Ray Price~ "Don't You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me"

Uploaded on Jan 6, 2010

 libbyrose123 

Released on San Antonio Rose Album with Willie Nelson in 1980 and later was included on Album Ray Price's Greatest Hits Volume 2 in 1986.

 Ray Price (born January 12, 1926) is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music.

His more well-known recordings include "Release Me", "Crazy Arms", "Heartaches by the Number", "City Lights", "My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You", "For the Good Times", "Night Life", "I Won't Mention It Again", "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me", and "Danny Boy". He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and—now in his late 80s—continues to record and tour.

Ray Price
Background information
Birth name	Ray Price
Also known as	The Cherokee Cowboy
Born	January 12, 1926 (age 86)
Origin	Perryville, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Country, Western swing
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, guitarist
Years active	1948–present
Associated acts	Johnny Bush, Merle Haggard, Rosetta Tharpe, Harlan Howard, George Jones, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck

 

Biography

1940s–50s success

Price, born in Perryville, Texas, served with the U.S. Marines from 1944–1946, and began singing for KRBC in Abilene, Texas during 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree in Dallas in 1949. He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success.

He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967.

In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song "Night Life".

Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". He later developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle," a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk music with a walking bassline, which can be heard on "Crazy Arms" (1956) and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s.

1960–2000s: Nashville sound to gospel

Ray Price exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame

 

During the 1960s, Ray experimented increasingly with the so-called Nashville sound, singing slow ballads and utilizing lush arrangements of strings and backing singers. Examples include his 1967 rendition of "Danny Boy", and "For the Good Times" in 1970 which was Price's first country music chart No. 1 hit since "The Same Old Me" in 1959.

Written by Kris Kristofferson, the song also scored No. 11 on the popular music chart and featured a mellower Price backed by sophisticated musical sounds, quite in contrast to the honky tonk sounds Price had pioneered two decades before. Price had three more No. 1 country music successes during the 1970s: "I Won't Mention It Again", "She's Got To Be A Saint", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me."

His final top ten hit was "Diamonds In The Stars" in early 1982. Price continued to have songs on the country music chart through 1989. Today he is singing gospel music and has recorded such songs as "Amazing Grace", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Farther Along" and "Rock of Ages" [1].

In 2006, Price was living near Mount Pleasant, Texas and still performing in concerts throughout the country. In 2009, Price made two performances for the Fox News show Huckabee. The first was with the Cherokee Cowboys and host Mike Huckabee, and he performed "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches By The Number". Weeks later he performed with the Cherokee Cowboys and Willie Nelson (again with Huckabee playing bass guitar).

This time they performed duets of "Faded Love" and "Crazy".
Price worked on his latest album, Last of the Breed, with fellow country music singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

This album was released on March 20, 2007 by the company Lost Highway Records. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. The trio toured the U.S. from March 9 until March 25 starting in Arizona and finishing in Illinois. This was Price's third album with Nelson and first album with Haggard.

Cancer

On November 6, 2012 Ray Price confirmed that he is fighting pancreatic cancer. Price told the San Antonio Express-News that he has been receiving chemotherapy for the past six months.^[1]

An alternative to the chemo would have been surgery that involved removing the pancreas along with portions of the stomach and liver, which would have meant a long recovery and stay in a nursing home.

 Said Price "Thats not very much an option for me. God knows I want to live as long as I can but I don't want to live like that."^[1]

The 86-year old Country Music Hall of Famer also told the newspaper "The doctor said that every man will get cancer if he lives to be old enough. I don't know why I got it -- I ain't old!"^[1]

Price has retained a positive outlook and hopes to play as many as a hundred concert dates in 2013.

 

 College tradition

"For The Good Times" is the official song of Company A-1 of the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets. In the early 1980s, representing their time in the corps, the seniors of A-1 sang the song before their last football game.

Company A-1 seniors now sing it before every Texas A&M football game and at important outfit functions, and "For The Good Times" has since become the company motto as well.

Source: Wikipedia

TTFN 

CYA Later Taters

Thanks for wacthing.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Jay And The Americans~ "Only In America"

Uploaded on Jul 19, 2008
Jay and the Americans was a pop music group popular in the 1960s. Their initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane (né Kirschenbaum), Kenny Vance (né Rosenberg) and Sandy Deanne (né Yaguda), though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black.

