Unfortunately, we start out with the sad stuff first again ... this is just happening WAY too often lately as we continue to lose more and more of our musical heroes ...
re: CARL GARDNER:
Carl Gardner, original member of the Coasters, dies in Port St. Lucie
Carl Gardner, the last surviving member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Coasters, died Sunday night in Port St. Lucie Hospice Home, according to his wife, Veta, on the Coasters' official web site. According to Veta, Gardner suffered from Alzheimer's and congestive heart failure. Gardner moved to Port St. Lucie in 1990 to escape the cold New York winters, according to a story written Bill DeYoung for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in 2003.
Gardner was the lead singer for the Coasters, the comedy-styled singing group that gave the world the 1950s classics "Yakety Yak, " "Charlie Brown, " "Youngblood" and "Along Came Jones." The first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Coasters sold 15 million records and scored more than a dozen gold singles.
Gardner, who was the remaining member of the original lineup, performed in 2003 at Club Med, along with the Platters (featuring longtime vocalist Herb Reed). The 50th anniversary of the Coasters was celebrated at Club Med in 2005.
Gardner said music has always been central to his life. "I was singing at 5 years old, " he recalls. "I was the child prodigy of Tyler, Texas; everybody knew me there. I sang Nat King Cole, the Ink Spots, Billy Eckstine, people like that."
"We used to do a lot of comedy onstage, " says Gardner, "on the songs 'Shopping For Clothes, ' 'Taint Nothing To Me' and a little thing called 'The Secret of Our Success.'
"One day in the dressing room, we thought, let's go out there and do this type of thing without rehearsal. On 'Secret of Your Success, ' I was dressed as a cop, one guy was a bum, and one was dressed with footballs as his breasts.
"In that era, in Harlem, everybody went for it. But when Martin Luther King marched, they wanted to get rid of that stuff. It was Uncle Tom to them."
When the Coasters were inducted in 1987, Carl and Veta had to take a bus to the ceremony; no limo arrived to pick them up. And the Coasters weren't invited to the celebratory dinner. "I got 14 gold records, and I'm not as important as Michael Jackson and the rest of 'em, " Gardner says. "It's all about money. I was very angry. I wanted to shoot somebody."
-- Don
-- Don
Carl Gardner, lead singer with the Robins, who then formed the Coasters, died Sunday (June 12) at a hospice in Port St. Lucie, Florida, at the age of 83. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease and congestive heart failure.
Born in Tyler, Texas in 1928, he moved to California after serving in the Army and in 1954 came to the attention of the Robins, who were looking for a lead tenor. He can be heard on the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller-penned "Framed" and "Riot In Cell Block #9," which didn't chart but remain classics today and "Smokey Joe's Cafe" (#79 Pop, #10 R&B - 1955). Leiber and Stoller sold their record label, Spark, in 1955 to join up with Atlantic's Atco Records and recruited Carl and Bobby Nunn to form the Coasters (the other members of the Robins stayed behind). Leiber and Stoller's "story songs" and production made the Coasters the "Clown Princes of Rock 'n' Roll" with such hits as "Yakety Yak" (#1 - 1958), "Charlie Brown" (#2 - 1959), "Searchin'" (#3 - 1957), "Poison Ivy" (#7 - 1959),"Young Blood" (#8 - 1957) and "Along Came Jones (#9 - 1959). All told, the Coasters had ten top 40 hits in five years. While Carl stayed with the group throughout the years, he had to fight other "Coasters" groups, founded by ex-members Bobby Nunn and Cornell Gunter and their heirs. Carl retired in 2005 and his son took over as lead singer of his official Coasters, with Carl, Sr. coaching the group. The Coasters were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame (the first group inducted) in 1987 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. Carl's autobiography, "Yakety Yak -- I Fought Back" was published in 2007.
-- Ron Smith
re: NOT WELL:
And The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, suffered a stroke the other day, too. World-Famous Sax Man for Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, Clemons has a legion of fans who are pulling for him to make a complete recovery. (kk)
Saxophonist Clarence Clemons, a member of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band who also recorded "You're A Friend Of Mine" (#18) with Jackson Browne in 1985, suffered a stroke at his home on Singer Island off Florida's east coast. "The Big Man," as he is known, is 69. He is described as "seriously ill."
-- Ron Smith
Sly Stone was hospitalized in Los Angeles with heart problems Friday (June 10). It forced him to miss a court appearance there that day to answer a charge of cocaine possession following a traffic stop April 1. Sly was a passenger in the camper where the drug was found but maintains it was not his. He will appear in court now on June 15.
