|
Scorpio wish exchange :: 3 )
Scorpio - TOM FOGERTY
TOM FOGERTY
Born Thomas Fogerty, 9 November 1941, Berkeley California
Died 6 September 1990, Scottsdale, Arizona
There were five Fogerty brothers living in the working class suburb of El Cerrito near San Francisco. John was the middle brother born in 1945. He fondly recalls his oldest brother Jim being a great R&B fan and that he grew up listening to many of our SAO favs on local radio. Elvis was king but John wanted to be Carl Perkins, "he was a real musician". His second older brother Tom was also an aspiring musician. His mother had encouraged him to study music and he was proficient with the violin and accordian. He was also a sports star playing halfback for the school until he sustained a leg injury.Times were hard when the Fogerty parents divorced in the 50s with Lucille Fogerty struggling to raise 5 sons, their ages spanning 16 years. She worked full time and studied for a teaching degree and eventually taught handicapped youngsters, quite a woman. She was also a folkie and took her sons to see Pete Seeger and Ramblin Jack Elliot in local Bay area festivals. She was also music al and her boys took turns playing any old guitars lying around the house, John recalls songs like Endless Sleep and Lost Dreams being played. John and Tom eventually paid $5 a month to rent a cheap electric guitar, Tom got into the blues during this period (his leg being in a cast from his football injury). He played football again later but music had him in its grip.
Tom. began sitting in with brother John's group the Blue Velvets, which already included future Creedence Clearwater Revival members Stu Cook and Doug Clifford. The Velvets set would've included instros by Duane Eddy, Johnny & the Hurricanes, Ventures, r&b by Ray Charles and Howlin' Wolf and songs like Hully Gully and Annie Had A Baby. Although Tom's band, the incredulously named Spider Webb & the Insects got as far as getting a contract with Del-Fi Records, recording a demo of Lyda Jane but nothing came out before they broke up in the winter of 1959. Tom sang songs like Do You Wanna Dance. John Stu and Doug had backed local black singer James Richmond on a doo wop song called Beverly Angel, released on Christy Records. The Blue Velvets began backing Fogerty at demo sessions and live performances, and Tom eventually joined them as billed lead singer (they sent demos out to people like Pat Boone but the songs all came back rejected).Under that name, they cut three very obscure singles for the small Orchestra label, owned by Wayne Farlow, in 1961 and 1962, one was Come On Baby/ Oh My Love composed by Tom and John. then Have You Ever Been Lonely /Bonita. Local dj Casey Kasem played it several times but it wasn't a hit.Neither was Yes You Did/ Now You're Not Mine. Tom had married Gail his high school sweetheart. and worked for a local utility company, they soon had two kids to feed as well.
In 63 the younger band members had graduated high school and had local jobs in gas stations, as janitors and truck drivers (who ever heard of a truck driver making it in the music biz??). Stu and Doug went to college and the band played most weekends and holidays.They saw a documentary on tv called Anatomy of A Hit, about jazz pianisy Vince Guaraldi's top 30 hit Cast Your Fate To The Wind. To their astonishment they saw the single was recorded locally, so the Blue Velvets and their early 45s and demos travelled across the bay to Frisco's Treat Avenue office. Aware on Beatlemania sweeping the nation the men in suits signed the aspiring rockers to jazz label Fantasy Records, the group's name was changed (against their wishes) by label boss Max Weiss to the Golliwogs, there's an incredible promo photo of the band in Golli uniforms and white afro Golli wigs, wonder why they never made the big time? The Golliwogs recorded half a dozen singles in the mid-'60s. At this time Tom's role in the band was far more visible than it would be in CCR. He shared lead vocals with John (in fact, Tom took all of the lead vocals on the first three singles), and the Fogerty brothers co-wrote most of theGolliwogs singles. John worked as a shipping clerk in the Fantasy office. These 45s (eventually assembled on the Fantasy LP Pre Creedence) were extremely derivative of the British Invasion and other R&B and rock trends of the day, with few hints of the swampy roots rock that would characterize CCR. Only Brown Eyed Girl (not the Van Morrison song) sold a few thousand locally. Even by the end of the Golli days, it was becoming obvious that John was much the more vital singer and songwriter. Saul Zaentz (future nemesis of John) bought Fantasy out in 66 and together with the band agreed to find a new name. Tom had a pal whose workmate's name was Credence Nuball, he threw that into the name hat. They added an extra E making it Creedence like a creed, Clearwater came from a beer commercial, reminding them of purity and Revival like a spoof old time revival show, and for John a revival in roots rocking. An antidote to the other Bay area psychedlic caterwaulings. They played an xmas eve gig in 67 as CCR
