Friday. December 20.1957 THE NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS 11 Wherever the .group went, audiences. -wnether right there on the spot, or sitting at home watching TV-started : adisc that talking about the distinctive singint "Rea Petite' is young man. Iiwas only .amatter of time be- THE telephone rang at 9.30 a.m, one Monday, forehe was signedto a recording a few weeks back.I realised at once that contract,and it wasCoralwho grows on succeeded in obtaining the vital signa- it could not have been one of my friends ; they tore on the dotted line. He is now a fullyfledged performerinhis Own know better than fo disturb me in the middle right; playing the clubs as a solo act, of the night. I decided the best way to find out andundertakingafair amount of who was calling was to answer the Ore. you : sodoes song -writing. It turned out to be a fellow who He ha,-a treacle writtenseveral. riused to be my friend. He works for one of the major record com- panies. " Have, you heard Jackie Wilson's Beet Petite' on Coral'?" he demanded, almosl hysterically. " It'squitethemostatrocious JACKIE record that's ever been Made." Evidently the poor chap had spent the entire week -end brooding about it. And, needless to say,itwasn't the. Coral. company with which he was associated ! WILSON it -occurred to me that this must, indeed, be tirrextremely_ controversial recordfcranyonetohavesuch says DEREKJOHNSON tsrongfeelingsonthesubjectto early on a Monday morning. It- transpiredthatJackie:sshowsongswithmoderatesuccess,not So Iphoned Coral. " Yes, isn'tit businesscareerhas been spentinnecessarily tothis own act, and has wonderful ?" breathed an anonymous company with another comparativelyverystrongambitionstobecome young lady, ecstatically. " Ithink it's new friend of ours, Billy Ward. more widely known as a composer.' a greatrecord,. and it's sellinglike Although some will maintain that hot cakes.' He, of course,isthe bandleader who has been going stronginthestyle and dusky cood looks of this Obviously, Ithought, " Reet Petite" States with his group, known as the Reet Petite is unintelligible was a recordwith a splitper- Dominoesfor some years.He has(though his fans will doubtless class sonality - you eitherlikeditor that asits great charm), Jackie has it, in- enjoyed severalhit recordings there. loathed but you couldn't be including" St.ThereseOf Theshown tha, heisnot merely a one - MEET Do and Dena Farrell, two 19 -year -old London girls whosedifferent about it. And apparently the 'Roses," but it wasn't until he turnedtype singer question of whether you hatedit or . - his attention unshakable faith in country and western music has set them ondugit,depended onwhether you to rock treatments of Flip .the record over and you will the road to success in show business. tively.fbe first thingI noticed waswell -establishedevergreens,thathetind a pleasantly medium -paced were(a)square or round, or(b)asolid,driving,infectious beat-a The girls sing. both play guitar, Coral or non -Coral. really made his mark on aninter-revivalof By The Light Of The when they sang one oftheir com- really rocking ace.o.mpaniment, suffi-national basisHis versions of "Star--SilveryMoon, whichwillsurely and collaborate on writing their 1 positions with theresident rock'n' .As soon as 1. reached the office, cient to carry the entire record. dust" and "Deep Purple" both madeappeal to the most conservative of ownmaterial.Theircombinedroll band. gOt a copy. And put it _on the turn- As for the singer, I couldn't under-the best-sellers in this country. talentshavealreadywon table. tastes. One wonders whether Jackie's the This reception was the final prod stand more than four or five words ItwasBillywhodiscoveredchoice of number inthis instance is approval of the critical Tin Panin the back that sent Do and Dena of the whole lyric, and I've still been Jackie Wilson, when the latter wasinspired bythe knowledge of Billy Alley " men -about -music," and unable to do so, even after a dozen making the rounds ofthe London What's this ? playings playing local bookings and minorWard's successwiththerevivals he right now, they're waiting to seeagents. Their confidence was dwindl- promptly decided that 1 had been TV spots, in his hometown area ofhas tackled how Britain's record -buying publicing when they called on Harry Lowe, But the remarkable thing is that Detroit. providedwiththewrongrecord. each time I have heard the 'record will react to their first release. but undaunted, they eventually per-Surely this must be Stan Freberg in- Jackiewasinvitedtojointhe it has grown on me more I . Only 23 It'sonthe HMV labeland thesuaded him to listen to a test recorddulging in one of his satires ? It was group,anopportunityhegrasped titles are "Young Magic" and "Newthey had made. much too exaggerated to be anything Don't ask me to analyse this, be-with bothhands, justatthetime Although he is a married man with Harry was impressed, especially cause I three children, Jackie is only twenty- Love Tonight " Do and Dena wrote butatake -off. But at whom was find that impossible. Maybewhen their rhythmic heat style was in both songs, incidentally. when he learnt that the girls hadFreberg aiming h s pointed barbs onit'sthe personality of the singer, orgreat demandto meetthecurrentthree, so obviously his entire future composed the songs. Realising thethis occasion-Paul Anka, orElvissimply the cuteness and novelty ofvogue. is before him. His record company is GET-TOGETHER potential of the twosome, he con- the song. But however much you may No sooner had Jackie become anexpecting big things from him, and if tactedHMV's WallyRidleytoPresley, perhaps ? scornthisdiscattheoutset, he continues to maintain theimpres- The two girls met for the first time I stopped the record and took a I integral part of the Ward package, arrange a recording audition. guarantee itwill have won you overthan the group undertook seasons atsionhehascreatedwth " Reet ataGuy Mitchell Fan Club get- To usea well-worn