz at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. They also appear at the benefit concert for the Musicians Relief Fund held at the Barrel House in Watts. "Playboy Boogie" and "Crying And Singing The Blues" are released on Specialty #366 followed by "Bartender's Boogie" and "Sad Feeling" on #372. In November Roy Milton and his band record a cover version of Louis Prima's "Oh Babe" using long distance phone lines from Detroit to L.A. It will be coupled with "Christmas Time Blues" on #381. While in Detroit at the end of the year, Camille Howard decides to rejoin the Solid Senders. Milton also announces a new male vocalist will be part of the unit-he is Freddy Clark from Norfolk, Virginia. The Milton unit closes out the year with one of the most successful tours in R & B history. They end 1950 by engaging in a battle of the bands with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and his crew in a raucous send off to a most historic year.
The first Milton release on 45 rpm on Specialty comes out very early in 1951 - "Bye Bye Baby Blues" and "That's The One For Me" on #386. The Milton band does some shows at the last Word club on Central Avenue in Watts. Roy Milton takes part in the very first all Black radio program for the Mutual Broadcasting System in Los Angeles along with Camille Howard, Jimmy Witherspoon, and m.c. Leonard Reed. In May Milton records "The Numbers Blues" and "It's later Than You Think" on #403. In July, an interesting sounding jump tune is done by Milton and the Solid Senders called the "T-Town Jump" for Specialty #407. The flip side is "I've Got News For You". In October Lil Greenwood records some sides for Specialty as a solo singer with Milton and his band playing backup. "Best Wishes" and "Sweet, Short, and Snappy" is released on #414. The title of Milton's recording on #407 is changed to "T-Town Twist".
In January of 1952, Milton and his band appear with Roy Brown on stage at the Howard Theater in Washington D.C. After that engagement, Milton will appear for a week at New York's Apollo, and then on to the Royal Peacock in Atlanta. In April Specialty releases #429 - "So Tired" / "Thelma Lou". In mid-summer #438 pairs "Night And Day" and "Am I Wasting My Time". In October Roy Milton and his Solid Senders become the first big name Rhythm & Blues performer to do an extensive tour of Europe. Milton will do shows in Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, and end up playing in Paris, France. At the end of the year Specialty #446 is out - "Believe Me Baby" and "Blue Turning Gray".
Beginning in early 1953, Milton takes some time off, until march when #455 is released - "Don't You Remember" and "Someday", and is followed in June with #464 - "Let Me Give You All My Love" and "Early In The Morning". Milton is part of the big Fourth Annual Rhythm And Blues jamboree presented by Gene Norman in Los Angeles. He shares the stage with Johnny Ace, The Robins, Willie Mae Thornton, Linda Hopkins, Marvin Phillips, and old friend and former band mate Camille Howard who is again on her own as a solo performer and now recording for Federal Records. In October Milton and the band take part in the big World Series of the Blues in Oakland, California.
Specialty #480 is released early in 1954 as Milton continues to be a prolific recording artist as well as an in person performer. "I Stood By" and "Baby Don't You Know" is his latest. In April #489 contains "Make Me Know It" and the rollicking "A Bird In The Hand". In May the Milton band plays the Royal Room in L.A. with new female vocalist Mickey Champion. A tour of Texas and Louisiana is set up for the month of May. At this time #526 - "It's Too Late" and "Gonna Leave You Baby" is released and the record sells well especially "Gonna Leave You" on the West coast. Getting ready for a summer foray on the West coast from San Diego to Seattle, the Milton aggregation once again teams up with Camille Howard for a big send off at L.A.'s Savoy Ballroom. Also on the tour is Richard Lewis and The Flairs. After the end of this tour the band rests up for about two weeks before another string of one nighters is about to commence. This tour will take in Texas, Oklahoma, and other stops in the Southwest. The Solid Senders with Camille Howard and Mickey Champion will be joined by The Penguins, The Flairs, and Shirley Gunter & The Queens for a well rounded West Coast R & B show. In December Specialty #538 is released - "How Can I Live Without You" and "Tell It Like It Is".