John went to college but in 66 Uncle Sam knocked, Doug and John became reservists in the Coast Guard and Army respectively. John married and had a child. By the time they started releasing material under the name Creedence in 1968, John was firmly in control of the band's musical direction. He wrote Porterville in the army and it became CCR's first 45 in early 68, written under the alias T Spicebush Swallowtail, it flopped but follow up Susie-Q reached number 11 in Billboard and I Put A Spell On You made 52 before swamp gem Proud Mary hit number 2 spawning later covers from their heroes Elvis and Ike & Tina! Sunalike Bad Moon Rising and Green River all hit the 2 spot, Down On The Corner reached 3, Little Richard inspired Travellin' Band hit 2, Up Around The Bend 4, Lookin' Out My Back Door hit 2 making CCR one of the world's biggest bands between 68 and 71. In the UK my 6/8d helped put the great Memphis sounding Bad Moon Rising on Liberty at number one. Debut lp CCR reached a respectable 52 in '68, whilst Bayou Country, Willy & the Poor Boys and Pendelum reached the top 10. Green River and Cosmo's Factory (with Ooby Dooby, My Baby Left Me and Before You Accuse Me on it) reached number one. The band played Woodstock, perfectionist John vetoed the band being in the film, costing the band big bucks when the film and triple album were mega hits.
Only one Tom Fogerty composition, "Walk on the Water" (which had actually first been recorded by the Gollis in 1966), would appear on a CCR album, credited to both John and Tom under the joint composition agreement that held in the Golli days. In early 1971, after five LPs and more than a half-dozen huge hit singles, Tom left the band, fed up of playing rhythm guitar frustrated by the lack of opportunity to sing and contribute his own material. No doubt a teeny bit jealous of his younger sibling's place as Mr CCR too. The group would continue for a trio for one final album before disbanding leading to years of biterness and acrimony.When the band were elected to the RnR HOF, John only agreed to appear on the final star jam if his former band mates were left out.
In subsequent years, Tom would often complain that his contributions to the early days of CCR were overlooked, particularly as it had been he who had sung lead on most of their recordings prior to 1966; he who wrote material with John in the Golli days; and he who took care of much of the business end of the band in the pre CCR era. That all may be true, and it may be that John did not go out of way his way to give his brother credit for this. But the hard truth is that the group would have never gotten anywhere if John had not stepped forward with his songs, voice, and guitar playing; they would have been just another garage and bar band. This would be emphasized, perhaps unintentionally, by the results of Tom Fogerty's solo career.
Fogerty signed with Fantasy as a solo artist and nearly made the Top 100 with his debut single, 1971's "Goodbye Media Man." His first album, 1972's self-titled Tom Fogerty was the only one of his LPs to chart, topping out at number 78. More important to note than his meagre chart performance, however, is the meagre musical value of the solo recordings themselves. While at least not blatant attempts to copy CCR they were unexceptional, pedestrian rock . As a singer, Tom didn't sound much like his brother; actually, the problem was that he didn't sound like anyone in particular, his lack of vocal power and personality suggesting he was ill-suited for fronting a band or launching a solo career in the first place. Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders played on some of Fogerty's sessions, and Stu & Doug of CCR were the rhythm section on his 1973 album Zephyr National which also had some contributions from John. A single from the album, "Joyful Resurrection," strongly echoed the vintage CCR sound and, perhaps not coincidentally, was Tom Fogerty's best solo track.
