Our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday 25 September 2024 featured a trip down memory lane guided by the knowledgeable and entertaining Martin Orkin, a published author on the subject of the bands in the 1950s, 1960s, and later.
Martin started with the origins of the music that turned the page on the ballads and melodies of the Second World War. We learned about Bill Haley and His Comets (Rock Around the Clock) and the perceived problems of Bill Haley’s age although he was only 30 in 1955. We then heard about Chuck Berry and how he started, and also learned about the perceived problems reported by white teenagers of that era following a black musician instead of a white singer like Pat Boone. Another black musician at this time was Little Richard who came to fame with Tutti Frutti. The managers of these artists were less interested in the music that was being played than in the money that was being paid!
Martin then moved on to the sad story of Elvis Presley’s childhood, and the difficult time faced by his parents (Gladys and Vernon). Once Elvis came to fame, the problems went away for his parents although his mother died in 1958 from a heart attack at the age of 46. Elvis took on the songs and presentation that many black singers had developed, but had found it difficult to gain acceptance from white teenagers. As we all know, he triumphed. Another example was Buddy Holly, who started as the lead singer of the Chirping Crickets before going solo. Jerry Lee Lewis was also an exponent of black music for white teenagers, but his awkward personal life meant that his career was shorter lived than his music.
In the UK, we had Cliff Richard and Tommy Steele who, despite enormous success in our charts, found it difficult to overcome resistance in the American Market to imported stars. It was only when the Beatles came to fame that the resistance was overcome and at one time (1964) they had the top five singles in the American Charts. On seeing the success of the Beatles, we learned about the Byrds and the Monkees. Martin also had a photo of the first Quarrymen’s recording showing three of the Beatles, before the name was coined, singing That’ll be the Day. The record had been made privately, and only one copy is thought to exist!
The Beatles – mostly John and Paul – contributed song-writing materials to help get the careers of Billy J Kramer and the Rolling Stones started, and inspired other Liverpool groups like Jerry and the Pacemakers. With their ballads like Eleanor Rigby and Yesterday, they had also opened the door for more lyrical performers like The Searchers and Simon & Garfunkel. So rather than being rivals, there was an element of cooperation. Perhaps, we will be able to persuade Martin to return next year to talk about the female stars and how their styles developed in comparison to the male stars.
Our next Monthly Meeting will be on Wednesday 23 October 2024, and will feature Bell Ringing (Campanology) with a live demonstration!