In March of 1955 Roy Milton records "Baby Don't Do That To Me" and "What Can I Do". This is the last record for the label that Milton will do ending an eleven year career where he was the one who began the entire history of the R & B independent giant. In April Milton signs with another Southern California indie, Dootone Records. Label president Dootsie Williams hopes to revive the recording fortunes of Milton which have flagged for the last year and a half. Milton's new version of the Solid Senders features the return of sax player Jackie Kelso famous for his instrumental "Rat-A-Tat". The new band makes its debut at the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles. Dootone releases the first outing by Milton on #363 - "I Can't Go On" and "Fools Are Getting Scarcer". As with the last few records on Specialty, sales are less than adequate but the band is still a good draw on the road as proven out by the reception and business done at The palm in Miami Beach, Florida in May. In June Roy Milton celebrates twenty years in show business with a big party at the 5-4 Ballroom with Camille Howard and Johnny Otis. In July Dootone releases #369 - "You Got Me Reelin' And Rockin'" / "Nothing Left". As the Milton unit continues to do well as an in person draw, the records disappear almost as fast as they are released. Dootone #377 is out at year's end. It pairs "I Want To Go Home" and "I Never Would Have Made It".
In February of 1956 Milton shows the band's continued popularity by pulling in business at Kansas City's Orchid Room. Mickey Champion is signed to Dootone Records as a featured singer with the Milton band. The first Dootone release under his own name is #378 - "Bam-A-Lam " and "I'm A Woman". In June Dootone issues #398 - "Baby I'm Gone" and "Cry Some Baby". In September Milton and his band appear at their favorite home base, L.A.'s 5-4 Ballroom. The attempt to revitalize the recording career of Milton by Dootsie Williams fails and Milton is let go but finds another label when he signs with King Records in Cincinnati in October. At the end of the year King #4993 features Mickey Champion on vocal on "You're Gonna Suffer, Baby" and the flip side "One Zippety Zam".
By early 1957 it is apparent that Roy Milton's appeal as a rock and roller was not to be. The new appeal of the music was to a teenaged audience, and his style of music was out of date. Now and then his presence would become apparent in little ways-his King recording of the instrumental "Succotash" and a remake of "R.M. Blues" in the late 50s were two examples. In the early 60s remakes of "Red Light" and "Milton's Boogie" also let the world know that he was still around and playing classic R & B. In the early 70s his tour with Johnny Otis and Orchestra as a last go around for the historic R & B caravans of the past (captured on record at Monterey) and the Barrel House Reunion (also with Otis) gave everyone a taste of what was his ground breaking presentation of the sound of modern Rhythm & Blues. Roy Milton was one of the true pioneers of the music and one of its very first nationally famous practitioners. Without him and his talented direction and his band, we would be in a far different place than we are today.
And now..........without further ado.......Mr. Roy Milton!!!!
Burma road blues pt 1
Milton's boogie
Big fat mama
Burma road blues pt 2
I'll always be in love with you
Red light
It should never have been this way
Little boy blue
My blue heaven
I've had my moments
Keep a dollar in your pocket
Blue turning grey
Hop, skip and jump
Believe me baby
Everything I do is wrong
Information blues
Am I wasting my time
My sweetheart
Don't you remember baby
Junior jives
Let me give you all my love
The Hucklebuck
I stood by
Playboy blues
A bird in the hand
Cryin' and singin' the blues
Groovin' high
R.M. blues
Fools are gettin' scarcer
Rhythm cocktail
So tired
Them there eyes
Thelma Lou
When I grow too old to dream
SOmeday
Roy rides
Sympathethic blues
T-Town Twist
Where there is no love
Short, sweet and snappy
You got me reelin' and rockin'
There is something missing
http://www.mediafire.com/?1d9km2owt2g52yg
Camille Howard.........schweet stuff, this......... :)
Howard was born in Galveston, Texas. When in California in the 1940s, she became the featured piano player with Roy Milton’s Solid Senders, playing on all their early hits on Juke Box and then Specialty labels, including "R. M. Blues" (1946).
After that record's success, she featured on more of Milton’s records, occasionally as singer. Record label head Art Rupe also began recording her as a solo artiste, with her biggest hit coming with "X-Temporaneous Boogie".
She continued to record successfully in the early 1950s, but the growth of rock and roll and her own religious convictions ended her career.
Howard died in Los Angeles in March 1993.
From: http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/CamilleH.html
Camille Howard was born and raised in the Texas Gulf town of Galveston. She learned music at an early age and for five years in her teens she was a member of a small local group called The Cotton Tavern Trio. After her schooling was completed she looked westward for a greater opportunity in music and became part of a large exodus of top R & B talent who came to Southern California from Texas and Oklahoma in the mid forties. In a short time she joined a small group called the Roy Milton Trio with trumpeter Hosea Sapp and leader and drummer, Milton. In 1945 the group fashioned a huge R & B hit called "The R. M. Blues" and from this point on the newly expanded group (now numbering seven) was known as Roy Milton & His Solid Senders.