Biography

Jay and the Americans
backstage at Massillon, Ohio (August, 2008) L-R Sandy Deanne, Jay Reincke, Marty Sanders, Howie Kane
Background information
Also known as	Chapter Four
Origin	Belle Harbor, Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Rock, blue eyed soul
Years active	1960–1973 2006–present
Labels	United Artists Records
Associated acts	Kenny Vance and The Planotones, Steely Dan, The Tuneful Trolley
Website	jayandtheamericans.net
Members
Jay Reincke Sandy Deanne Howie Kane Marty Sanders
Past members
Kenny Vance John "Jay" Traynor Jay Black

Early years

They were discovered while performing in student venues at New York University in the late 1950s. They auditioned for Leiber and Stoller, who gave the group its name. In the manner of the time, Leiber and Stoller wanted to extend this to "Binky Jones and the Americans," but Traynor declined to be known as Binky Jones his whole career. He instead offered up "Jay," a family nickname, and it suited everyone.

Career pinnacle

With Jay Traynor singing lead, they first hit the Billboard charts in 1962 with the tune "She Cried," which reached #5 (later covered by The Shangri-Las, Aerosmith, and others). The next two singles didn't fare nearly as well, and Traynor left the group. Jay's solo singles made little impression, but one, "Up And Over" issued on ABC in 1966 became a Northern Soul classic.

Empires' guitarist Marty Sanders (né Kupersmith) joined the group. He brought David Black (né Blatt) of "The Empires" in to take Traynor's place (after David first agreed to adopt the name Jay Black), and Black sang lead for the rest of the group's major hits.

They returned to the charts in 1963 with "Only In America," a song originally meant for The Drifters. Other notable hits for Jay and the Americans were "Come a Little Bit Closer" in 1964, which hit #3, and "Cara Mia" in 1965, which hit #4.

They also recorded a commercial for H.I.S. Slacks and a public service announcement for the Ad Council, featuring a backing track by Brian Wilson and Phil Spector. Two tracks from this era later found favour with the Northern Soul crowd: "Got Hung Up Along The Way" and "Living Above Your Head".

In 1968, they recorded an album of their favorite oldies called Sands of Time, which included "This Magic Moment," which was originally done by the Drifters. The single went to #9 in January 1969. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in May 1969.^[1] "This Magic Moment" was the last top ten record for Jay and the Americans, although a follow-up album, Wax Museum, in January 1970, did yield the #19 hit single "Walkin' In The Rain," first recorded by The Ronettes.

 Their next singles failed to chart, and the band grew apart, but the demand for appearances remained. (Around the same time the band recorded "This Magic Moment," Jay and the Americans member Sandy Yaguda produced a Long Island teen sextet called The Tuneful Trolley. Their late-1968 Capitol LP, Island In The Sky — a hybrid of Beach Boys and Beatlesque psych-pop—was reissued in 2008 in the UK on Now Sounds.)

Decline

The group split in 1973.^[2] All of the members moved on to solo musical careers, with the exception of Jay Black, who continued to perform as "Jay and the Americans." Black continued until the 1980s with a variety of musicians, at one point briefly including the young Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (of later Steely Dan fame) on backup bass guitar and electric organ.

The original core group reunited in the 1990s for special performances, most notably the 45 Years of Motown special on PBS. Jay was featured in the PBS special Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop as "Jay Black & The Americans" in 2001.

The version of "Cara Mia" went to #1 in Holland when it was re-released in 1980.^[3]

Sale of the band name and "reunion"

In 2006, Jay Black filed for bankruptcy due to gambling debts, and his ownership of the name "Jay & The Americans" was sold by the bankruptcy trustee to Sandy Deanne (Yaguda), Black's former band mate and original member of Jay & The Americans for $100,000 to pay Black's debts.

With the name purchase, former members Deanne, Howard Kane, and Marty Sanders reunited, and recruited a sound-alike singer from Chicago, coincidentally nicknamed "Jay." Thus, John "Jay" Reincke became the third "Jay" and the band returned to playing both national and international music venues.

Their show covers the history of Jay and The Americans, acknowledging all three Jays and featuring all of the top hits in their original arrangements.

David Blatt still tours under his stage name, "Jay Black".^[2] Kenny Vance is currently the lead singer of Kenny Vance and the Planotones,^[4] a neo-doo wop band that he formed in the 1970s.

