Category: Obits

JOAO GILBERTO (1931 - 2019)

7/7/2019

Considered by many to be the father of Bossa Nova, Joao Gilberto, passed away on July 6. Cause of death was not released. Gilberto is best known for his collaboration with Stan Getz on the 1964 international smash "The Girl From Ipanema". The tune, believed to be the second most recorded song in history behind only The Beatles' "Yesterday", was composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and sung by Gilberto's then wife Astrud. The album which featured the single, "Getz/Gilberto", went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, an honor few Jazz records have ever achieved.

Gilberto released his first records in 1951. His father did not approve of Joao's choice of career and had him committed to a mental institution in 1955, though his stay there was brief. It was his 1958 hit "Bim Bom" and his 1959 album "Chega de Saudade" that launched the Bossa Nova style. His last original album was released in 2000 and he last played in public in 2008.

You may come across a few albums with Christmas titles and graphics purporting to be holiday sets from Joao Gilberto, but these appear to be compilations of non-Christmas music. The one legitimate Gilberto Christmas song I know of is "Presente de Natal" ("Christmas Gift") from 1961. The song was written by Nelcy Noronha and has also been covered by Hugh Masekela.

0 Comments

JOHN DOLLMAN - WINTER WAS WARM

5/21/2019

2 Comments

It is, to me, an inescapable fact that music wears the tint of whatever is going on in your life when you first encounter it. So it is perhaps unfortunate that this beautiful rendition of "Winter Was Warm" by fingerstyle guitarist John Dollman arrived in my in-box just as Missy Katz is dying. Or perhaps it was meant to be that way, as it immediately cut to my heart.

I have spent weeks taking Missy Katz to and from the vets, but she just continues to wither away and, at this point, I doubt she'll last the week (if, indeed, she makes it through the day). In this context, this gentle acoustic version of a song from the soundtrack of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol hits me with a bittersweet blend of nostalgia and regret. And that's kinda what I've always said the best Christmas music does.

I don't know John Dollman, though I do recognize him as a long-time denizen of the forums at The Fa. He's clearly a talented guitarist. I understand that he has made several CDs of his solo guitar interpretations of Christmas music for family and friends and he informs me that some of this music will soon be available through CD Baby. You can currently hear several selections on John's Soundcloud page (as well as some non-holiday music). I hope he'll link from there to CD Baby when his music becomes available for purchase.

But John has made this beautiful version of "Winter Was Warm" available as a free download for the readers of Stubby's (and anyone else who stumbles across it).

For me, the song will now forever be entwined with the memories of Missy Katz, a good girl and faithful companion who, no matter how weak she got, always climbed up to sleep on my chest at night, purring loud enough to wake the neighbors. "Winter Was Warm" will complete the soundtrack of her life, which began with "Ooh Child" when she first arrived in our home small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Given my age and my own health, she is likely the last such companion I will ever know.

John, I'm sorry this piece is more about Missy Katz and less about you. You deserve better. Hopefully, others will find that out for themselves.

2 Comments

ARETHA FRANKLIN (1942 - 2018)

8/16/2018

2 Comments

The Queen of Soul has passed.

2 Comments

MRS. KATZ [NOT HER REAL NAME] (???? - 2018)

7/30/2018

9 Comments

My beloved baby girl is gone. She passed away early Saturday afternoon (7/28/18). I adopted her as a stray, so I don't know her full history, but I know enough to place her age at right around 18. As best as I can determine, the cause of death was old age.

Mrs. Katz (not her real name) was an indoor/outdoor. In addition to being beautiful, she was incredibly smart and incredibly loyal (more than one neighbor noted that she followed me around like a puppy dog). She loved sunsets and always took time to stop and smell the roses (well, we don't actually have any roses, but she always enjoyed smelling whatever those flowers are that we do have). In her prime, she was about the fastest thing on four feet I've ever seen and she was the unquestioned Queen of the Neighborhood. It's said that cats have nine lives and Mrs. Katz (not her real name) had more than her share; I had counted her out more times than I can remember (hit by cars, shot by BB guns, poisoned by assholes...she was a regular Rasputin).