The recording of "The R.M. Blues" first on Roy Milton Records (later Miltone) was immediately picked up and reissued on the Juke Box label (soon to become Specialty Records) and the tune was one of the all time big sellers of R & B in the 1940s. Camille stepped out on the instrumental tune "Camille's Boogie" (Juke Box and then on Specialty #510) and the vocal on "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" on Specialty #517. The next release for the band in 1947 featured Camille on vocal on the tune "Thrill Me" as the flip side to "Big Fat Mama", which was a huge seller especially in California. This was the record that made Camille Howard a star in her own right. It was at this time that Specialty president Art Rupe decided to record Camille under her own name and feature tunes tailored for her. The first release was an immediate sensation, a stomping boogie instrumental called "X-Temporaneous Boogie" on # 307. The blues ballad "You Don't Love Me" on the other side of the instrumental was also a good seller in its own right. This was followed by "Going Home Blues" and an interesting treatment called "Baccarolle Boogie" on #309 adding her personal eight to the bar style to classical music themes.Her addition made the Roy Milton unit one of the music's biggest in person attractions during the late 1940s.
During the late forties her recordings continued to sell both with Milton and on her own as part of the Camille Howard Trio as a small group within the Solid Senders. Specialty #318 - "Bump In The Road" and "Sundays With You" was followed by "Instantaneous Boogie" and "The Mood That I'm In". Another big seller for Howard was 1949's "Fiesta In Old Mexico" / "Miraculous Boogie" on #332. Now advertised as "The Boogie Rhythm Girl", she announces that she will leave the Milton unit and perform on her own. Soon her first record out in the year 1950 is "Within This Heart Of Mine" and "O Solo Mio Boogie" on Specialty #352. Camille forms her new trio with Winston Williams on bass and Walter Murden on the drums. The first musical gig for the new unit comes in mid February at Los Angeles' Club Oasis where they are well received. A powerful touring unit is formed with the Camille Howard Trio, Jimmy Witherspoon, Little Willie Littlefield, and Joe Liggins & The Honeydrippers. In May of that year, Joel Cowan talented guitarist for the Do-Ray-Me Trio joins Howard making it a foursome. At about the same time Specialty releases the first sides by Camille's own group on #359 - "Ferocious Boogie" and "Maybe It's Best After All".
Gotham Records of Philadelphia buys a number of masters from the defunct Miltone Recoding Company, which includes some recordings by Camille. She is part of a big show in June at the Royal Theater in Baltimore with Jimmy Witherspoon and Bull Moose Jackson & His Buffalo Bearcats. In late summer Camille Howard meets up with Roy Milton at the big Blues & Rhythm Cavalcade in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium. Also on the bill are Dinah Washington, PeeWee Crayton, Helen Humes, Joe Lutcher and many others. In August Specialty releases "Fire Ball Boogie" and "I'm Blue" on #370. A new seven piece combo now backs up Camille with the addition of Vernon Smith on trumpet, John Randolph on tenor sax, and Earl Jackson on alto sax. Jackson also moonlights with his own quintet.
In a surprising development, Camille Howard rejoins the Roy Milton Solid Senders unit in November after most of the year on her own. She travels to Detroit and becomes part of the group there. In December the Milton unit ends its tour of the country, the most successful one in its history and one of the biggest tours in the history of R & B music. The unit now includes Milton, Howard, and vocalist Lil Greenwood as featured performers. At the end of the year, Specialty releases #378 "I Ain't Got The Spirit" and "Shrinking Up Front" under Camille Howard's name.
The following year finds Howard back as part of the Milton recording and touring unit. In March of 1951 Specialty releases #386 as by Camille Howard with Roy Milton & His Solid Senders - "That's The One For Me" and "Bye Bye Baby Blues". In May #401 is released as by Camille Howard & Her Boyfriends - "Money Blues" and Easy". During July Camille becomes part of the very first all Black radio network program for the Mutual Broadcasting System. It is a musical revue and Howard performs with the Roy Milton band. "Bagging The Boogie" and "Schubert's Serenade Boogie" (returning to a theme used back on "Baccarolle Boogie") is issued on Specialty #404. Late in the year "Money Blues" is still a steady seller especially in the East and Northeast. The last record of the year is Specialty #417 - "Please Don't Stay Away So Long" and "Million Dollar Boogie".