-- Ron Smith
Born in Tyler, Texas in 1928, he moved to California after serving in the Army and in 1954 came to the attention of the Robins, who were looking for a lead tenor. He can be heard on the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller-penned "Framed" and "Riot In Cell Block #9," which didn't chart but remain classics today and "Smokey Joe's Cafe" (#79 Pop, #10 R&B - 1955). Leiber and Stoller sold their record label, Spark, in 1955 to join up with Atlantic's Atco Records and recruited Carl and Bobby Nunn to form the Coasters (the other members of the Robins stayed behind). Leiber and Stoller's "story songs" and production made the Coasters the "Clown Princes of Rock 'n' Roll" with such hits as "Yakety Yak" (#1 - 1958), "Charlie Brown" (#2 - 1959), "Searchin'" (#3 - 1957), "Poison Ivy" (#7 - 1959),"Young Blood" (#8 - 1957) and "Along Came Jones (#9 - 1959). All told, the Coasters had ten top 40 hits in five years. While Carl stayed with the group throughout the years, he had to fight other "Coasters" groups, founded by ex-members Bobby Nunn and Cornell Gunter and their heirs. Carl retired in 2005 and his son took over as lead singer of his official Coasters, with Carl, Sr. coaching the group. The Coasters were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame (the first group inducted) in 1987 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. Carl's autobiography, "Yakety Yak -- I Fought Back" was published in 2007.
-- Ron Smith
re: NOT WELL:
And The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, suffered a stroke the other day, too. World-Famous Sax Man for Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, Clemons has a legion of fans who are pulling for him to make a complete recovery. (kk)
Saxophonist Clarence Clemons, a member of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band who also recorded "You're A Friend Of Mine" (#18) with Jackson Browne in 1985, suffered a stroke at his home on Singer Island off Florida's east coast. "The Big Man," as he is known, is 69. He is described as "seriously ill."
-- Ron Smith
Sly Stone was hospitalized in Los Angeles with heart problems Friday (June 10). It forced him to miss a court appearance there that day to answer a charge of cocaine possession following a traffic stop April 1. Sly was a passenger in the camper where the drug was found but maintains it was not his. He will appear in court now on June 15.
-- Ron Smith
re: OTHER RECENT PASSINGS:
Kent -
Just a sad word about two good friends.
Both Andrew Gold and Steve Popovich were huge friends.
The tributes you posted did a lot to help me wade through this past week.
Thanks.
Howard Kaylan
... and, speaking of The Turtles ...
re: MARK VOLMAN:
Hey Kent,
Here's a new interview I just set up for Mark Volman:
-- Billy James
re: THE CADILLACS:
I HOPE WE DON'T LOSE EARL "SPEEDO" CARROLL ... HE'S ONE OF THE LAST OF THE ORIGINAL DOO WOP LEAD SINGERS THAT WE HAVE LEFT AND HE WAS A GREAT GUY AND ALWAYS THE CONSUMMATE SHOWMAN.
MY PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS ARE WITH HIM.
MICHAEL G. BUSH
re: THE KALIN TWINS:
Kent,
Enjoyed Sunday's Comments as usual. Did not know that both the Kalin Twins had passed away.
Larry
According to Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" book, Harold Kalin died in a car accident in August of 2005 ... and his twin brother Herbert died of a heart attack just about a year later. (kk)
re: SAM COOKE:
Stole this from Ron Smith's excellent OldiesMusic.com website:
A portion of 36th Street at Cottage Grove on Chicago's South Side will be named "Sam Cooke Way" in honor of the city's native son Saturday (June 18) in a 2 PM ceremony.
-- Ron Smith
Kent ...
Are you going to the "Sam Cooke" street naming ceremony on Saturday?
Frank B.
Frank B.
Actually, I just heard about it. (See above) Many years ago, (right after our Bobby Darin Series ran, as a matter of fact!), I started working on a Sam Cooke Series that just never got off the ground. One of our readers, Rock-A-Bob, picked up the reigns and wrote a piece that is now posted on The Forgotten Hits Web Page:
One of the things we were going to do at the time was a "walking tour" of "Sam Cooke's Chicago" ... hit all of the spots that were key points in Sam's life here in The Windy City ... but we never got around to doing it. (At one point, we even talked about hooking up with Erik Greene, Sam's nephew ... figured he could REALLY show us the sites!) It WOULD be pretty cool to be there for this ceremony ... maybe I'll drop Erik a line and see if he's planning to attend! (Meanwhile, here's a link to a great book!):
And, on the UP-beat ...
re: FREDDY CANNON:
THANKS, KENT, FOR GETTING THIS STORY OUT THERE.
