October 7, 2009
Shelby Singleton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shelby Singleton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaShelby Singleton (born Shelby Sumpter Singleton, Jr., 16 December 1931, Waskom, Texas) is an American record producer and record label owner.
[edit] Career
He joined the Marine Corps, and after his military discharge he was hired by the Shreveport, Louisiana branch of Mercury Records doing promotional work. He rose in the company until he was a record producer and executive. In 1960 he achieved first hit single, Brook Benton's recording of "The Boll Weevil Song", which became a #2 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following year.[1] Singleton spent nine years at Mercury and its sister label Smash Records during which he was involved in producing many hit records, including "Walk On By", Leroy Van Dyke; "Ahab the Arab", Ray Stevens; "Wooden Heart", Joe Dowell; and producing acts such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roger Miller, Charlie Rich, Dave Dudley and Brook Benton. In 1962 Singleton bought the master recording of "Hey Paula" by Jill and Ray, originally released on LeCam Records. He changed the duo's names to Paul and Paula and issued the song on Mercury's newly acquired label, Philips. The song spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1966 Singleton resigned from Mercury and formed several music labels, including SSS International and Plantation Records, achieving his first #1 hit in 1968 with "Harper Valley P.T.A." The following year he purchased Sun Records from Sam Phillips, including its classic rock and roll catalog.
Singleton is on the nominating committee of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
[edit] Private life
He graduated from Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana at 15. Two years later he married his first wife married Margaret Ebey, who later rose in the country music scene as Margie Singleton. After 16 years of marriage they divorced. Singleton married three more times. He has four children; Stephen, Sidney, Shana, and Stuart. Stephen, Sidney, and Shana all have their own children as well. Stephen has Shelby the 3rd and Scarlett. Sidney has Stefanie and Sofia, identical twins. Shana has Drake and Emersyn, fraternal twins. Singleton and his family reside in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rockabilly Hall of Fame: Shelby Singleton
Rockabilly Hall of Fame�: Shelby Singleton
Given Name: Shelby Singleton, Jr.
Date of Birth: December 16, 1931
Date of Death: October 7, 2009
Place of Birth: Waskom, Texas
Talents: Industry Executive, Record Producer
Also See: Wikipedia
Nowadays, it is virtually impossible for an independent label to get a No. 1 record on the singles charts. On that basis, Jeannie C. Riley's Harper Valley P.T.A., released on Shelby Singleton's Plantation label, would never have gone to No. 1 and certainly would not have gone gold and sold over 4 million copies. However, back in the late 60's, things were different, and for record company bosses with the wealth of experience that Shelby Singleton has, it was always possible.
He served in the Marine Corps in Korea where he was injured in combat, and still has a metal plate in his head. He moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, at the end of the Korean War and, in 1958, he became the local promotion man for Mercury Records. It was here that Shelby met his future wife, Margie, who was appearing on the Louisiana Hayride.
A year after joining Mercury, he had made sufficient headway to be promoted to Southern Regional Sales Manager. A year after that, he became Product Manager and than a record producer for the label.Although, he spent some of his time in Nashville, he chose to base himself in New York. Singleton had the knack of taking Country songs and having them recorded by non-Country acts. This started with Brook Benton's recording of The Boll Weevil Song in 1960, which became a Top 3 record the following year.
He also kept his ears to the ground, and when he heard that a record was doing well on an independent label, he would try and pick it up for Mercury. He was put in charge of Smash Records and eventually became VP of Mercury.
Among the hits during Shelby's nine-year period with Mercury and it's sister label, Smash were Walk On By by Leroy Van Dyke (1961), Wooden Heart by Joe Dowell (1961), Hey Baby by Bruce Channel (1962) and Ahab The Arab by Ray Stevens (1962).
In addition, he was involved with Jerry Lee Lewis, Roger Miller, Charlie Rich, Dave Dudley and Brook Benton's other hits.
Shelby resigned from Mercury in 1966, and set up his own production company. He launched SSS International Records and shortly thereafter, Shelby set up his Plantation label and in 1968, had his No.1 hit with Harper Valley P.T.A.
The following year, he purchased Sun Records from Sam Phillips, which contained all the classic Rock'n'Roll records by Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. He licensed the catalog to Charly Records for Europe and this has proven to be a big money earner, as Rock'n'Roll and Rockabilly is still popular there.
Shelby also operated the Silver Fox label and Shelby Singleton Music. Although he has never had another hit of the magnitude of Harper Valley P.T.A., Plantation racked up another thirty-six chart entries since the label was established.
One single released in 1980 on Sun was not a big hit, but has since become a trucker's classic. It was Dave Dudley's Rolaids, Doan's Pills And Preparation H.
In 1993, Jason D. Williams became the first artist to sign to a renovated Sun Records.