Her final descent seemed brief. She stopped eating and drinking Thursday. On Friday, she curled up in a corner, where she stayed (changing positions occasionally) until she passed. She gave no indication of being in any pain. She did not cry. I've had a lot of cats in my life and they tend to die all stretched out, their spines straight. Mrs. Katz (not her real name) was still mostly curled up when she died. Because it comforts me, I'm going to take that to mean that she died in her sleep.

Note: The portrait just above was done by Claire Bowman of The Bowmans. It was a perk of their Kickstarter campaign for "Make Sure The Snow Falls". Mrs. Katz wasn't particularly a fan of my Christmas music obsession, but she insisted I pledge enough to qualify for the portrait. Well, she didn't so much insist.... She hit the mouse and placed the order when I wasn't looking. It's true; that really happened.

While I mourn, it may be a few days before I post again. But I shall return.

9 Comments

BOB DOROUGH (1923 - 2018)

4/24/2018

0 Comments

The always brilliant Bob Dorough passed away on Monday (April 23). Among his many works, Bob composed and collaborated on "Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)" with Miles Davis. Released in 1962, IIRC, "Blue Xmas" is a timeless classic of the season (albeit of the anti-Christmas variety) and, certainly at the time, one of the most unique. I'm just not up to doing full obits these days, but the least I can do is honor Bob by featuring "Blue Xmas", here. Miles provides some tasty notes and Bob provides the vocals.

0 Comments

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JOE JEFFREY?

7/9/2017

12 Comments

Cats and kittens, consider this a warning of sorts. I have listened to little else but Christmas and holiday music for more than a decade. And I'm quite enjoying, now, listening to non-Christmas music--lots and lots of non-Christmas music. Since I'm going to be sort of hanging around, here, for a bit--albeit less intensely than before--you're going to be subjected to the occasional non-holiday post. This is one of those.

It's a question I've been asking myself and others for decades, although it usually goes "What the hell ever happened to Joe Jeffrey?" Jeffrey really only had the one hit but, man, what a hit. It's absolutely iconic. Unless you've spent your entire life in a cave, you must have heard "My Pledge of Love". And, if you've heard it, you have to love it. It is very nearly the perfect Pop Soul song. So what the hell happened to Joe Jeffrey? Surely even a one hit wonder could have been making good money on the nostalgia circuit. But no one seemed to know anything. Every once in a while, you'd come across a forum post claiming that Joe had died. Inevitably, about 3 posts down, would come a denial from whomever had been claimed as the source of the death rumor. Every so often, I'd get the bug again, start searching the net again, and come up empty...again. Until Saturday.

Joe Jeffrey has passed away. For real, this time. Joe died on September 4, 2016 at the age of 80 following a long battle with cancer.

Joe was always something of an enigma to the world beyond Cleveland, Ohio, where he made his home. The only two photographs of Joe I've ever seen are the 2 on the back of his one album.

Joseph Stafford, Jr. was (allegedly) born in Arkansas (though many bios list Cleveland as his birthplace). When he decided upon a music career, he changed his name to Joe Jeffrey to avoid confusion with the already famous pop singer Jo Stafford. Joe was a popular act in the Cleveland clubs well before "My Pledge of Love". Most often, he performed as a solo act...just a man and his guitar...mostly singing covers.

I have this vision in my mind of Joe waking in a sweat one morning, furiously scribbling down "My Pledge of Love" before it could get away from him. Truthfully, it was more likely that Joe was sitting around playing with that distinctive progression on his guitar and "My Pledge of Love" probably emerged within 15 or 20 minutes. It was divine inspiration, however it happened. Whether Joe knew the song needed to be recorded or was convinced by Alan Klein (Liberty Records) and Jerry Myers (Scepter Records)--both are listed as producers--he laid down the song at a small Cleveland 4-track recording studio. Most of his later tracks would be recorded in Memphis.