After leaving the group, John Traynor recorded a handful of songs on the Coral label, including "I Rise, I Fall" in 1964. None were hits, but "I Rise, I Fall" became a minor hit for Johnny Tillotson. The label billed Traynor as "JAY formerly of Jay and the Americans." Traynor now tours with Jay Siegel's Tokens.^[5]

^{Source : Wikipedia}

^TTFN

^{CYA Later Taters}

^{Thanks for watching.}

^{Donnie/ Sinbad the sailor Man}

 

Cal Simith~ "Country Bumpkin"

Uploaded on Oct 10, 2008

 Calvin Grant Shofner (born April 7, 1932), known professionally as Cal Smith, is an American country musician, most famous for his 1974 hit "Country Bumpkin."

Cal Smith
Birth name	Calvin Grant Shofner
Born	April 7, 1932 (age 80)
Origin	Gans, Oklahoma
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1966–present (part time performances)

Career

Smith was born on April 7, 1932, in Gans, Oklahoma, and was raised in Oakland, California. He began his music career performing at the Remember Me Cafe in San Francisco at the age of 15, but he was not financially successful at first.
 
Throughout the 1950s, he was not able to continue his music career, so he worked at various other jobs, including truck driving and bronco busting. He appeared on the California Hayride television show in the mid-1950s before serving two years in the military.

After his discharge, he began playing in a band in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1961, country music legend Ernest Tubb heard the band play and, after an audition, hired Smith to play guitar for the Texas Troubadours.

Thus, Smith is heard playing in most of Tubb's 1960s recordings. His first solo single was 'Tear Stained Pillow/Eleven Long Years on the local Plaid label. Smith's stage name began to catch on after he released his second solo single, "I'll Just Go Home," in 1966 for Kapp Records, and he first cracked the Billboard charts with his second single, "The Only Thing I Want."

Smith permanently parted ways with Tubb and the Texas Troubadours in 1969, and he released his first solo album, Drinking Champagne, in 1969. The album's title track had reached the Top 40 on the country charts the previous year.

In 1970, Smith signed with Decca Records, and his popularity quickly soared, starting off with his 1972 top 10 hit, "I've Found Someone of My Own." He began recording songs written by some of the biggest names in the industry; for instance, in March 1973, his rendition of Bill Anderson's "The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" became his first number-one country hit.

When Decca became MCA Records in 1973, Cal enjoyed his biggest successes. In 1974, he recorded two of his greatest hits, "It's Time to Pay the Fiddler" and "Country Bumpkin," which received Song of the Year Awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

 Later career

Smith continued to have success with MCA Records into the late 70's including the Top 20 singles "Between Lust And Watching TV" (1974), "She Talked A Lot About Texas" (1975), "I Just Came Home To Count The Memories" (1977), and "Come See About Me" (1977).

After this he continued to have minor successes that included "The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire" in 1979.^{[citation needed]}

Smith released his last album, Stories of Life by Cal Smith, in 1986 on Step One Records, where he scored a minor hit that year with "King Lear".^{[citation needed]}


"Country Bumpkin" is a 1974 single by Cal Smith. "Country Bumpkin" was Cal Smith's second number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of ten weeks on the country chart.^[1]

In 1974, "Country Bumpkin" received Song of the Year Awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

The song has three verses:

• In the first a rural gentleman walks into a bar, where one of the barroom girls refers to him as a "country bumpkin" (a common nickname for a person from a rural area) as she talks to him.
• The second verse discusses the woman (now married to the man) giving birth to her (only) son a year later.
• The third verse discusses her impending death 40 years later, with her husband and son present at her bedside.

"Country Bumpkin"
Single by Cal Smith
from the album Country Bumpkin
B-side	It's Not the Miles You've Traveled
Released	February 1974
Format	7"
Recorded	December 21, 1973 Bradley's Barn, Mount Juliet, Tennessee
Genre	Country
Length	3:39
Label	MCA Records 40191
Writer(s)	Don Wayne
Producer	Walter Haynes
Cal Smith singles chronology
"Bleep You"/"An Hour and a Six Pack" (1973) "Country Bumpkin" (1974) "Between Lust and Watching TV" (1974)

Source: Wikipedia

TTFN
CYA Later Taters
Thanks for watching.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Jay and The Americans~ "Come a Little Bit Closer"

Jay and the Americans was a pop music group popular in the 1960s. Their initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane (né Kirschenbaum), Kenny Vance (né Rosenberg) and Sandy Deanne (né Yaguda), though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black.

