Oh! How I wish I had a copy of that
one today! That's when he struck a deal with MGM. "Her Loving Way"
was thought to be the A side by a lot of Disc Jockeys. However,
suddenly “Think About Me” started getting a lot of airplay. Almost
as suddenly and I do mean suddenly, I was on tour at age16 and loving life!
I was having a good ride and things were going great.
Hanna Barbera wanted to buy out my contract but Huey did not want to sell.
Then...BOOM!
Huey goes to prison!
I find myself back in Waco playing gigs whenever and
wherever I can get them.
I did record a couple of songs with a group called the
Silvertones at Chuck Hardings studio on North 19th in Waco.
I suddenly found that I had reached the point where I
was just very disillusioned with it all!
So...Here I was, back in Waco, with no record deal and
my manager/producer/record company in prison.
Wow! Talk about a being conflicted! What do
I do now?
For the next year and half I stay in high school.
I buy a hearse and paint it metallic Indian red.
If anyone has a picture it, I would LOVE to see it!
I get a group together and we start playing gigs in the
Waco area as Gaylan Ladd and the Dawgs. Different band members came
and went and things just sort of plodded along.
When Huey finally got out of prison, he called to tell
me that he had things rolling again. We all drove to Houston in the
hearse, full of equipment and started recording again.
We recorded “Repulsive Situation” (I played Marshall
fuzz bass on the recording) and a few other songs. The guys in the
group didn't like the name Dawgs, so we decided to change it to
East Life Transfer.
If I remember correctly Vernon Womack, the keyboard
player, came up with the name. Vernon later left the group to play
with Tracy Nelson and Mother Earth.
Sammie Piazza was the drummer. He also left the
group and went to play with Hot Tuna.
Tommy Christian was the guitar player. He left for
San Francisco.
Too bad! That group had some very good players.
I probably should have gone elsewhere too, but I decided
to stay in high school, so I went back to Waco.
I wrote and recorded “Walking Back to Waco” even more
disillusioned! You can really tell how disillusioned I truly was by
the lyrics of my songs at that time.
We recorded "You Better Find Your Way" in Waco at
Chuck Harding's store/studio on North 19th about 1967-68. Glennis Annette
is Chuck Harding's daughter. A few years later Glennis was a singer in
Heather Black for awhile.
I played around with a couple of different groups in the
Waco area like The Silvertones, which was a big band with horn section at
the time. That group split into a smaller group, which kept
The Silvertones name for a while. Then the band changed its name to
Heather Black.
Original Heather Black members were:
Mickey Sharp (no relation to Bobby Sharp) played drums.
Ted Richardson played bass.
Tommy Christian played guitar.
I played guitar and sang.
Where did the name Heather Black come from?
The name belonged to Dennis Black's daughter. Dennis
was a former leader/saxophone player of The Silvertones.
I found myself beginning a new chapter in the music
business.
As Heather Black, we recorded an album at Doyle Jones
Studio.
A couple of 45s from that album were released on Double
Bayou Records.
We signed with Shelby Singleton in Nashville (SSS
Records). I will never forget playing and singing one of my songs for
Shelby in his office in Nashville. I hated doing that kind of stuff.
The song was called "Letter Under the Chair." For
the entire time I sang, Shelby kept talking on the phone and motioning for
me to keep singing.
After I finished singing, he got off the phone. That
is when he said, "Why don't you change your song to “Letter Under My
Waterbed?” It was pretty much down hill from there We did have a
couple of releases on SSS Records, but...
On original Heather Black USO tour playng the 4th of
July somewhere in southern Greenland. We also spent 4 long weeks in
Thule, Greenland near the North Pole. Man! It was cold!
Check out those pants I am wearing inside some building
up in Greenland!
Heather Black looking very bored, playing a 6-hour club
gig. Check out the "last call Light" behind drummer Mickey Sharp!
Tommy Christian is on the far left. I'm in the middle.
Ted Richardson is on the far right, Fun huh?
Shortly after returning from Greenland, there were Heather
Black personnel changes. We got a new drummer and we added a female
singer. Her name was Glennis Harding, whose dad was Chuck Harding of
Chuck Harding and The Confederates.
I've included photos of a Confederates 45 recording--one
side features Chuck's wife on vocal and the other side is an instrumental
featuring Tommy Christian circa 1963.
When Tommy, Fred Arechiga and I were 8 or 9 years old, we
were all students of Chuck Harding. Yes! We were playing in bands
even then.
After multiple personnel changes, Heather Black now
consisted of the following:
Jimmy Jones played bass and sang.
Wayne Brooks played keyboards.
Tommy Christian played lead guitar and sang.
Doug Lavery played drums and sang.
I played rhythm guitar and sang.
Our home base was Upstairs on the Square in downtown
Houston—a rocking place! We also covered most of southern Texas
and Louisiana playing various venues and doing concerts.
We recorded a double album Live at Uncle Pete's in New
Iberia, Louisiana. We quickly found that we would have to do some
"touch ups" on the live recording due to a very inebriated recording
engineer. However, a good time was had by all.
We headed back to Houston to work on the “touch ups” and
immediately encountered a problem. Huey Meaux had just purchased Sugar
Hill Studios. The problem? The studios weren’t finished.
So…We set up the audio mixing board and 8 track tape
recorder in the very large orchestra (in the 1940s and 1950s) studio room
in the back of the building, which was being used for storage. The
control room served as Huey's office and it was quite messy. We set
our instruments up in a somewhat large circle and recorded most of the
album over again—Live! There were no overdubs.
What we produced was the first recording and certainly
the first album to come out of the “new” Sugar Hill Studios.
Circa 1972, I signed with ASCAP as Gaylan Latimer.
I also wrote using the name of Emory Caper.