Camille Howard begins 1952 with Milton at the Apollo Theater in New York. The unit will move to the Howard Theater in Washington D.C., and then an extensive tour of one nighters throughout the South. In July Specialty issues #433 - "Old Baldy Boogie" and "Song Of India Boogie". Late in the year Camille tries for a return shot with a remake of "X-Temporaneous Boogie" and a continuation of her exploration of classical themes converted into modern rhythms with "Baccarolle Boogie" on Specialty #449 (from original Specialty #307 and #309). After a long tenure for Art Rupe, Camille leaves Specialty Records in March of 1953 and is signed by Federal Records of Cincinnati. Her first release for the Federal label is #12125 - "I'm So Confused" and "Excite Me Daddy" in April. Two months later Federal tries again with #12134 - "Hurry Back Baby" and "I Tried To Tell You". The records may not be selling very well for Howard but her name is still a selling point as she appears at the Fourth Annual Rhythm & Blues Jamboree presented by Gene Norman in Los Angeles during the summer. Camille joins Roy Milton, Johnny Ace, Helen Humes, The Robins, Willie Mae Thornton, and others. In October Howard takes part in another huge revue of R & B talent, the World Series of the Blues in Oakland. At this time Federal #12147 - "Losing Your Mind" and the put down tune "You're Lower Than A Mole" is released.
In 1954 Camille Howard continues to perform with the Roy Milton band which now also features Mickey Champion. They do a series of one nighters and featured appearances on the West coast. After that the band will tour Texas and the Southwest during the middle part of the year. In June of 1955 Howard takes part in a celebration party held for Roy Milton's twenty years in show business. In 1956 Camille is back as a solo performer and is touring with a unit that includes Roy Brown, Little Willie John, The 5 Royales, and Joe Tex. She is part of the bill at Cleveland's Rock & Roll caravan in April with many of the stars from the touring unit. In May Camille signs with the Vee-Jay label. Camille plays to enthusiastic audiences at Detroit's Flame Show Bar. The news is that Camille will soon open her own night club in Los Angeles. After a decade of performing Camille Howard has become one of the true founders of the music now known as Rock and Roll which will dominate the world's stage from that time on. All who follow owe her a debt of gratitude for leading the way and starting the fire.
Here's a few for ya:
The boogie and the blues
You don't love me 1948
You used to be mine 1948
Unidentified boogie #1
Has your love grown cold 1948
The mood I'm in 1949
Gotta have a little lovin'
How long can I go on like this
Cry over you
O sole mio boogie 1950
Within this heart of mine 1950
I'm blue 1950
Rock me daddy
Broken memories (sad and blue)
X-temporaneous boogie 1952
I ain't got the spirit 1950
Shrinking up fast
Easy 1951
Money blues 1951
Schubert's serenade boogie 1951
You lied to me baby
Try try again
Real gone daddy
Unidentified boogie #2
Old baby boogie 1952
Song of India boogie 1952
http://www.mediafire.com/?090gcu0mbo1uuc3
A few Cajun requests for Mr. Anchovy......... :)
You may have some of these, but here are some selections by both Aldus Roger, Lawrence Walker, and one by the Balfa Bros. that I have:
Lawrence Walker-'Tit Yeux Noirs
Lawrence Walker-Mamou two step
Aldus Roger-KLFY waltz
The Balfa Brothers-La Danse de Mardi Gras (funny, I had a copy of that because a friend taught me that tune on the fiddle years ago...lol)
Doc Guidry & Lawrence Walker-Crowlwy two step
Aldus Roger-One more chance
Aldus Roger-Creole stomp
Lawrence Walker-Chére Alice
Aldus Roger-Lafayette two step
Aldus Roger-Johnny can't dance
Aldus Roger-Diga ding ding dong
Aldus Roger-Grand Texas
Aldus Roger-One scotch one bourbon one beer
Lawrence Walker-La valse de Reno
Aldus Roger-What will I do
Aldus Roger-Perrodin Two Step
Aldus Roger-Wafus two step
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Helen Shapiro!
Helen Shapiro
By Jim Dawson
British vocalist Helen Shapiro keenly remembers opening the pages of Melody Maker on a tour bus in February 1963 and being greeted by the headline: "Is Helen Shapiro a 'Has-Been' at 16?"
"I was still getting in the charts, but not necessarily the top five, or even the top ten," she wrote in her 1993 autobiography, Walking Back to Happiness. "I'd been a novelty at fourteen but I suffered from the Shirley Temple syndrome. I'd grown up. Suddenly I was beginning to look a little bit passe in spite of topping the bill."
A member of one of the opening bands leaned over her seat to assure her, "You don't want to be bothered with that rubbish. You're all right. You'll be going on for years."
John Lennon's words were comforting, but that moment was a milestone for her, "the beginning of change; not just for me but for a lot of solo singers."