Jay and the Americans
backstage at Massillon, Ohio (August, 2008) L-R Sandy Deanne, Jay Reincke, Marty Sanders, Howie Kane
Background information
Also known as	Chapter Four
Origin	Belle Harbor, Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Rock, blue eyed soul
Years active	1960–1973 2006–present
Labels	United Artists Records
Associated acts	Kenny Vance and The Planotones, Steely Dan, The Tuneful Trolley
Website	jayandtheamericans.net
Members
Jay Reincke Sandy Deanne Howie Kane Marty Sanders
Past members
Kenny Vance John "Jay" Traynor Jay Black

Biography

Early years

They were discovered while performing in student venues at New York University in the late 1950s. They auditioned for Leiber and Stoller, who gave the group its name. In the manner of the time, Leiber and Stoller wanted to extend this to "Binky Jones and the Americans," but Traynor declined to be known as Binky Jones his whole career. He instead offered up "Jay," a family nickname, and it suited everyone.

Career pinnacle

With Jay Traynor singing lead, they first hit the Billboard charts in 1962 with the tune "She Cried," which reached #5 (later covered by The Shangri-Las, Aerosmith, and others).

The next two singles didn't fare nearly as well, and Traynor left the group. Jay's solo singles made little impression, but one, "Up And Over" issued on ABC in 1966 became a Northern Soul classic. Empires' guitarist Marty Sanders (né Kupersmith) joined the group.

He brought David Black (né Blatt) of "The Empires" in to take Traynor's place (after David first agreed to adopt the name Jay Black), and Black sang lead for the rest of the group's major hits.
They returned to the charts in 1963 with "Only In America," a song originally meant for The Drifters. Other notable hits for Jay and the Americans were "Come a Little Bit Closer" in 1964, which hit #3, and "Cara Mia" in 1965, which hit #4.

They also recorded a commercial for H.I.S. Slacks and a public service announcement for the Ad Council, featuring a backing track by Brian Wilson and Phil Spector. Two tracks from this era later found favour with the Northern Soul crowd: "Got Hung Up Along The Way" and "Living Above Your Head".

In 1968, they recorded an album of their favorite oldies called Sands of Time, which included "This Magic Moment," which was originally done by the Drifters. The single went to #9 in January 1969.

It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in May 1969.^[1] "This Magic Moment" was the last top ten record for Jay and the Americans, although a follow-up album, Wax Museum, in January 1970, did yield the #19 hit single "Walkin' In The Rain," first recorded by The Ronettes.

Their next singles failed to chart, and the band grew apart, but the demand for appearances remained. (Around the same time the band recorded "This Magic Moment," Jay and the Americans member Sandy Yaguda produced a Long Island teen sextet called The Tuneful Trolley.

Their late-1968 Capitol LP, Island In The Sky — a hybrid of Beach Boys and Beatlesque psych-pop—was reissued in 2008 in the UK on Now Sounds.)

Decline

The group split in 1973.^[2] All of the members moved on to solo musical careers, with the exception of Jay Black, who continued to perform as "Jay and the Americans." Black continued until the 1980s with a variety of musicians, at one point briefly including the young Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (of later Steely Dan fame) on backup bass guitar and electric organ.

The original core group reunited in the 1990s for special performances, most notably the 45 Years of Motown special on PBS. Jay was featured in the PBS special Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop as "Jay Black & The Americans" in 2001.

The version of "Cara Mia" went to #1 in Holland when it was re-released in 1980.^[3]

Sale of the band name and "reunion"

In 2006, Jay Black filed for bankruptcy due to gambling debts, and his ownership of the name "Jay & The Americans" was sold by the bankruptcy trustee to Sandy Deanne (Yaguda), Black's former band mate and original member of Jay & The Americans for $100,000 to pay Black's debts.

With the name purchase, former members Deanne, Howard Kane, and Marty Sanders reunited, and recruited a sound-alike singer from Chicago, coincidentally nicknamed "Jay." Thus, John "Jay" Reincke became the third "Jay" and the band returned to playing both national and international music venues.

Their show covers the history of Jay and The Americans, acknowledging all three Jays and featuring all of the top hits in their original arrangements.
David Blatt still tours under his stage name, "Jay Black".^[2]

Kenny Vance is currently the lead singer of Kenny Vance and the Planotones,^[4] a neo-doo wop band that he formed in the 1970s. After leaving the group, John Traynor recorded a handful of songs on the Coral label, including "I Rise, I Fall" in 1964. None were hits, but "I Rise, I Fall" became a minor hit for Johnny Tillotson.