Truth be told, Joe's journey was very similar to the journey of the fictional Wonders in the film "That Thing You Do". "My Pledge of Love" was an instant classic and climbed quickly to #14 on the Billboard charts, higher in Cashbox, and higher still in Canada. He had signed with Scepter (of which Wand was a subsidiary) and, naturally, they wanted an album on quick turnaround. "My Pledge of Love" is the only Joe Jeffrey original on the LP, which also featured a couple of the covers from his Cleveland act and some songs which, no doubt, Scepter told him to record (because they were "snappy", no doubt). Though the album doesn't really feel like it reflects Joe entirely, and while nothing sticks to your soul quite like "My Pledge of Love", it isn't bad and I've very much enjoyed it since picking it up at a used record store in the 70s. You can probably still get a copy for a buck or two.

The first follow-up single was "Dreamin' Till Then", a decent enough pop song (one of my favorites from the album) if not nearly on par with "My Pledge of Love". But "Dreamin' Till Then" is worth seeking out for its funky flip, Joe Jeffrey's second original on record, "The Train". Like Joe's hit, "The Train" was recorded at the 4-track studio in Cleveland, probably in the same session as "My Pledge of Love".

Though "The Train" has become a bit of a cult classic with the Northern Soul crowd, the single flopped. The next follow-up single was "Hey, Hey Woman" (backed with "The Chance of Lovin' You") and that, too, flopped.

I only ever heard two Joe Jeffrey songs on the radio. "My Pledge of Love" (obviously) and Joe's next follow-up, "My Baby Loves Lovin'". I don't know if anyone else finds it so, but the first version of a song I hear usually becomes the definitive version of a song for me. Joe enjoyed a couple solid weeks of airplay with this one. "He's back!" I thought to myself. Then the British bubblegum group White Plains recorded the song. Guess who had the hit. Even as a bubblegum child, I still resent White Plains for that. Joe's version peaked at #115 on the Billboard charts. Although, for some reason, Joe's take on the tune was a huge smash in Australia. Go figure.

Having released 4 singles and one album, Wand and Joe gave it one last shot, releasing Joe's cover of Gene McDaniels' 1961 hit "100 Pounds of Clay" (backed with "Power Of Love") in May 1971--almost precisely 2 years after the release of "My Pledge of Love". These two were recorded at Act One Studios in Buffalo. Joe gave "100 Pounds of Clay" a bit of an uptempo spin, almost bubblegum and reminiscent of his other A-sides. But, again, it's the B-side Pop Funk of "Power of Love" (complete with screaming organ solo) that shines brightest over 45 years on (not on YouTube, sadly).

It probably doesn't need to be said that "100 Pounds of Clay" didn't chart. And every discography I've seen will tell you that Wand and Joe went their separate ways at that point. But that's not entirely true. In 1972, Wand released one more Joe Jeffrey single...but only in Brazil. Wha....? Yes, exclusively in Brazil. Having previously tracked down all the original singles from Joe's official discography many years ago, this Brazil single was something I knew nothing of before this weekend. The A-side, "Looking Around", has a fairly typical Joe Jeffrey sound. But the B-side, "Everything Will Be Allright", is a mystery to me (no audio anywhere on-line) and it's another Joe Jeffrey original, so I can't help but be curious. Those two sides, like "100 Pounds of Clay", were recorded at Act One, so one suspects those tracks were laid down at the same time and it makes you wonder what else is collecting dust in the vaults.

After Joe and Wand split, joe returned to the Cleveland scene where he played the club circuit for another decade or so. He'd play his hit and some of his other songs recorded for Wand, his R&B and standards covers, a bit of Motown, and he'd close with "The Impossible Dream". At some point in the 80s, he just sort of vanished, though it seems he stayed in Cleveland.

Probably the last time I had Joe Jeffrey on the brain was 2011. At the time, there was almost nothing about Joe on-line. There was nothing about this Brazil single, nor was the digital collection (bearing a 2009 release date) at Amazon there at the time (it's worth pointing out that that digital collection includes another pair of songs from Joe not included on his discography (covers of "Moon River" and "Something Stupid" with no clue as to whether they were recorded before, during, or after his association with Wand). Some real serious internet searching on my part (seriously, I'd spend days looking, not even coming up for air) turned up no Joe Jeffrey CD. Either released since or unknown at the time, Joe's album has been released on CD...also exclusively in Brazil (and no bonus tracks). One Joe Jeffrey mystery has been solved. We now know that Joe died late last year after a long battle with cancer. But other Joe Jeffrey mysteries remain.

