Our Monthly Club Meeting will be this Sunday, August 10th at the Homewood Public Library. 2:00 PM
Next club meeting will be September 14th, 2008, the second Sunday

2008 BRC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

The Premiers…..”Are You Alright”, “Oogsy Moo” & “Locomotive”

The Rockin’ Rebellions……”Anyway The Wind Blows”, “Would You Like To Go Somewhere With Me Sometime” & “By My Side”.

Ben Saxon…….Founding Member of BRC

*****IT’S SHOW TIME*****
REMINDERS ABOUT OUR UPCOMING SHOW
Be sure to be in attendance at the record show on Sunday, August 17th for our 8th BRC Music Hall Of Fame induction. The program begins at 2:00 but drop by early to get pictures and autographs of the inductees. A special treat this year will be having the Premiers perform for us. Don’t miss this opportunity to see one of Birmingham’s best bands play some great music.

A few months back, discussions were underway to induct BRC members into our Hall Of Fame to highlight members’ contributions over the years. We all felt that Ben Saxon should be our first due to his many contributions to BRC and for his input in helping found our club some 27 years ago. This was to be a surprise for Ben. Unfortunately Ben's untimely passing has made his induction bittersweet for us, but we feel that it is definitely past due.

We are putting a wrap on all preparations for our upcoming record show. We still have some fliers and signs for you to take and use for advertising. Pick them up at this month’s meeting. We need volunteers during the show to help at the door and in the kitchen. Sign up sheets will be at the meeting. The Friday before the show we need volunteers to help get things ready and provide any help the dealers might need as they set up.

Gene Pitney
Continuing our look at the early career of artists before they had a hit we will check out Gene Pitney who is known for hits such as “(I Wanna) Love My Life Away”, “Town Without Pity”, “Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa” and “It Hurts To Be In Love”. Gene had 24 songs break into the Hot 100 during 1961-1969. But Gene was not just a “Teen Idol” who showed up at the recording studio, sang a song and then left. He was very musically inclined, able to play piano, drums and guitar, an excellent song writer and was well known as a skilled sound engineer. But what did he do before “(I Wanna) Love My Life Away” became a top 40 hit?

Born in Connecticut in 1940 he formed a band in high school called Gene & The Genials. At this time he wrote songs and even had some published. His early influences in music came from Clyde McPhatter and Doo Wop groups such as The Crows. He teamed up around 1959 with Ginny Arnell and formed a duo called Jamie & Jane. They recorded 2 songs on the Decca label. One entitled “Snuggle Up Baby” and the other “Classical Rock And Roll”. In 1960 he recorded “Cradle Of My Arms” as Billy Bryan on the Blaze label. Then Gene recorded under his own name on the Festival label a song entitled “Please Come Back”.

His big break came when the songwriting duo of Hal David and Burt Bacharach formed an alliance with him after his own composition, “(I Wanna) Love My Life Away” started up the charts. He was well known around the Brill Building pushing his songs to anyone who would listen. He had hits with David & Bacharach's “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance”, “Only Love Can Break A Heart” and Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa”. He later teamed up with Phil Spector and recorded “Town Without Pity”.

Songs he had written before he had all this success were now being recorded by others and were making some noise also. In 1960, Bobby Vee had a hit with the Pitney song, “Rubber Ball”. In 1961 Ricky Nelson had a hit with Gene's “Hello Mary Lou”, and in 1962 the Crystals recorded his song, “He's A Rebel”. That's a pretty good selection of songs. He also had songs recorded by Roy Orbison, The Kalin Twins and Tommy Edwards.

Then from 1963-1969 Gene had a song at least one song on the charts every year. During these years Gene was a very busy man not only here in the states. He was a big success in the UK where he met The Rolling Stones. He recorded a Jagger/Richard song, “That Girl Belongs To Yesterday”, which was the first song by them to chart in the states. He also is known to have played piano on some Stones recordings.

Check out next month’s newsletter for another rags to riches story.

Here are some samples of Gene’s early recordings:

Snuggle Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SANOdLmXOAo (youtube)
Classical Rock & Roll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZprqnTRhdg (youtube)
Please Come Back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlOt8cMTzEs (youtube)
(I Wanna) Love My Life Away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZQ8_4T-fGI (youtube)
I’m Gonna Be Strong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGfvSPLqYFs (youtube)

See ya,
Charlie