Indeed, the rest of 1963 was a series of missed opportunites for Helen Shapiro. Her management didn't let her record "Misery," the song that John Lennon and Paul McCartney had written for her. Her record company, Columbia, didn't release "It's My Party," the song she recorded in America before Leslie Gore got hold of it. And the burgeoning "beat group" revolution, spearheaded by the Beatles (whose "Please, Please Me," went to No. 1 on February 23, just days after they left the Helen Shapiro tour), made her irrelevant. She would continue to make good records for the next several years, but her time on the charts was nearly over. She was, in fact, a has-been at sixteen. But John Lennon was right about one thing. Helen would continue to go on for years, as a stage actress, blues singer, jazz chanteuse, gospel artist, and pop music echo from the '60s.
Helen Shapiro was born September 28, 1946, in the East End of London, the granddaughter of Polish Jewish immigrants. Her parents, piece-workers in the garment industry, were too poor to own a record player, but they encouraged music at home. Helen grew up playing banjo and singing at neighborhood get-togethers. She sang with her older brother's high school jazz combo when he allowed it, and performed Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly songs in a junior high school rock 'n' roll band with fellow student Mark Feld, who would later become Marc Bolan of T-Rex. Nobody failed to notice that Helen had a deep, unusual voice for a girl not yet in her teens. Schoolmates dubbed her "Foghorn," a sobriquet that would later dog her when music critics needed to describe her in a word.
At thirteen, Helen became a pupil of respected voice coach Maurice Burman, whose connections eventually led her to a young Columbia Records A&R man named John Schroeder. Schroeder recorded a demo of Helen singing "Birth of the Blues" and played the tape for his boss, Norrie Paramor, who was already producing rock 'n' roll hits for Cliff Richard and Gene Vincent. Paramor's first question was, "Who's the boy?" Apprised that she was a 14-year-old girl named Helen Shapiro, Paramor, mindful of public bias against Jewish entertainers, reputedly said, "Shapiro? We'll have to change that." But Helen disputes that account, claiming that "Norrie thought it sounded distinctive and pointed out that most people wouldn't know about [Shapiro] being Jewish." In any event, for better or worse, her name would remain unchanged.
As soon as he met the dark-eyed, teenage Cockney with the preternatural voice, Paramor envisioned her as a pop singer like Connie Francis and began grooming her accordingly. She already wore her auburn hair in a bouffant--"held in place with tons of lacquer," she later said--so Paramor completed her wholesome, ultra-feminine image by decreeing a wardrobe of petticoats and gingham dresses. Rather than simply have her cover American hits like so many other female British artists, John Schoeder teamed with Mike Hawker to write original material for her, beginning with a mild protest song called "Don't Treat Me Like a Child." Helen recorded it at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in January 1961. When she received a white-label promotional record a week later, she ran to a neighboring tenement to hear it for the first time, because her parents still didn't own a record player. As the single ascended to No. 3 on the charts, she bought them one.
Barely adolescent girls were hot in England in early 1961. Hayley Mills, just a few months older than Helen, was a popular singing actress whose "Let's Get Together" turned out to be one of the year's big hits. But Helen's main competition was American singer Brenda Lee, "Little Miss Dynamite," who had been having hits in Great Britian since early 1960. Like Brenda Lee, Helen had a surprisingly big voice to go with her surprisingly big hair. What set them apart, however, was that Brenda Lee was cute and precocious, with a nasal twang, whereas Helen Shapiro was an almost otherworldly beauty who sounded like a, well, a foghorn. The only female singer vocally comparable to her was another American currently on the British charts, Timi Yuro.
Helen's next two singles, "You Don't Know" and "Walking Back to Happiness, both went to No. 1 for a total of seven weeks and made her England's top recording star, but already she was beginning to chafe under Paramor's artistic direction. Though "Walking Back to Happiness" was her biggest hit ever, she disliked the corny arrangement of strings and "yeah-yeah" female accompaniment. She preferred the bluesy "You Don't Know," one of her favorites even today, because it displayed her ability to create a bittersweet mood that belied her youth. Paramor came up with a company plan to mollify his prize talent and appeal to different markets at the same time. Helen's singles would be well-crafted pop tunes with a beat, written exclusively for her. On the other hand, a couple of EPs would showcase the teenager's amazing ease with jazz songs and standards, such as "The Birth of the Blues" and "Blues in the Night." And on her first album, 'Tops' With Me (as well as on her 1964 Helen Hits Out LP), she would sing remakes of American rock 'n' roll hits, including Brenda Lee's "Sweet Nothin's" and Connie Francis' "Lipstick on Your Collar." Interestingly, none of Helen's 1961-62 hits appeared on LP until her fifth album, a 1965 "best of" package.