At some point, I think I suggested to the folks at Real Gone that a Joe Jeffrey collection would make for a terrific release. But, no doubt, it would have made for an even better release if they could have gotten fresh perspective from the man, himself, making for some interesting liner notes (and maybe a handful of autographed copies, as Real Gone does from time to time). Alas, that much is now no longer possible. But I still hold out hope for a comprehensive collection of Joe Jeffrey's recorded works, including, with any luck, some previously unreleased tracks......maybe even a Christmas song. I hope I live to see Joe get his due. I'll just have to keep "Dreamin' Till Then".

12 Comments

SHARON JONES (1956 - 2016)

11/19/2016

2 Comments

Sharon Jones passed away Friday (November 18). She was 60 years old. Sharon had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013, but fought her way back to the stage and recording studio. The cancer returned last fall which necessitated another round of radiation treatments. Earlier this year, while Jones was on tour, doctors discovered the cancer had spread to her stomach, lungs and lymph nodes.

Sharon was born in Augusta, Georgia. Because of the Jim Crow laws at the time, Sharon's mother could not give birth in the hospital's main building but was instead relegated to a storage room. When her parents separated, Sharon's mother moved with the children to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. In 1960, the neighborhood was run-down and rough.

For much of her life, Sharon had sung in church choirs. She was interested in a career in music but met with resistance from an industry that considered her “too short, too fat, too black and too old.” Some industry execs even told her she should bleach her skin. But Sharon believed that, if she was going to succeed, it would be on her terms. So she took what session work she could get, sang in a wedding band, and worked as a corrections officer at Riker's Island.

Sharon's break came in 1996 when Gabriel Roth and Philip Lehman, who ran a small label and, themselves, played and recorded with Lee Fields & The Soul Providers, were looking for female backing vocalists for a record they were producing. Three women were selected, but only Sharon showed up. Roth and Lehman were on the verge of cancelling the session when Sharon said she could sing all three parts and why pay three singers when one could get the job done. So impressed were Roth and Lehman, they began recording her. Sharon's debut single, "Damn, It's Hot" was released in 1996. Sharon was 40. Sharon's Funk singles did generate some buzz among Soul enthusiasts who debated whether the records were previously unreleased tracks recorded in the 70s.

In 2000, Desco Records folded and Roth and Lehman split. Lehman and some Desco artists founded the Soul Fire label. Roth founded Dap-Tone Records. He and the musicians that went with him decided to put their own projects on hold and concentrate on being the backing band for Sharon. Thus were born the Dap Kings.

The first big release on Dap-Tone was Sharon's debut full-length, "Dap Dippin' wuth Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings". Once again, Sharon's records generated buzz. But it wasn't until the Dap Kings backed Amy Winehouse on "Back To Black" that the buzz turned to sales. The press tried to drum up a rivalry between the two singers, but Sharon would have none of it. "If it hadn't been for Any," she said in 2007, "no one would be watching me."

Sharon's appreciation for and loyalty to Dap Tone Records was unbreakable. In 2015, after being nominated for a Grammy, she told Billboard magazine, "A major label's gonna do what? I sing one or two songs, they give me a few million dollars which they're gonna want back, and then the next thing you know, the next record don't sell, and then they're kicking me to the curb. With us, this is our label, this is our project."

Perhaps because of her late start, Sharon was a force of nature--always touring and recording. In the last year and a half alone, she recorded two albums (one being last year's "It's A Holiday Soul Party"), did two national tours opening for Hall & Oates, cut a television commercial and "starred" in the documentary of her life and battle with cancer, "Miss Sharon Jones!" “Getting out on that stage, that’s my therapy,” she told the New York Times earlier this year. “You have to look at life the way it is. No one knows how long I have. But I have the strength now, and I want to continue.” "Miss Sharon Jones!" has met with critical praise. The one thing everyone remarks upon is Sharon's positive energy. It was something so genuine in her that it's in the music. You can't help but feel it. That kind of true soul is very rare. Sharon will be missed.

