FORGOTTEN HITS: PHIL NEE

Saturday, March 19, 2022

PHIL NEE - March 19th

Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas recorded a Beatles penned song 'Do You Want To Know a Secret' in March of 1963.

In 2016, Billy joined me by phone and we talked about those early days.

Billy J. Kramer has been a friend of Forgotten Hits for many, many years now. We have always made it a point to get together whenever he's in Chicago for The Fest For Beatles Fans ... and he has often allowed us to "sneak peek" tracks from whatever new album project he may have been working on at the time. We love him ...

And can highly recommend his book "Do You Want To Know A Secret," available here: Do You Want to Know a Secret?: The Autobiography of Billy J. Kramer (Studies in Popular Music): Billy J. Kramer, Alyn Shipton: 9781781793619: Amazon.com: Books

Billy was fortunate enough to have recorded several tunes written by Lennon and McCartney ... I've included one of my personal favorites, "Bad To Me," above. (kk)

Michael Martin Murphey was born March 14th, 1945. He is best remembered for his many Country hits in the 80's and for the Spring of 1975 song Wildfire.

In 2003 he joined me by phone for a discussion about his career.

I had the chance to talk with him about his early days and his first success as Travis Lewis of the Lewis & Clarke Expedition in 1967 and a record called 'I Feel Good (I Feel Bad).

He was a friend of Michael Nesmith and that helped give him a big break when the Monkees recorded one of his songs for their fourth album, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd."

"What Am I Doing Hanging 'Round" is one of my all-time favorite Monkees songs. (I also think it's one of the most fun videos they ever recorded! Keep your eye on Micky!)

Michael Martin Murphey went on to have an excellent career on the country charts, earning 16 Top 20 Country Hits, including the #1 Records "What's Forever For" in 1982 and "A Long Line Of Love" in 1987.