cliche, Wally lookat thelabel.There hadn't Petite," we aredestinedto hear a togetherlastyear,whenthey were been amistake,afterall.Thiswhen you've heard it a few times. two ofthemostimportantnight both secretaries of branches of thewas " knocked out " by the authentic strange collection of noises, ranging Thenextstepwastofindoutspotsinthe country-New York'sgreat deal more from him. c & w styleofthe girls, and im- something about this fascinating newCopacabana, and the famed Sahara Yesterday, I phoned my colleague club mediately signed them to a disc date frontgarglingtoanoutboard attherecord company, who had They rapidlystruck up afirm motor, was Jackie Wilson singingsingai Not only was 1 anxious toin Las Vegas. Other impressive dates friendship and later found that they-the session whichproduced " Reet Petite " I investigatethebackgroundofthefollowed, and they appeared on toporiginally, and somewhat sarcastically, shared similar interests in music-"Young Magic" and "Nevi Love To- Now. I'm not exactly a square, soyoungster, who was capable. ofin-networked television shows, includingdrawn my attention to Jackie Wilson. night." And 1 pointed out thatthe disc is I thistriguing me in this way-but, let's hethe Colgate Comedy Hour and the namelythecountry andwestern decided. to get to grips with now No. 8inthe best-sellers. style Television appearances were in thephenomenon and listentoitobjec-practical,if Jackie Wilson made theEd Sullivan Show. Do and Dena subsequently spentplanning stage when misfortune befell best-sellers,theEditorwould be ThisprotractedspellwithBilly Well, 1 still thinkit'sa - most of their spare time visiting eachthe girls-Dena (formerly a bus con- breathingdown myneckforaWard was thebiggest singlefactordiabolical record," he said." But ductress) was takenillandiscur- thousand words about him, anyway !inmakingJackieWilson'sname.I wish it was on our label I" other's homes to listen to records andrently restinginBails Hospital. more specifically,to studythebest works in the c & w field. Adventurous Itwasn'tlong before they foundPOOLS CLERK thatthey,too,possessedanatural It's hoped, happy to say, that she'll flair for writing original songs in thebe onherfeetagainin- time 'for Composer c & w vein, and after singing throughChristmas,whichshe'llno doubt and generally polishing up some ofspend withher partner Do (a one-STANLEY LAUDAN is probably their compositions,theydecidedtotime football pools clerk). make a determined effortto break What willthey do over the holi- best known to British audiences into the entertainment world. days? Well,it's_quite possible thatas the creator of such hit tunes as Chanceshow businessacquaint-they'll simply take it easy and spend" Martinella," and as anOriole ances were impressed by their effortstheir time listening to c & w records.recording artist.In " The White and offered advice whenever possible; Butit'smorelikelythatthey'llBaton "(Wingate,13s.6d.),he GuyMitchellenthusedovertheirunpack theirguitars andstartre-tells, most charmingly, the story of work and encouraged them to pursuehearsing some moreoftheirownhis life from the outbreak of the itin every conceivable way. compositions. Havingfoundthe his arrival Ina London coffee bar. Do andbreak they were looking for. Do andlast World War until DenacoaxedenthusiasticapplauseDena Farrell intend to make the mostin this country in 1945. froma In1939, Laudan was atthe top bunchofespresso -addictsofit ! KEITH GOODWINof the musical profession in Poland. Came the German invasion, and he was captured and imprisoned. He escapedonlytoleapoutofthe " German frying -pan' into the Presenting the Super 1958 " Russian fire. Russia was not the safest placeforanout -of -work musician with capitalistic tendencies, and Laudan, after a period of selling Black-marketwatches,decidedto TWELVE -STAR protect himself by forming thefirst Collective night club that Russia had ever seen. HUrnorously. he tellshow -the CALENDAR Board of Management consistedof charladies,painters andtradesmen, who would sitin all earnestness and Comprising magnificent individual portraits of consider the case of the Night Club these twelve top vocal stars, each on separate Commissar who had complained that the potatoes had been served cold on leer -off monthly sheets. table fivethe previous evening. Thewashing-up man at the club PAUL ANKA * ELVIS PRESLEY hadowned three factories before the War,and theliftman had TOMMY STEELE * PAT BOONE been a famous barrister. While the club was running with -the }}it Musical JOHNNIE RAY * FRANKIE VAUGHAN outstandingsuccess, Laudan was "SarahVaughah Sings approachedbyanofficialofthe Wixa Original Cast Recording Central Committee of Culture, and geoy9egeyskvin-Vol HARRY BELAFONTE * GUY MITCHELL was askedtoforminRussia a NIXA l2."L-F' DICKIE VALENTINE DORIS DAY Western -style jazz and swing group. MERCURY 12.41-P * With thegrouphetouredall- the- MN- 6527 SovietRepublicbefore comingto LONNIE DONEGAN * DAVID WHITFIELD Moscow. There theywere receivedwith' a Only 2/6 Order now irom your newsagent or bookstall, mostfantastic mass -typehysterical reception-the typeofreception alternativelycomplete this coupon and receive your today reserved for the Elvis Presleys calendcr by return of post. and Johnnie Rays of the world. Laudanalsotellshow,witha friend, he went to the Royalties Bank To "NewMusical Express". \SC),5 Denmark Street, London, W.C.2 in Moscow and collected a quarter Please me the 12 -STAR CALENDAR. I enclose remittance at of a million roubles for royalties on mi,499sy Spanier and his 2/9d.(includinapostage).Postal -rderspayable to Stanley Itkin Ltd. songs theyhadwritten He adds thatmanycomposersmust have Dixieland Band" millions ofroubles stowed awayin NAME this bank N. a R.ciARY 12.1--P Thereisonlyone snag - the MPL6516 Communists won'tletthe money ADDRESS 4 (c, \I rrrERs) out of Russia, and the composers would have to go to Moscow to collect. ,> J.B.H. DISTRIBUTED BY PYEGROUP RECORDS (SALES) LTD., 66 HAYMARKET. LONDON. S.W.)