Fogerty continued to record, to little sales or public acclaim, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The other 3 former CCR members became increasingly estranged from John in disputes over use of the CCR catalog and John's feuds with Fantasy Records and their former financial advisers when the CCR monies vanished in an off shore bank scam. By re-signing with Fantasy in the early '80s (he had left for a couple of albums on PBR in the late '70s), Tom further alienated John although all four band members managed to set aside their grievances and play together one last time at Tom's wedding in 1980. The brothers, sadly, grew further apart over the course of the 1980s before Tom died in 1990 of AIDS, believed by his family to have resulted from blood transfusions he received during operations for back trouble.
Recommended Reading:
Bad Moon Rising - the unoffical history of CCR by Hank Bodowitz.
The most depressing read about one of my all time heroes John Fogerty. Makes Phil & Don's or Lennon & McCartney's bitterness seem like the Disney channel. The wife of one CCR member calls their story the saddest in r'n'r and this book pulls no punches.
AMG guide
Recommended listening:
The early Creedence albums when they were a quartet.
CCR/Bayou Country/Green River/Willy & the Poorboys/Cosmo's Factory and with reservations Pendulum
Make sure you get these on the recentish digipak format, sound crisper than earlier reissues.
Both volumes of Chronicle released via Ace are also recommended.
I'm not a fan of the Golliwogs stuff but it also is available, best bought on the Complete CCR box set where you can listen to the good stuff as well. I bought Tom's debut solo album when it came out, it was so disappointing that I never checked out the rest of his stuff afterwards. Mind you if John had released Hoodoo or Eye Of The Zombie first I would have deserted him too!
 Saturday, February 21, 2004 at 23:13 |
|
Scorpio wish exchange :: 2 )
Scorpio - SANTO FARINA
SANTO FARINA
Born 24 October 1937, Brooklyn, New York City, New York Santo Farina is one half of the guitar duo Santo and Johnny, who had a huge instrumental hit with "Sleepwalk" in 1959. As a boy Santo listened frequently to the "Hometown Frolics," a country radio show. Through that association he came to love the sound of the steel guitar by the time he was a teen. Santo convinced a neighbourhood music store to modify an acoustic guitar to allow him to play it like a steel. Santo was mesmerized with the sounds he could produce on his new guitar and practiced day and night. Within two years, he was performing for amateur shows on a new Gibson six-string steel guitar. Soon after, he acquired a steel guitar teacher who had learned the art in Hawaii. When his younger brother Johnny Farina (born 30 April 1941, Brooklyn), reached the age of twelve, Santo started teaching him how to play accompaniment on a standard electric guitar. The brothers formed a duo and were popular in school, where they played for dances and parties. With the help of their sister, Ann Farina, they wrote "Sleepwalk" in 1959 and recorded it at Trinity Music in Manhattan. The disc was leased to Canadian- American Records (a label started in February 1959 by Gene Orndorf of Minot, North Dakota) and in August 1959 it reached the # 1 spot on the pop charts. Fred Bronson's "Billboard Book of Number One Hits" says : "Producer : Not known", but I read somewhere on the Web that the producer was in fact Mort Garson. Some of you may remember Garson for the rockin' instrumental "Shoo Bird" (MGM, 1960), one of the first records I bought. (It was released in Holland, but not in the UK.) In the UK, "Sleep Walk" went no higher than # 22, on Pye International. "Sleep Walk" was followed with five lesser entries on the charts from 1959 to 1964, the most successful of which was the immediate follow-up, "Tear Drop" (# 23). However, my personal favourite is "Twistin' Bells", a rocked-up version of "Jingle Bells", which peaked at # 49 around Christmas 1960. Their fame spread to other countries and they were booked on tours of Australia, Mexico and Europe. In the US, their record sales began to wane by 1961. They made nine albums for Canadian-American (exactly half of the label's LP output), before the label folded in 1965. The first three of these LP's made the Billboard album charts More popular internationally than at home, Santo and Johnny continued to record well into the following decade, typically landing on little-known Italian labels. The duo finally disbanded in 1976, with Santo continuing on as a solo act. CD: The Best of Santo and Johnny (Stardust, 1997). 23 tracks. Website: http://www.sleep-walk.com/
Saturday, February 21, 2004 at 23:08 |
|
Scorpio wish exchange :: 1 )
Scorpio - PAUL COHEN
PAUL COHEN
Born 10 November 1908, Chicago, Illinois
Died 1 April 1970, Bryan, Texas
Paul Cohen was the first producer to record one of his artists in Nashville. The artist was Red Foley; the year was 1947; the location was the Castle Recording Studio in Nashville's Tulane Hotel. Cohen was the first to recognize the potential that Nashville had as a recording center and one of the men chiefly responsible for Nashville's emergence as country music's recording capital.