Helen Shapiro won many of England's top music awards and her first eight singles charted. She also starred in a 1962 film called It's Trad, Dad! (released in America as Ring-A-Ding Rhythm), written and produced by Hollywood hack Milton Subotsky, who had created the 1956 Alan Freed film Rock, Rock, Rock; and subversively directed by Richard Lester, who would use It's Trad, Dad! to practice his surreal japes for A Hard Day's Night two years later. Helen also performed two songs in Play It Cool, starring Billy Fury. But her recording career was beginning to cool off. In February 1963, after wrapping up her tour with the Beatles, she flew to America to record her third (and best) album, Helen in Nashville, with help from the Jordanaires. Columbia decided to release two of these Nashville tracks on her next single. The A-side was a Buddy Holly-esque number called "Woe Is Me," written by Americans Sharon Sheeley and Jackie DeShannon. The B-side was a bluesy song from one of Timi Yuro's writers, Joy Byers, called "I Walked Right In," with a simple arrangement based on Ketty Lester's "Love Letters Straight From Your Heart." It remains one of Helen's more powerful performances. But the single was only a modest hit. By the time Columbia was ready to release a follow-up, "It's My Party," also from the Nashville album, Leslie Gore's version of the song was already booming up the American and U.K. charts, so the company replaced it with "Not Responsible," a catchy rocker which nonetheless turned out to be Helen's first non-charting single.
The writing was on the wall in October when she lipsynched her next single, "Look Who It Is," to a mugging John Lennon, sheepish Ringo Starr and playful George Harrison on BBC-TV's Ready, Steady, Go! Despite such prime exposure with three of the Fab Four, the record reached only No. 47. Turning seventeen, Helen had become a prepossessing young woman, which was all well and good, but to her fiercest fan base--girls near her own age--she was now a rival instead of a surrogate girlfriend, and like so many other traditional pop artists she was swept aside by Beatlemania.
The irony is that as good as she had been during her hit-making years--excusing some of the lightweight musical arrangements and her own brief infatuation with Bobby Darin's annoying vocal affectations--Helen Shapiro's later singles were sometimes stunningly good. On the rousing "Look Over Your Shoulder" (1964), which sounded like a Brill Building gem from Leiber and Stoller, she was all confidence and vocal power. Its flipside, the guitar-driven "You Won't Come Home," was a blueprint for everything Chrissie Hynde would record twenty years later. (One person I played it for thought Helen was Chrissie Hynde.) On "I Wish I'd Never Loved You" (1964) and Joy Byers' "Just a Line" (1965), Helen crooned with cool, understated drama. On "Here in Your Arms" (1965), written for her by Tom Springfield, Helen was as smoky and seductive as Springfield's sister Dusty (who, after getting her first hits with ex-Shapiro songwriter Mike Hawker, would follow Helen's Tennessee pilgrimmage in 1968 for her own Dusty in Memphis album). Even on "In My Calendar" (1966), a baroque flower-power song dressed up with trumpets and a harpsichord, she chanted in a choirgirl contralto that could break your heart. Some of her other great recordings include "He Knows How to Love Me" (1964), "Without Your Love" (1964), "Remember Me" (1964) and "A Glass of Wine" (1969, for Pye Records), as well as her remakes of "Fever" (her last charting single), "Walk on By" and "All Alone Am I"--all from 1964. Though she lacked the vocal elasticity of fellow British pop singer Glenda Collins on hard rocking material, Helen could deliver ballads so soulfully that some of her mid- to late-'60s recordings, especially her final Columbia single, "Stop and You Will Become Aware" (1967), are now prized by England's "Northern Soul" collectors.
Despite Helen Shapiro's chart success all over the world, she never clicked in the United States. Columbia's parent company, EMI, made a deal with Capitol Records in 1961 to release her music in North America, and Helen flew to New York to introduce herself on The Ed Sullivan Show, but her multi-million-seller, "Walking Back to Happiness," hit the outer wall of the U.S. charts, at No. 100, in December 1961, and was gone a week later. Capitol gave up after four releases. Two 1962 singles on Epic Records and a later single on Tower Records likewise went nowhere.
Helen Shapiro continued as a popular performer, starring in a couple of West End stage productions of Oliver! and Cabaret, touring and recording with jazz bands, and eventually moving into gospel music after she became a Jew for Jesus in the late 1980s. Unfortunately, her later recordings lacked the magic of her best pop material and her maturing contralto voice lost some of its resonance. A couple of pop albums in 1978 and 1983 suffered from disco-flavored arrangements and the enervating presence of synthesizers. And despite the excellence of her early, teenage jazz performances, such as "Teenager Sings the Blues" and "St. Louis Blues" (both 1961), her two 1980s jazz albums were more slick than soulful, with Duke Ellington's "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me" perhaps the exception. In late 2003 she finished her much-publicized "farewell tour" throughout the U.K. and Europe, performing a mix of pop, jazz and gospel concerts at mid-level venues. She currently restricts herself to performing gospel music, though a jazz album is reportedly in the works. We can only hope that someday she'll do another pop album with a savvy producer (no "keyboards," please) and a cache of great songs (maybe she should finally get around to recording "Misery"). But no matter where she goes from here, Helen Shapiro will always be an iconic figure who, like Buddy Holly, visually and musically sums up, and summons up, a distinctive time and place.