"Vol Teate (Turn Around)" is a song I wrote in 1967-68.
I recorded a demo of it a few years later. Freddy Fender recorded
it, but as far as I know, it was never released in the United States.
Here is an interesting story about "Vol Teate." The main rhythm track on
Freddy's version of "Vol Teate" is from the demo we cut in the little Studio
B--the original Goldstar studio room.
The background vocals, steel, electric guitar and Freddy's
vocals, were later added in the larger studio.
During this timeframe I was singing a lot of "scratch"
vocal tracks for Freddy Fender while he was on the road. I would sing
them as a guide for the band while they were recording the tracks.
Freddy would then learn the vocals and come in to the studio to record them
later when he wasn't touring.
Here is a Pacemaker release of "Shoot Your Best Shot"
...and "Hitman." Recorded at Sugar Hill Studios.
For the next few years Heather Black went through many
personnel changes.
Our main base was in Houston at the Village Inn down in Old
Market Square.
Later the name of the band was changed from Heather Black
to Christopher Cross.
Members at that time were: Chris Geppert, Rob Meurer, Andy
Salmon, Jim Newhouse, Clay Hemphill and myself.
After awhile, the band split up. Chris, Andy and Clay
left to play with Dean Scott.
I re-signed with Huey Meaux.
Huey was riding high with Freddy Fender and many other
artists he had signed.
It was a constant revolving door of artists coming in to
record 24 / 7 at Sugar Hill Studios. In a two-month period, I recorded
over six albums of my material. However, most of the albums were never
finished. They were just rushed through demos. Pictures were even
made for album covers and Joe Nick Patoski (who was working for Rolling Stone
Magazine) wrote the liner notes for most of them. The albums were
completed slick packages. Sadly, I found that that the albums were never
intended to be released. They were only to be used as tax write-offs and
I as an artist / writer got nothing.
Things were not working out between Huey and me.
Furthermore Huey didn't understand or like what I was writing. I just
wanted out, but I was contract bound with no release in sight.
Here are couple of songs from around that time frame.
Original Heather Black Band Members circa 1968
Heather Black circa 1971
Tommy Christian, Glennis Harding,
Gaylan Latimer, Ted Richardson, ???
Gaylan Latimer, Glennis Harding, ???,
Ted Richardson, Tommy Christian
Heather Black circa 1972
Jack Truitt, Doug Lavery (right), Gaylan Latimer (Left),
Jimmy Jones (bottom center), Tommy Christian (top center)
More to come...
Gaylan
Click
HERE
to access the official website Comment/Question Form.
Special Thanks To...
Glenn Pitts who discovered this website and contacted me with the name of the
mystery bass player (Jimmy Rogers) whose name I could not recall on the early
Goldstar sessions. Glenn was a dancer on the Larry Kane Show for 10
years and Jimmy is Kenny Rogers' nephew--small world!
Chris Bishop from garagehangover.com for sending album photos and music.
David Moir for photo copying many of the record labels and all the old photos.
Audio Credits
"Shy"
"Walk, Think, And Cry"
Bobby - Vocals & Guitar
Gaylan - Vocals & Guitar
Jimmy Rogers - Bass
Fred Arechiga - Drums
Recorded at Goldstar Studios 1965
"Won't You Cry For Me"
"It Belongs To You"
Gaylan - Vocals & Guitar
Bobby - Lead guitar & Background vocals
Jimmy Rogers - Bass
Fred Arechiga - Drums
Recorded at Goldstar Studios 1965
"Come On And Get It"
"Lucille"
Single from the double Heather Black Album around 1971.
Jimmy Jones - Bass & Lead Vocal on "Lucille"
Doug Lavery - Drums
Tommy Christian - Lead Guitar
Gaylan Latimer - Guitar & Lead Vocal on "Come On And Get It"
Wayne Brooks - Keyboards
"Repulsive Situation"
Circa 1967-68
Gaylan Ladd and the East Life Transfer
Vernon Womack - Organ
Sammie Piazza - Drums
Tommy Christian - Guitar
Gaylan Latimer - Vocal and Bass
This song was mentioned in the April 2010 Texas Monthly Magazine
article "3 Chords And A Station Wagon."
"Master Nichols"
"She's My Woman"
"Walking Back To Waco"
"Harris County Jail"
"Cajun Blue"
"California Dreaming"
"Dream"
"Circles"
The original Heather Black members;
Mickey Sharp - Drums
Ted Richardson - Bass
Tommy Christian - Lead Guitar
Gaylan Latimer - Vocals and Guitar
"Sidewinder"
"I Love"
Chuck Harding And The Confederates
Tommy Christian - Lead Guitar on "Sidewinder"
Oneda Harding - Vocal on "I Love"
"Something Is Strange"
The Silvertones
Recorded at Chuck Hardings store/studio on North 19th Street in Waco circa
1966-67.
The studio was in the back of the store.
"Shoot Your Best Shot"
"Hitman"
The players:
Jim Fulton - Lead Guitar and Co-Writer on Hitman
Winn Landreth - Lead Guitar
Guy Schwartz - Bass
?? - Drums
"Sweetheart" - written by Gaylan Latimer
Band members:
Kenny Cordray - Lead Guitar
Clay Hemphill - Keyboards
Norvell Holmes - Drums/Background Vocals
Gaylan Latimer - Vocals
"Avenue" - Written by Gaylan Latimer
Norvell Holmes - Drums/Background Vocals
Clay Hemphill - Keyboards
Bill Rowe - Bass
Kenny Cordray - Guitar
Larry Slazack - Saxaphone
Becky Williams - Background Vocals
Tamara Chaplin - Background Vocals
Galan Latimer - Vocals
Copyright 2010-2018 by Gaylan Latimer – All Rights Reserved.