In 1997, Singleton merged Sun with Brave New Entertainment Corporation.
Sun Entertainment Corporation
3106 Belmont Boulevard
Nashville, TN 37212 USA
615 385-1960
615 385-1964
info@sunrecords.com
RIP Shelby Singleton, famed producer, record executive and promoter, dies at 77 | at tennessean.comTune In Music City
Shelby Singleton, famed producer, record executive and promoter, dies at 77 at tennessean.com | Tune In Music CityShelby Singleton, famed producer, record executive and promoter, dies at 77
Shelby Singleton died just before 1 p.m. Wednesday in Alive Hospice Care at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, at age 77.Shelby Singleton (photo: Jack Corn)
Mr. Singleton was a renegade producer, record executive, song-hunter and promoter who helped fuse country and R&B music in the 1960s and who perpetuated the Sun Records label since 1969. He had been battling brain cancer.
“A lot of people in this town owe a lot to Shelby,” said friend and protégé Jerry Kennedy, himself a famed producer. “He created a place here for a lot of us. Shelby did things in a different way. He was a maverick.”
Mr. Singleton produced Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” a No. 1 country hit that became one of the biggest independent records in Nashville history when released on his Plantation Records. He was an essential enabler in the careers of Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, Roger Miller, Merle Kilgore and many others, He may be the only producer to record three No. 1 country records in one day on three different artists: Stevens, Leroy Van Dyke and Joe Dowell.
He was also, as Belmont University music business professor Don Cusic noted, “A wheeler-dealer.” And, as Kennedy said, “A clique-buster.” Most everyone who came into contact with him agreed that he was a character. He was also the owner of a brand new Rolls Royce.
“The Rolls came in on Monday,” Cusic said. “I’d seen him last week and he told me he’d ordered it. He said he’d always wanted one, and he said, ‘At my age and in my condition, I figured I’d better get it soon.’”If Mr. Singleton’s career in music is any indication, it’s likely a very, very nice car. And he probably got it at a good price. During the early 1960s, he headed Mercury Records’ Smash imprint, where over and again he found quality recordings and viable artists, snapped them up for Smash and released hit records.
He heard a Texas pop duo named Jill and Ray on a recording of a song called “Hey Paula.” The recording was soon reissued on Smash, but not before Mr. Singleton changed the duo’s name to Paul and Paula. Jill and Ray didn’t like the idea at first, but they grew used to it by February 1963, when the song topped American pop charts.
A year earlier, he heard Bruce Channel’s “Hey! Baby,” a song that featured distinctive harmonica from a young Delbert McClinton. That one became a No. 1 hit for Smash after Mr. Singleton bought the master recording. With Smash, Mr. Singleton also presided over a roster that grew to include Roger Miller, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Hebb, Ivory Joe Hunter, Pete Drake, Patti Page and James Brown. That roster included artists of varying styles, and it was not uncommon for Mr. Singleton to preside over sessions that featured African-American artists and white musicians.
“He brought (African-American) artists to town and put them up at his house,” said Kennedy, who often engineered sessions that Mr. Singleton produced, and who also produced hundreds of records for Kennedy-owned labels. “He brought people like Clyde McPhatter, Brook Benton and Ruth Brown here, and the only hotel where they were allowed to stay was the old Eldorado, in North Nashville. So most of the time, the artists stayed with Shelby.”
When Mr. Singleton heard Roger Miller singing witty, up-tempo numbers that were at odds with the serious-sounding material Miller was recording for RCA, Mr. Singleton signed Miller and told him he’d been singing the wrong songs. Miller immediately entered the studio and recorded 16 sides, including “Dang Me,” and his career turned a corner. And when Mr. Singleton — at the time a southeastern regional promotions man for Mercury — heard Stevens singing in an Atlanta nightclub, he soon offered the young performer a job in Nashville.
“When I left that job, he did the same thing for Jerry Reed,” Stevens said. “Shelby brought a lot of people to town. And working with him on the music later on, he had good instincts. Sometimes he did things I didn’t think were right at the time, but it turned out the decisions he made were right. Like, ‘Ahab’ was a four-minute song. He sliced it up and made it shorter. That bothered me at the time, but there’s no way the song would have been a radio hit if it had been four minutes long.”
In 1967, Mr. Singleton left Mercury and started Shelby Singleton Productions Inc. with $1,000. Twenty months later, his corporate value was estimated at more than $2 million. Much of that increase was due to “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” a song from the pen of Tom T. Hall. On Friday, July 26, 1968, Mr. Singleton produced Riley’s recording with featured instrumentation on the “pickin’ Dobro” from Kennedy. That night, he rushed the finished product to influential WSM disc jockey Ralph Emery. By daybreak, it was a hit: a literal overnight success. In a country music era dominated by Music Row’s major labels, Mr. Singleton’s little Plantation label sold millions of copies of “Harper Valley P.T.A.”