He began his career with Columbia but switched to Decca in 1934, where he sold records and scouted talent in the Midwest and New York from his base in Cincinnati. During World War II he gradually took over Decca's hillbilly production from Dave Kapp, and in 1945 he was placed in charge of Decca's Country division. Having broken the ground with the Foley session, he produced Ernest Tubb on his first session in Nashville in September 1947 and two years later, two engineers, Aaron Shelton and Carl Jenkins, opened Castle Studios on the site of the old Tulane Hotel at Eighth Avenue North and Church Street, which became the first recording studio in Nashville. Cohen is remembered for an energetic production style - as much cheerleader as executive - and a knack for spotting new artists and matching them with songs, often published by his own companies. Kitty Wells, Webb Pierce, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, and Bobby Helms were among the new acts signed to Decca during Cohen's tenure, while Tubb, Foley, Jimmie Davis and others continued to have success with the label.
Cohen left Decca's country department early in 1958 (replaced by Owen Bradley some weeks later), first to do pop production for Decca's Coral subsidiary. Soon he launched his own company, Todd Records, and besides signing such acts as Pee Wee King and Dub Dickerson, the label enjoyed a pop hit, "Snap Your Fingers" by Joe Henderson (# 8 in 1962). In 1964 Cohen rejoined his old boss Dave Kapp, as head of Kapp Records' country division in Nashville. In four years at Kapp, Cohen signed and produced Hugh X. Lewis, Cal Smith, Billy Edd Wheeler, and Mel Tillis, among others. Cohen's last major executive position was as head of ABC-Paramount's Nashville office (1968-69), a position he left after being diagnosed with cancer.
Although a man of judgment, he was capable of letting one get away. When Buddy Holly was recording at Owen Bradley's studio, Cohen referred to Holly as the "biggest no talent he had ever worked with." If only all performers were as untalented as Buddy Holly!
As president of the Country Music Association, Cohen was on board when the Country Music Hall of Fame opened on March 31, 1967. In 1976, six years after his death, he was inducted into the Hall himself.
Saturday, February 21, 2004 at 23:00 |
|
Scorpio wish exchange :: 0
)
Scorpio - MORT SHUMAN
MORT SHUMAN
Born Mortimer Shulman, 12 November 1938, Brooklyn, New York City
Died 2 November 1991, London, England
While either on his own, or teamed with songwriting partner Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman has authored some of the most lasting songs in pop music. Born to Jewish immigrant parents, Shuman studied at the New York Conservatory, but felt rejected and alienated by his peers in Brooklyn. Identifying with the Black Community in Harlem, Shuman's true musical education came within the area's raucous r&b clubs, where he soaked up the sounds of Ruth Brown and others.
In 1955 the songwriter met fellow white r&b devotee Doc Pomus and the two took up residence in a small Greenwich Village flat, forming what was to become a very successful songwriting partnership. Pomus was already an experienced song writer (and blues singer) then, but he needed someone to help him to write teenage songs. He showed Mort his songs and said he would take him as an apprentice. For the first six months of their partnership, that's just what Shuman was, an apprentice. He would sit with Doc while the latter worked and once in a while throw in a suggestion of his own.