2 Comments

ZACHERLE (1918 - 2016)

10/29/2016

0 Comments

Well, this kinda throws a wet towel on Halloween. John Zacherle--"The Cool Ghoul"--has passed away.

John Zacherle was born in Philadelphia. He served in the US Army during World War II, seeing action in Europe and Northern Africa. He did a bit of acting and then landed a gig with Philly's WCAU television station.

Wherever you grew up, chances are you had a local station that played bad horror and SciFi movies and you had a host for those movies who dressed like a ghoul or a vampire or something odd and who made bad puns during the commercial breaks. Zacherle was the original. Beginning in 1957, he became the host of WCAU's "Shock Theater". He invented the character of Roland who wore a long undertaker's jacket and addressed his "wife" (who was theoretically dead and lying in the coffin) as "My dear". He also had a lab assistant (Igor) and, together, they would often perform skits and make jokes while the movie played. If that sounds like "Mystery Science Theater 3000" to you, it should. As I said earlier, Zacherle was the original. He was close friends with Dick Clark and sometimes filled in for him on American Bandstand. And it was Clark who first called him "The Cool Ghoul".

Zacherle moved onto New York in 1959, keeping the Roland character (though changing the character's name to Zacherley) and the same basic schtick. Though he changed stations from time to time, he was a fixture in the New York market for years.

Zacherle had a Top Ten hit with "Dinner With Drac" and roles in numerous B-movies. He recorded several albums and wrote several books. In 1960, he even ran for President (facetiously of course, but nearly a decade before Pat Paulson did it). If you want to hear his platform, you'll find "Zacherley For President" on the "Spook Along" album. Truly, the man was a Renaissance Ghoul.

I knew none of this when I first heard Zacherle. To me, he was the late night radio host on WPLJ-FM. He held that gig through the seventies and I listened most every night. He did no schtick (although he did retain the "My Dear(s)", though, in this context, it was addressed to the listeners). And, in a town with more than its share of top notch late night DJs, Zacherle was the best. The only one who even came close was The Nightbird, Alison Steele, but that was an entirely different kind of trip.

After his run at WPLJ, Zach moved up and down the dial a couple of times, including a short-lived return to WPLJ. As time went on, his appearances on the radio became an annual thing. Once a year, Zacherle would rise to host a Halloween special on the radio. Some years, he'd even get to do Halloween on TV again. And it should come as no surprise that he was a huge hit at conventions and the like, which he attended regularly pretty much through the rest of his life.

Zacherle and his fans carried on a mutual love affair for many many years. And make no mistake, this man was loved. He was such a good person, through and through. You've likely never known anyone more comfortable in his own skin. He looked on the brighter side always and enjoyed and savored every moment of life (I'm guessing not many of you have seen the old movie "Between Two Worlds", but Zacherle's disposition was a lot like that of Pete Musick).

John Zacherle died on Thursday at the age of 98. Halloween will never be quite the same.

0 Comments

BOBBY VEE (1943 - 2016)

10/25/2016

0 Comments

2016 continues to be brutal as Bobby Vee passed away Monday (10/24/16). Bobby was born Robert Velline in North Dakota and got his start in the business after the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper) crashed leaving Clear Lake, Iowa on the way to Moorhead, Minnesota where the next date on the tour was scheduled. Bobby (15 at the time) and some hastily assembled musicians filled in for Holly. Not the kind of gig you'd really want to do. But Bobby was well received (although the band was not paid for their appearance) and it started the snowball that was to be Bobby's career as a Teen Idol. Soon after, the band recruited a young musician named Elston Gunn. That was the name Bob Dylan was using at the time. Though Bob soon moved on, the two remained close for decades. It was Dylan who suggested that Bobby use the stage name "Bobby Vee".

Bobby's only #1 single was "Take Good Care Of My Baby", but there were several other Top Ten hits, including "Devil Or Angel", "Rubber Ball", "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", and "Come Back When You Grow Up". And, in total, he charted with more than 40 singles.

"Merry Christmas From Bobby Vee" was released in 1962 and, in the decades since, has had the track list shuffled and released as a "new" album a whole bunch of times. Bobby also had a Christmas single which has been included on some (but not all) of the re-issues of the '62 album.