(An abridged version of this article ran in the August 23, 2002, edition of Goldmine magazine.)
One of my favourite pop voices as a kid.........yeah, some of us liked her in the USA...lol. It was fun listening to all of this again and posting it :) enjoy!
Don't treat me like a child
You dont know me
Walkin' back to happiness
Tell me what he said
Let's talk about love
Little Miss Lonely
Keep away from other girls
Queen for tonight
Woe is me
Look who it is
Fever
Look over your shoulder
Tomorrow is another day
Shop around
I wish I'd never loved you
When I'm with you
Marvelous lie
Kiss 'n run
I apologize
Sometime yesterday
I don't care
Cry my heart out
Daddy couldn't get me one of those
Walking in my dreams
Old Father Time
He knows how to love me
I walked right in (with my eyes open)
You won't come home
I was only kidding
It's so funny I could cry
http://www.mediafire.com/?n10i86j8omqqfo9
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Tuesday afternoon swingin'................Jimmie Lunceford!!
Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford will long be remembered as the leader of a swinging big band that rivaled on record, and exceeded in person, the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. His band differed from many of the other big bands of the 1930s and 1940s in that Lunceford's group was noted less for its soloists than for its ensemble work. Furthermore, most bands of the period used a four-beat rhythm while the Lunceford Ork developed a distinctive two-beat swing often played at medium tempo. The unique sound became known during the Swing era as the Lunceford two-beat.
Jimmie Lunceford's music education included studying under Wilberforce J. Whiteman, the father of Paul Whiteman. His scholastic education included receiving a BA from Fisk University and later attending New York City College. Although Lunceford became proficient on all reed instruments he preferred the alto saxophone.
Jimmie Lunceford recruited the nucleus of his band while an athletic instructor at Manassas High School in Memphis, Tennessee. It was here, in 1927, that he organized a student jazz band called the Chicksaw Syncopators. The personnel of this band included Moses Allen (bass) and Jimmy Crawford (drums). Later, Willie Smith (alto) and Eddie Wilcox (piano) were added. The group turned professional in 1929, waxing its first recordings for RCA in 1930. After playing for several years in Cleveland and Buffalo, in 1934, the band began a high profile engagement at the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. At first the band played flashy, stiff instrumentals in the early Casa Loma orchestra manner such as two hot recordings made the same year, Jazznocracy and White Heat, with arrangements by Will Hudson.
While Wilcox and Smith both contributed early arrangements, it was the addition of ace arranger and trumpet man Sy Oliver that gave the Lunceford band its distinguished two-beat sound. Paul Webster on trumpet, Eddie Durham and later Trummy Young on trombone, and vocalist Dan Grissom were also important mid 1930s additions to the Lunceford band. By 1935 the group, then called Jimmie Lunceford's Orchestra, had achieved a national reputation as one of the top black swing bands.
The Jimmie Lunceford big band during the Swing era was widely known and other bands often imitated its showmanship and appearance. Lunceford rehearsed his outfit endlessly. The polish of the band is evident on record by its flawless ensemble work. Further adding to the appeal of the band were the vocals by several of Lunceford's men. Jimmie's boys whispered, wheedled, cozened, rather than sang. Oliver and Smith, Joe Thomas and later Trummy Young all sang with the band often in trio unison. Unseen, is the choreography of the group's musicians in performance. Of particular delight to fans who saw the band in person was the spectacle of members of the trumpet section tossing their horns high into the air and catching them on the beat. In 1935 a long list of superb Decca two-beat recordings associated with Lunceford's name but written by Sy Oliver began; For Dancers Only, Margie, 'Posin, Slumming On Park Avenue, My Blue Heaven, Organ Grinders Swing etc. are still great listens today. Unfortunately, based on the merits of his band's recordings, Lunceford may never receive his just due as a leader simply because his group's superb showmanship is lost on record.