IT IS A GREAT MOVIE AND I'M GLAD THAT 20TH FOX INCLUDED MY SONG IN THIS MOVIE!
I AM PROUD TO BE PART OF THIS MOVIE!
AND YES, THINGS ARE REALLY ROCKIN'!
SINCERELY
FREDDY "BOOM BOOM" CANNON
re: THE BEACH BOYS:
| HELLO KENT! WE SAW THE BEACH BOYS THURSDAY NITE AT THE AUDITORIUM ... AND I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED ... THE BAND WAS AWESOME, AND REALLY CARRIED ON THE TRADITION OF THE BEACH BOYS MUSIC AUTHENTICALLY. JOHN COWSILL IS ONE OF THE GREATEST DRUMMERS ON THE ROAD TODAY AND, IF YOU THINK I'M WRONG, JUST WATCH HIM NEXT TIME YOU SEE THEM. HIS TIMING IS IMPECCABLE. I COULD GO ON FOR DAYS, BUT I'LL ADD THAT IT WAS ALSO GREAT HEARING OLD CHESTNUTS LIKE " THE BALLAD OF OLD BETSY" LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME. MY WIFE ALSO GOT A KICK OUT OF MEETING JOHN STAMOS BACKSTAGE AND GETTING HER "FOREVER" CD AUTOGRAPHED, AS WELL AS A PICTURE WITH HIM. I'LL ALWAYS MISS CARL'S PRESENCE ON STAGE, BUT COWSILL DOES HIM JUSTICE SINGING "DARLIN", AS WELL AS A FEW OTHERS. THE WHOLE BAND IS GREAT AND THEIR LEAD GUITARIST, SCOTT TOTTEN, CAN REALLY WAIL ON THE GUITAR. CATCHING UP WITH THE GUYS AFTER MANY YEARS IS ALWAYS FUN, AND I'M ACTUALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THEM AGAIN SOON. AS ALWAYS, KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!! MICHAEL G. BUSH re: THE RIP CHORDS ... AND A BRAND NEW FORGOTTEN HITS GIVE-AWAY!: Hey Kent ... Summer is here and we are playing some very cool shows ... *August 13th -- sharing the stage with "Bill Haleys Comets" at the Meadowlands Racetrack in E.Rutherford NJ (just outside on NYC) *September 4th -- at The Cannery Casino in Las Vegas with "The Cowsills" and "The Tokens" (Mitch Margo's band) * September 17th -- at The Harry Chapin Theater in Long Island, NY, with "Al Jardine and The Endless Summer Band". We also have some private / Corporate shows in between. Also, we are very excited because we have added The Tokens' Sax player Jumpin' Jay Leslie to our lineup this Summer. You may also remember Jumpin Jay as a member of "Sha Na Na" from a while back. When we play in Vegas, Jay will be playing with both bands! He's an amazing sax player and we're thrilled to be onstage with him in our band. So ... in celebration of the Summer season, let's give away an autographed copy of our new CD on Spectra / Heritage Records, "The Best Of The Rip Chords ... Today!" (Photo attached) to one lucky FH reader. Have a great Summer Kent ... and Forgotten Hits readers! We'll be in touch from the road! Mitch Schecter / The Rip Chords Happy to! Thanks, Mitch ... and ALL the guys in The Rip Chords. (Anything bringing you out this way this summer? Keep us posted!) kk re: OUT NEXT WEEK!: Here's some news I'm VERY excited about!!! The brand new edition of Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" Book, 1955 - 2010, will be out NEXT WEEK!!! (And we can't wait!) Joel keeps coming up with new ways to bring us the hits ... and this edition is no exception. Check out the details on The Record Research Website: Click here: Top Pop Singles 1955-2010 | Joel Whitburn's Record Research re: DIGGIN' FORGOTTEN HITS: Kent - Thanks for a Great Ezine, Bob Jones, Sacramento, Ca. Kent, AIN'T GONNA LIE was a good choice for today's FH. However, I believe that every high school English teacher would rather hear someone's finger nails scratching on a blackboard than for someone to be talking like that, at least for that time period in our lives. Have a great week. Larry Somehow "I am not going to lie" just doesn't have the same ring to it!!! (kk) Hey Kent, AJK here. I'm not sure if you take suggestions for your "Today's Forgotten Hit" feature, but, if you don't mind, I'd like to mention one. It's called "No Matter What Sign You Are" by Diana Ross And The Supremes. It reached #31 here in the US, and was supposed to be the group's final single with Diana Ross. However after it was a failure (in Supreme terms), Berry Gordy promoted the heck out of "Someday We'll Be Together" instead, Ross' projected debut single. You NEVER hear it one the radio. Actually, I'm dissapointed with the constant Baby Love and Where Did Our Love Go. In terms of sales and popularity, The Supremes were second only to The Beatles. But stations don't experiment too much with their Supremes or Motown playlists. I like the song, it's a bit funky, and the B-Side even charted. Another Question: Is there any way to look back at a list of all the Forgotten Hits you've featured? I've found all your other great links, but as I'm getting into the site more I was wondering if I could see all the featured tracks. Thanks, AJK We get DOZENS of suggestions each week regarding our new "Today's Forgotten Hit" feature ... obviously, we can't feature them all ... but it's