The label billed Traynor as "JAY formerly of Jay and the Americans." Traynor now tours with Jay Siegel's Tokens.<sup>[5]

Source: Wikipedia



TTFN
CYA Later Taters
Thanks for watching.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man</sup>

Bill Withers~ " Ain't No Sunshine"

ripshade20 
Uploaded on May 21, 2010

Best version. One of the Great love songs.

William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. (born July 4, 1938) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. He recorded a number of hits such as "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands". His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill.

Bill Withers
Withers in 1976.
Background information
Birth name	William Harrison Withers, Jr.
Born	July 4, 1938 (age 74) Slab Fork, West Virginia, U.S.
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Soul, smooth soul, R&B, blues
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Years active	1967–1985
Labels	Sussex Records Columbia Records
Website	billwithersmusic.com

Early life

Withers was born the youngest of six children in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. Raised in nearby Beckley, West Virginia, Withers was twelve years old when his father died. He enlisted with the United States Navy at age eighteen and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs. Soon after his discharge from the Navy in 1965, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1967 for a musical career.^[1]

Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he debuted with the song "Ain't No Sunshine" he refused to resign his job because of his belief that the music business was a fickle industry and that he was still a novice compared to other acts.

Career

Sussex Records

During early 1970, Withers' demonstration tape was audited favorably by Clarence Avant of Sussex Records. Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned Booker T. Jones to produce Withers' first album.

Four three-hour studio sessions were planned to record the album, but funding caused the album to be recorded in three sessions with a six-month break between the second and final sessions. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands" as singles. The album features Stephen Stills playing lead guitar.^[2]

The album was a success and Withers began touring with a band assembled from members of The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band: drummer James Gadson, guitarist Benorce Blackmon, keyboardist Ray Jackson, and bassist Melvin Dunlap.

At the 14th annual Grammy Awards on Tuesday, March 14, 1972, Withers won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for "Ain't No Sunshine." The track had already sold over one million copies, and was awarded a platinum disc by the R.I.A.A. in September 1971.^[3]

During a hiatus from touring, Withers recorded his second album, Still Bill. The single "Lean on Me" went to number one the week of July 8, 1972. It was Withers' second gold disc awarded track with confirmed sales in excess of three million.^[3]

 His single "Use Me" released in August 1972, became his third million seller, with the R.I.A.A. gold disc award taking place on October 12, 1972.^[3] His performance at Carnegie Hall on October 6 1972 was recorded, and released as the live album Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall on November 30 1972. In 1974 Withers recorded the album +'Justments. Due to a legal dispute with the Sussex company, Withers was unable to record for some time thereafter.

During this time, he wrote and produced two songs on the Gladys Knight & the Pips record I Feel a Song, and in October 1974 performed in concert together with James Brown, Etta James, and B. B. King four weeks prior to the historic Rumble in the Jungle fight between Foreman and Ali in Zaire.^[4]

Footage of his performance was included in the 1996 documentary film, When We Were Kings, and he is heard on the accompanying soundtrack. Other footage of his performance is included in the 2008 documentary film Soul Power which is based on archival footage of the 1974 Zaire concert.

Source: Wikipedia

TTFN 

CYA Later Taters 

Thanks For Watching.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man 

Johhny Nash~ "I Can See Clearly Now"

John Lester "Johnny" Nash, Jr. (born August 19, 1940) is an American pop singer-songwriter, best known in the US for his 1972 comeback hit, "I Can See Clearly Now".

He was also the first non-Jamaican to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica.^{[citation needed]}

Johnny Nash
Birth name	John Lester Nash, Jr.
Born	August 19, 1940 (age 72)
Origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Pop, Reggae
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, composer, actor
Years active	1956–present
Labels	Epic Records, JAD Records

Life and career

Born John Lester Nash, Jr. in Houston, Texas, he began as a pop singer in the 1950s.

He also enjoyed success as an actor early in his career appearing in the screen version of playwright Louis S. Peterson's Take a Giant Step.

Nash won a Silver Sail Award for his performance from the Locarno International Film Festival.

In 1965, Johnny Nash and Danny Sims formed the JAD label in New York. One of the more interesting signings was four brothers from Newport, Rhode Island, ages 9, 11, 15 and 16, called The Cowsills, before signing with Mercury/Philips with Shelby Singleton, before MGM and their first million selling hit single, "The Rain, The Park & Other Things".