Although his orchestra-leading career nowhere near paralleled in longevity that of Basie or Ellington, for a time from 1935 until Sy Oliver left his band to work for Tommy Dorsey in 1939, the Lunceford band was one of the most popular in the land. The distinctive Lunceford style, generally identified with Sy Oliver although many other arrangers contributed to the bands vast book, influenced many bandleaders and arrangers right up to the 1950's. Glenn Miller was influenced by the Lunceford unit's showmanship, and Tommy Dorsey, after Sy Oliver joined his band, borrowed much from the Lunceford tradition. Many albums described as tributes to Lunceford have been recorded including those by Sy Oliver, George Williams, Billy May and others.
When Sy Oliver left the band in 1939, Bill Moore Jr. showed up and left a vital impression on the band's books with his Belgium Stomp, Monotony In Four Flats, and I Got It. In 1941 the addition of trumpet man Snooky Young and some fine arrangements by Gerald Wilson further heightened the band's recorded output.
In 1942 Tadd Dameron arranged for the orchestra but the band began to have internal problems. The issues of the band were mainly monetary, precipitated by Lunceford's refusal to pay his players a wage on par with that of other successful bands. Lunceford himself wanted for nothing and was reputed to have a lavish lifestyle which was readily apparent to all of his sidemen. In May of 1942 Lunceford fired many of his key musicians, and alto man Willie Smith soon left as well, leaving a huge void in the band.
By the time the recording ban ended a mass exodus from the group had occurred. Nevertheless, Jimmie Lunceford was still a popular bandleader in 1947 when he suddenly collapsed and died while signing autographs after an engagement in Oregon. Rumors soon surfaced (including those printed in DownBeat magazine) that a racist restaurant owner, who had a strong aversion about feeding the Lunceford band, actually poisoned the bandleader.
After Lunceford's death, pianist/arranger Ed Wilcox and Joe Thomas tried to keep the orchestra together but in 1949 the band permanently broke up.
Soooo.......let's swing on a Tuesday!!
Hell's bells
Whatcha know Joe
Oh, gee, oh, gosh
For dancer's only
I'm nuts about screwy music
I passed through Memphis last night
'Posin
You ain't nowhere
Since my best gal turned me down
The melody man
I'm gonna move to the Outskirts
Honey keep your mind on me
Jealous
Organ grinder's swing
I'm gonna move to the outskirts of town (vers 2)
I've got the Carolina blues
On the beach at ball ball
Pigeon walk
I need a lift
Blue prelude
Like a ship at sea
Living from day to day
Shake your head (from side to side)
Keep smilin', Keep laughin', be happy
Sleepy time gal
Tain't good (like a nickle made of wood)
Teasin' Tessie Brown
I dream a lot about you
Annie Laurie
Bird of paradise
Muddy water (a Mississippi moan)
Cement mixer
Easy street
Frisco fog
Rhapsody Junior
Back door stuff pt1
Harlem shout
Runnin' wild
(this is) My last affair
Chocolate
(If I had) Rhythm in my nursery rhymes
I'm laughing up my sleeve
The "Jimmies"
Babs
Count me out
Flamingo
I'll see you in my dreams
My Melancholy baby
Swanee river
Them who has gets
Buzz buzz buzz
Margie
By the river Sainte Marie
Rainin'
Shut out (close out)
Yard dog Mazurka
Cheatin' on me
Water faucet
Hittin' the bottle
Le jazz hot
Raggin' the scale
Time's a-wastin'
It had to be you
http://www.mediafire.com/?j0irv53chh0ou8f
Chillun get up
My blue heaven
I'm losing my mind (because of you)
Red wagon
Solitude
Life is fine
Rain
The best things in life are free
Please say the word
The first time I saw you
Where's the melody
Okay for baby
Flight of the jitterbug
Put on your old grey bonnet
Rhythm is our business
Strictly instrumental
Blue afterglow
I'm walking through heaven
Me and the moon
Knock me a kiss
Twenty four robbers
What to do
I had a premonition
Battle axe
I can't escape from you
Just once too often
Peace and love for all (Prayers for moderns)
Jay gee
Four or five times
The love nest
Jeep rhythm
Sit back ree-lax
Running a temperature
I'm gonna see my baby
Down by the old mill stream
You're always in my dreams
That someone must be you
I'm in a jam with baby
He ain't got rhythm
Siesta at the fiesta
Sweet Sue, just you
Thunder
Gone
Liinger awhile
Oh, boy
This is my confession to you
(you take the East, take the West, take the North) I'll take the South
Hi Spook
Honest and truely
Tain't what you do (it's the way that you do it)
Avalon
Slumming on Park Avenue
Call the police
The honeydripper
Charmaine
Coquette
Impromptu
Blues in the night pt 1
The merry-go-round broke
One O'clock jump
Blues ion the night pt 2
Baby are you kiddin'?
I'll take the South vers 2
http://www.mediafire.com/?gc6hmi5jrcjmiph
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)