interesting to see how many oldies listeners out there want to hear something DIFFERENT and off the beaten path of the played-to-death playlists typically found on the radio dial. (What I've seen so far ... about 50% of the suggestions are songs we are already planning to feature ... about 10% are songs that even I have never heard of!!! ... and the rest are "fair consideration" for somewhere down the line. As for finding the old stuff, the website's only been around for a couple of years ... and nearly everything ever posted is still there for viewing. Prior to that, we did a newsletter by email and, quite honestly, even I don't have copies of all of them. (Several computer crashes along the way have seen to that!!!) But several long-term readers on the list were collecting them ... so in PDF format, some saved as Word Documents ... and a few actually printed them out and put them in what has got to be about a 9-foot deep 3-ring binder by now!!! From time to time, we rerun an old email-only piece just so it has a small place of posterity on the website ... in fact, we've got a few more of these planned ... so stay tuned! (And, on the website, you can always do a "search", too, to see if you can find the artists you're looking for.) kk Great concept of a site. As a guy who has spent the bulk of my life in the media (first radio and now owning a video production company), I follow older music as well as 60’s / 70’s radio. Have you heard or reelradio.com? I used to think we had great stations in Chicago as we were growing up. If you have not heard or listed to LA Boss Radio, you may wish to. Now that I have your website, I intend to bookmark it. All the best! Al Kohout I've been a fan of reelradio.com for quite a while ... you can literally spend HOURS there goofing around! (Actually, now that you mention it, I think my subscription just lapsed!!! lol) Glad you're enjoying the site! Feel free to share your memories with us ANY time! (kk) Kent, BK here. Been a fan for a while. Now it may not be my place to say this, and it may be hypocritical of me (I have no experience of a web page) but I had an idea that I'd like to share with you. What if Forgotten Hits was a forum. All the great features would be kept (Daily ForgottenHit, Sunday Comments) but this way the readers would connect and comment more directly. I'm sure it's difficult for you now too, fielding all the e-mails. This would (eventually) change that. There's not really a great site for oldies fans to talk to each other directly. I feel that Forgotten Hits could potentially gain even more exposure this way. Like I said, I realize this may sound rude of me (sorry), but I just thought I should tell you. I've been a part of a similar site (a Motown Forum) but a more general Oldies forum would surely attract even more (and someone on there said Connie Francis was not their type of music :) Anyway, keep up the great site. Keep Rockin' Regards, BK We used to allow comments to be posted directly to the site but the maintenance of keeping that up was ridiculous. At least now by email I can monitor what does and doesn't get posted. (WAY too many drug ads, porn ads and people posting links to their own sites ... for every legitimate comment I got, I'd get three or four complete bullshit postings ... so I finally just turned that feature off.) The oldies forum thing is a good idea but I just don't have enough time to devote to it ... and it's already being done very well on Ron Smith's site so I'd rather just refer folks there. www.oldiesmusic.com I wish more of the readers would participate ... there are folks who have been on The Forgotten Hits List for ten years who we've NEVER heard from ... and yet two or three other folks (and you know who you are!) that feel a need to send six or seven emails PER DAY!!! (I keep telling them, if you have THAT much to say, start your OWN website!!! lol) Truthfully, we appreciate ALL of the feedback we get, good, bad or otherwise ... so you certainly shouldn't feel out of line by making a suggestion ... nor should your feelings be hurt if we choose not to go with it ... I just have a very limited amount of time to spend on here and most of that time is spent just keeping up with the current flow. I am looking into ways to change up the website a little bit 'tho ... and have a few interesting ideas that I think the readers will find fun ... and give them a reason to check the site more often (which, of course, is what makes doing this all the more worthwhile.) We've just recently passed 850,000 visitors so word of mouth is good ... hoping to hit a million by year's end. If we can work out some of the logistics, I think we'll have some neat new features very soon ... so stay tuned. And thanks for your support! kk |