The Cowsills went into the studio in New York with studio musicians and recorded a number of songs like "Either You Do Or You Don't" and "You Can't Go Halfway".

Eventually The Cowsills would write and record their own song, "All I Really Want To Be Is Me", which became the group's debut single release on JAD.

Besides "I Can See Clearly Now," Nash recorded several hits in Jamaica, where he travelled in early 1968, as his girlfriend had family links with local TV and radio host and novel writer Neville Willoughby.

Nash planned to try breaking the local rocksteady sound in the United States.

Willoughby introduced him to a local struggling vocal group, The Wailers.

Members Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh introduced him to the local scene.^[1]

Nash signed all three to an exclusive publishing and recording contract with his JAD label and financed some of their recordings, some with Byron Lee's Dragonaires and some with other local musicians such as Jackie Jackson and Lynn Taitt.

None of the Marley and Tosh songs he produced were successful. Only two singles were released at the time: "Bend Down Low" (JAD 1968) and "Reggae on Broadway" (Columbia, 1972), which was recorded in London in 1972 on the same sessions that produced "I Can See Clearly Now."

It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in November 1972.^[2]

The I Can See Clearly Now album includes four original Marley compositions published by JAD: "Guava Jelly", "Comma Comma", "You Poured Sugar On Me" and the follow-up hit "Stir It Up". "There Are More Questions Than Answers" was a third hit single taken from the album.

Nash was also active as a composer in the Swedish romance Vill så gärna tro (1971) in which he portrayed Robert.

The film soundtrack, partly instrumental reggae with strings, was co-composed by Bob Marley and arranged by Fred Jordan.

JAD Records ceased to exist in 1971, but it was revived in 1997 by American Marley specialist Roger Steffens and French musician and producer Bruno Blum for the "Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers 1967-1972" ten-album series for which several of the Nash-produced Marley and Tosh tracks were mixed or remixed by Blum for release.

Nash's biggest hits were the early reggae (rocksteady) tunes "Hold Me Tight" (a #5 hit in the US and the UK, the tune used more than a year earlier in Score commercials) and "Stir It Up", the latter written by Bob Marley prior to Marley's international success.

In the UK, his biggest hit was with the song "Tears On My Pillow" which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in July 1975 for one week.^[3]

After a hit version of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" and "Let’s Go Dancing" in 1979, for many years he seemed to have dropped out of sight, with the exception of a brief resurgence in the mid-1980s with the album Here Again (1986), which was preceded by the minor UK hit, "Rock Me Baby"; however, in May 2006 he was singing again at SugarHill Recording Studios and at Tierra Studios in his native Houston.

Working with SugarHill chief engineer Andy Bradley and Tierra Studios' grammy-winning Randy Miller, he began the work of transferring analog tapes of his songs from the 1970s and 1980s to Pro Tools digital format.^[4][5]

Nash sang the opening theme to the 1960s Trans-Lux cartoon The Mighty Hercules.

Source: Wikipedia.org

TTFN 

CYA Later Taters

Thanks for watching.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Dobie Gray~ "Drift Away"

Uploaded on Jun 30, 2008

Dobie Gray (July 26, 1940 – December 6, 2011)^[1][2][3] was an American singer and songwriter, whose musical career spanned soul, country, pop, and musical theater. His hit records included "The 'In' Crowd" in 1965 and "Drift Away", which was one of the biggest hits of 1973, sold over one million copies, and remains a staple of radio airplay.^[2]

Dobie Gray
Dobie Gray performing in 1974
Background information
Birth name	Lawrence Darrow Brown
Also known as	Leonard Ainsworth Larry Curtis Larry Dennis
Born	July 26, 1940 Simonton, Texas, U.S.
Died	December 6, 2011 (aged 71) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Soul R&B Pop Country
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar
Years active	1960–2011
Associated acts	Pollution Uncle Kracker
Website	www.dobiegray.com

Life and career

He was born near Houston, Texas, by his own account in Simonton although some sources suggest the nearby town of Brookshire.^[4][5] His birth name was probably Lawrence Darrow Brown,^[5][6] who is listed in Fort Bend County birth records as being born in 1940 to Jane P. Spencel and Jethro Clifton Brown. Other sources suggest he may have been born Leonard Victor Ainsworth,^[2] a name he used on some early recordings.