On July 1, 1969, Mr. Singleton purchased Sun Records, the label for which Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich and others had recorded. Mr. Singleton began mining many of those artists’ back catalogs for release on Sun, and he oversaw licensing of reissues and the marketing of the ever-popular Sun Records T-shirts and other souvenirs.
“He was the all-around record guy,” Kennedy said. “Just a great merchandising guy, promoter and producer. He did it all, and he seemed to get along with everybody. Shelby was one of the biggest-hearted people around.”
Stevens, himself one of the most unique souls to smack boot heels on a Music City sidewalk, said, “Shelby Singleton was absolutely one of a kind.”
Un cáncer mata a Willy DeVille | El Periódico de Catalunya | Cultura
Un cáncer mata a Willy DeVille | El Periódico de Catalunya | CulturaUn cáncer mata a Willy DeVille
- • El autor de ‘Demasiado corazón’ fallece en EEUU a los 55 años
Vídeo: YOUTUBE. VER MÁS VÍDEOS
- El rockero Willy DeVille, en una imagen del año pasado.
EL PERIÓDICO
nueva yorkWilly DeVille se ha unido a Edith Piaf». Con estas palabras, la empresa organizadora de conciertos Caramba Spectacles anunció ayer la muerte de una de sus perlas: el cantante y guitarrista estadounidense Willy DeVille, autor de cientos de temas; entre ellos, la mil veces cantada Demasiado corazón.
DeVille –aunque su verdadero nombre era William Borsey– murió «en paz» durante la noche del pasado jueves, 6 de agosto, en Nueva York. «Su música y su espíritu estarán siempre con nosotros», se leía ayer en su web oficial. El líder del grupo Mink DeVille tenía 55 años y llevaba dos meses luchando contra un cáncer de páncreas. Meses antes le había sido diagnosticada una hepatitis C que agravó su estado de salud. De hecho, había cancelado todos las citas preparadas para este año. Sus seguidores estaban informados de todo gracias a su web, en la que los comentarios médicos iban acompañados una frase demoledora: «El corazón roto».
Nada más conocer la noticia, Caramba Spectacles lanzó un comunicado en el que decía que DeVille se había «unido» a Piaf –la diva francesa que le inspiró y con la que colaboró en El gato azul–, a su productor Jack Nitzsche y a su compañero, el guitarrista Johnny Thunders.
DeVille comenzó su carrera en Nueva York en plena época punk, pero su música se abrió mejor paso en Europa que en su país natal. Su reconocimiento mundial llegó de la mano de su grupo, Mink DeVille, que se deshizo a mediados de los años 80. A finales de la década publicó su primer disco en solitario, Miracle, producido por Mark Knopfler. De hecho, el líder de los Dire Straits versionó una de sus canciones, Storybook love, para incluirla en la banda sonora de la película La princesa prometida. La pieza llegó a conseguir una nominación al Oscar. Para su primer disco en solitario, DeVille también contó con la colaboración del músico de country Chet Atkins.
DANDI Y MARIACHI / DeVille era un artista multidisciplinar. En los 90 adoptó un look entre dandi y mariachi, con el que será siempre recordado. Lucía tupé, llevaba el pelo largo y un bigote fino. Calzaba unas llamativas botas de vaquero y vestía un chaleco igual de llamativo. Tiempo después, dio un paso hacia el rythm & blues, el soul y la salsa, dos estilos muy presentes en sus últimos trabajos, Crow Jane Alley (2004) y Pistola (2008).
DeVille era el mejor ejemplo de músico autodidacta. Sin embargo, el éxito no le sonrió siempre. Cuando, en 1971, decidió marcharse a Londres y convertirse en un profesional de la música, terminó completamente frustrado por la terrible falta de éxito.
Sin embargo, siguió persiguiendo su sueño. Cansado de Londres, hizo las maletas y se volvió a su país natal. Pero esta vez fue a San Francisco, donde consiguió dar conciertos en pequeños locales. Después, decidió probar suerte en Nueva Orleans, cuyos ritmos ya no le abandonaron nunca, y Nueva York. Allí también tuvo un merecido éxito, aunque tuvo bastante más reconocimiento artístico en Europa. Tras varios conciertos en el Olympia de París, se declaró como «un gran amante de Francia».
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I'm taking the easy way out here because there simply are no words for how amazing McQueen is and was this season. He is a leader, an innovator, and on top of his game.
"McQueen, according to an internal logic detailed in a press release, was casting an apocalyptic forecast of the future ecological meltdown of the world: Humankind is made up of creatures that evolved from the sea, and we may be heading back to an underwater future as the ice cap dissolves."
This jungle mash-up was my favortie dress in the collection.The alien horse hooves were crazy and all, but these were the real works of art.The transformation to sea mammals begins...
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