Together the duo signed on as writers at the Brill Building, working in one of those legendary cubicles with a piano and two chairs. Unlike most other Brill Building writers, they were not contracted to Aldon Music (the publishing company of Don Kirshner and Al Nevins), but to Hill and Range. Their first Top 40 hits came early in 1959: "Plain Jane" by Bobby Darin and "I'm A Man" by Fabian. The latter song was also recorded by Shuman himself, during a visit to the UK, with Joe Brown on guitar ; it came out on Decca. The next song they penned for Fabian was their first Top 10 hit, "Turn Me Loose", soon followed by "A Teenager In Love" by Dion and the Belmonts, which went to # 5. During the next six years, their catalogue was estimated at over 500 songs, in a mixture of styles for a variety of artists. They included "Surrender", "Viva Las Vegas", "Little Sister" and "Kiss Me Quick" (Elvis Presley), "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Sweets For My Sweet" and "This Magic Moment" (the Drifters), "Can't Get Used To Losing You" (Andy Williams), "Suspicion" (Terry Stafford) , "Seven Day Weekend" (Gary "U.S."Bonds) and "Spanish Lace" (Gene McDaniels).
Those early '60s songs represented the zenith of Shuman's creative output ("Save the Last DanceFor Me" alone has been played across the airwaves over 4 million times). After breaking up with Pomus in 1965, Shuman collaborated with several other writers. These included John McFarland for Billy J. Kramer 's UK number 1, "Little Children", Clive Westlake for "Here I Go Again" (the Hollies), ex-pop star Kenny Lynch for "Sha La La La Lee" (Small Faces) and "Love's Just A Broken Heart" (Cilla Black), and producer Jerry Ragavoy for "Piece Of My Heart" (Erma Fanklin) and "Get It While You Can" (Janis Joplin). Subsequently, Shuman moved to Paris, where he occasionally performed his own one-man show, and issued solo albums such as "Amerika" and "Imagine ...", as well as writing several songs for Johnny Halliday. In 1968 Shuman began translating the French lyrics of Belgian composer Jacques Brel. These were recorded by many artists including Dusty Springfield, Scott Walker and Rod McKuen. Together with Eric Blau, he devised, adapted and wrote lyrics for the revue "Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris". Shuman also starred in the piece, which became a world-wide success. He also became a star in his own right in France (and several other European countries, like Holland) when several of his French-language songs became hits.
In October 1989, "Budgie", a musical set in London's Soho district, with Shuman's music and Don Black's lyrics, opened in the West End. It starred former pop star, turned actor and entrepreneur, Adam Faith, and UK soap opera actress, Anita Dobson. The show closed after only three months, losing more than £1,000,000. Shuman wrote several other shows, including "Amadeo, Or How To Get Rid Of It", based on an Ionesco play, a Hong Kong portrayal of Madame Butterfly and a reworking of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill 's opera "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny". None has yet reached the commercial theatre. Shuman died at the age of 52 in a London hospital from complications due to a liver operation.
Further reading: Spencer Leigh, My room has got two windows : the songwriting genius of Doc Pomus. In four parts. Now Dig This 243-246 (June-September 2003).
Saturday, February 21, 2004 at 22:58 |
|
Scorpio wish exchange :: 0
)
Scorpio thought
Thought it was odd that head units read them and changers didn't. I'll put it down to the Scorpio gods frowning upon me for not treating the beast well enough!
First upgrade anyone should make to their cossie. I feel it makes a big difference. Remember to keep the cats for MOTs though people unless your MOT bloke is partial to drink once a year!
Saturday, February 21, 2004 at 22:03 |
|
Scorpio exchange
» Scorpio profiles
» Scorpio stories
» Scorpio dreams
» Scorpio whishes
» Scorpio inspirations
Trade Exchange Swap
» Food exchange
» Home exchange
» Tool exchange
» Jobs exchange
» Knowledge Skills
» Vitalizations
» Travel exchange
» Reciprocal
» CD exchange
» DVD exchange
» eBook exchange
» Trading space
Exchange expose
» Astrology
» Scorpio
» Cooperative
» Self help
Exchange ventures
» Ideas exchange
» Dreams exchange
» Story exchange
» Whish exchange
|
wish exchange - Exchange wishs online
Email
Visit