His family sharecropped. He discovered gospel music through his grandfather, a Baptist minister.^[4] In the early 1960s he moved to Los Angeles, intending to pursue an acting career while also singing to make money. He recorded for several local labels under the names Leonard Ainsworth, Larry Curtis, and Larry Dennis, before Sonny Bono directed him towards the small independent Stripe Records. They suggested that he record under the name "Dobie Gray", an allusion to the then-popular sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.^[5]

His first taste of success came in 1963 when his seventh single "Look At Me", on the Cor-Dak label and recorded with bassist Carol Kaye,^[7] reached #91 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[6][8] However, his first album, Look!, failed to sell.^[7] Greater success came in early 1965 when his original recording of "The 'In' Crowd" (recorded later that year as an instrumental by Ramsey Lewis, and also covered in 1965 by Petula Clark) reached #13.

Written by Billy Page and arranged by his brother Gene,^[9] and produced by Fred Darian,^[6][10] Dobie Gray's record reached #11 on the US R&B chart, and #25 in the UK. The follow-up, "See You at the Go-Go", recorded with such top session musicians as Kaye, Hal Blaine, and Larry Knechtel, also reached the Hot 100, and he issued an album, Dobie Gray Sings For 'In' Crowders That Go Go Go, which featured some self-penned songs.^[7]

Gray continued to record, though with little success, for small labels such as Charger and White Whale, as well as contributing to movie soundtracks.^[8] He also spent several years working as an actor, including 2½ years in the Los Angeles production of Hair.^[2][5]

 In 1970, while working there, he joined a band, Pollution, as singer and percussionist. They were managed by actor Max Baer Jr. (best known as "Jethro" in The Beverly Hillbillies) and released two albums of soul-inspired psychedelic rock, Pollution I and Pollution II.^[7][11] The band also included singer Tata Vega and guitarist/singer James Quill Smith.

He also worked at A & M Records on demo recordings with songwriter Paul Williams.^[5]



In 1972, he won a recording contract with Decca Records (shortly before it became part of MCA) to make an album with producer Mentor Williams---Paul's brother---in Nashville. Among the songs they recorded at the Quadrafonic Sound Studios, co-owned by session musicians Norbert Putnam and David Briggs, was Mentor Williams' "Drift Away", featuring a guitar riff by Reggie Young.^[5][12]

Released as a single, the song rose to #5 on the US pop chart and remains Dobie Gray's signature song.^[2] It placed at #17 in the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1973.

The follow-up, a version of Tom Jans' much-covered song "Loving Arms", hit #61. Gray also released three albums with MCA, Drift Away, Loving Arms, and Hey, Dixie, but later stated that MCA were unsure of how to market the albums---"They didn't know where to place a black guy in country music."^[5]

Gray performing in 2004

In the mid-1970s, he moved permanently to Nashville and signed for Capricorn Records, writing songs in collaboration with Troy Seals.^[2] His last solo hit singles were "If Love Must Go", #78 in 1976, and "You Can Do It", #37 in 1978.^[6]

He increasingly concentrated on songwriting, writing songs for a variety of artists including Ray Charles, George Jones, Johnny Mathis, Charley Pride, and Don Williams.^[5][8] He also toured in Europe, Australia and Africa in the 1970s. He performed in South Africa only after persuading the apartheid authorities to allow him to play to integrated audiences, becoming the first artist to do so.^[2] His popularity in South Africa continued through numerous subsequent concert tours.^[4][5]

Dobie Gray re-emerged as a recording artist for Capitol Records in the mid-1980s, recording with producer Harold Shedd. He placed two singles on the US country chart in 1986-87, including "That's One to Grow On" which peaked at #35.^[2][13]

His country albums included From Where I Stand in 1986, and he made several appearances at Charlie Daniels' popular Volunteer Jam concerts.^[8] He also sang on a number of TV and radio jingles.^[5] In 1997, he released the album Diamond Cuts, including both new songs and re-recordings of older material.^[2]
In 2000, Wigan Casino DJ Kev Roberts, compiled The Northern Soul Top 500, which was based on a survey of northern soul fans.^[14]

Gray's "Out On The Floor", a 1966 recording which had been a British hit in 1975, made the Top 10.
"Drift Away" became a hit again in 2003, when it was covered by Uncle Kracker on his No Stranger to Shame album as a duet with Dobie Gray, who was also featured in the video. It hit #9 and placed at #19 in the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2003.

^{Source: Wikipedia}

TTFN
CYA LAter Taters
Thanks  for watching.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man