Additionally, Bobby had one song ("Jingle Bell Rock") on one of those "Christmas With The Stars" collections in the 90s (I don't have it, so I couldn't tell you if it was the version on the '62 album or a re-recording). Bobby recorded a new Christmas album in 2003, "Up North December". Bobby's voice wasn't as strong at this point and the record leaned a bit toward Country Pop and wasn't very successful. It's been out of print for a while, now, and (so far as I can tell) isn't even available digitally. The title cut turns up on the occasional compilation--a few more on overseas collections--and two tracks look to have been included on the 2004 DMI release "Rockin' Christmas Party, Vol. 1" (I do have the DMI album, but I don't have "Up North December", so I can't swear that they weren't different recordings of "Peace On Earth" and "Home For The Holidays"; it just makes sense that you'd use the tracks you recorded the year before rather than re-record them).

In 2011, Bobby was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. In 2012, Bobby announced that he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. That forced him off the road. He disappeared into his garage and recorded an album of cover songs, mostly--from "I'm Going To Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" to "Save The Last Dance For Me" to Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me". "The Adobe Sessions" was released in 2014. Bobby's wife of 52 years, Karen, passed away last year and now Bobby has joined her. He was 73.

0 Comments

CLIFFORD CURRY (1936 - 2016)

9/9/2016

1 Comment

CLIFFORD CURRY IN THE 1960s

I was saddened to learn that Clifford Curry passed away on Tuesday (September 6, 2016). If you live north of the Mason-Dixon line or west of the Atlantic shores, you might not know who Clifford Curry was or, at most, you know not much more than the title of his "hit", "She Shot A Hole In My Soul". But, in the Carolinas, Clifford Curry was royalty. As if to put an exclamation point on a fact that--to fans of Southern Soul--is obvious, Clifford was known as "The King of Beach Music". It's often said of him that he built a career on one hit record, but there's a bit more to that story. Most of the information below comes from a fabulous 2012 Patricia Albrecht piece, "The Ballad of Clifford Curry". I recommend it highly.

There seems to be some disagreement as to where Clifford Curry was born, but there's no dispute that he was raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. Growing up, Cliff was schooled in Blues and R&B. And when I say "schooled", I mean that Clifford didn't just listen to the music--he studied it. After studying, the young Curry began writing--poems at first, then imagining the melodies to go with the words. By the time he got to high school, Clifford was already seen as a great singer who also had some smooth moves as a dancer. So, naturally, he was someone that every budding band wanted in their group. Initially, Curry threw in with The Echoes--a band that included a classmate of his, Benny Washington. Soon after, he was recruited by a band from a nearby all white high school. After Clifford joined, they called the band The Fabulous Six. It worked out for the 16 year old who, with the Echoes, sang for black audiences and, with the Fabulous Six, sang for white audiences. The Echoes quit high school to take their band on the road, but Curry didn't go with them. His father forbade it. Instead, he became part of another group, the Bingos.

CLIFFORD CURRY IN 2014

By this time, Clifford was already writing songs. When the Bingos raised enough money, they took two of Clifford's songs to a Nashville studio--"Don't Say Tomorrow" and "You For Me" (the latter co-written with bandmate Mickey Prater)--but the studio's owner changed the group's name to the Hollyhocks.

After graduating, Curry rejoined the Echoes who had returned home to East Tennessee. Again, Curry brought his original songs to the group. The band felt particularly good about "Mr. Moon" and decided to drive up to New York to audition for Atlantic Records. On a whim, they stopped in New Jersey where the Savoy label was based. Savoy signed the group on the spot, changing their name to The Five Pennies (odd, since the group had SIX members). The Five Pennies recorded six songs for the label, three of which were written by Curry.

Meanwhile, The Fabulous Six were still going strong and recorded some singles for a small Georgia label, though the label changed their name to the Contenders (anyone else reminded of the Oneders, here?). They lined up some regular gigs in Florida and were hugely popular...with everyone except the rival clubs. Eventually, one of the other clubs sent goons to the club where The Contenders were playing to incite fights and racial disruptions (remember, this is an all white group, aside from Curry). The fights caused the group to retreat north, back to Tennessee.

Clifford next joined another all white band, the Bubba Suggs Band. He was with them from 1959 - 1963, but left to focus on his songwriting. He recorded some sides for Excello, billed as Sweet Clifford, then joined another all white band, The Midnights, in 1965. Clifford and bandmate Rob Galbraith started working on Clifford's songs (Galbraith would work out the arrangements). They recorded a few on a tape recorder Clifford owned, but really needed some studio time and there were none in Knoxville. So they drove to Nashville, pitching the tunes but mostly came up empty. Or so they figured.

One of the people they met with was Buzz Cason, a writer, producer and publisher who had also sung with the Casuals, the Statues and some band called the Crickets. Yes, those Crickets. Cason wasn't all that taken with the songs, but he loved Clifford's voice. He sent Clifford a couple of songs (that Cason just happened to own the publishing rights for) and told him to get to Nashville to record them. The songs were "We're Gonna Hate Ourselves In The Morning" and "She Shot A Hole In My Soul". The year was 1967.

COLORIZATION BY STUBBY

Now, clearly, that's a helluva song. Timeless even. But it might all have been for naught if Rob Galbraith hadn't also been a DJ in Knoxville. Galbraith played the record early and often, the signal reaching various parts of the south, among them Raleigh, North Carolina. A promoter in Raleigh heard the record and booked Curry. It was Curry's first gig in the Carolinas and, there, he learned about Beach Music.

For the uninitiated, Beach Music is a southern and mostly coastal phenomenon. It's anything you can dance to, barefoot and in the sand. It's usually mid-tempo R&B, though that's a narrow and simplistic description, and horn sections are really big. "She Shot A Hole In My Soul" is quintessential Beach Music. The thing is, fans of Beach Music are passionate about the music. Extremely. Well, as a fellow Christmas music obsessive, you can probably understand that kind of passion. Beach Music territory runs from Virginia down through Georgia, but it's really really big in the Carolinas. And it is in these parts of the country that Curry's one "hit" turned into a 45 year career of sold out shows where he was virtually worshipped. Clifford continued recording, lots of singles and albums for lots of small labels. And he also wrote lots of great songs for lots of other artists.

As it happens, "She Shot A Hole In My Soul" wasn't really even a "hit", according to the usual standards. It spent three weeks on the charts in 1967 and peaked at #95 (as a radio guy, I wouldn't usually call something a hit unless it made the Top 40). I would have thought it did better with Cashbox, which included jukebox plays in their tabulations. But, no, it only lasted one week on the Cashbox charts, peaking at #95. On the R&B charts, it only reached #45. In the Carolinas, though? That song was a smash hit that went straight to #1 and stayed there. How big was it? "She Shot A Hole In My Soul" was what's known as a regional hit. And regional hits almost never chart nationally at all--not unless they get picked up by a major label. For the song to chart at all, with sales and airplay in just 7 (at most) of the 50 states? That's pretty amazing. Here in the south, Clifford Curry had a string of hits. He was a legend, a Soul Survivor, The King of Beach Music. In the rest of the country...not so much. Clifford was inducted into the Beach Music Hall of Fame in 1995, part of the Hall's original class.

I'd love to play you Clifford Curry's other Christmas song, "Santa, Bring Me Some Dancin' Shoes", but its not up on YouTube. But here's where you can buy the album it's on--"Southern Soul Christmas, Vol. 1". Also worth getting for the Poor Souls track. For a closing video, we'll just go with the flip, which is also brilliant.

1 Comment

<<Previous

JOAO GILBERTO (1931 - 2019)

JOHN DOLLMAN - WINTER WAS WARM

ARETHA FRANKLIN (1942 - 2018)

MRS. KATZ [NOT HER REAL NAME] (???? - 2018)

BOB DOROUGH (1923 - 2018)

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JOE JEFFREY?

SHARON JONES (1956 - 2016)

ZACHERLE (1918 - 2016)

BOBBY VEE (1943 - 2016)

CLIFFORD CURRY (1936 - 2016)

About us

FestiveFriends

The Twitters

Archives

Categories