B. JEFF STONE - COUNTRY'S HIT MAKER
B. Jeff Stone was born in San Antonio, Texas, on April 24, 1936. He is the youngest of three boys born to
parents, Aaron and Elaine Stone. He grew up in San Antonio where he attended two high schools - South
San Antonio and Southside; he also attended San Antonio College.
B. Jeff Stone was interested in music from an early age. His mother purchased his first guitar when he
was eight years old; it was a Silvertone sold by Sears-Roebuck. After many broken strings and months
of getting on the nerves of family and friends, he learned the basic chords and progressions and has
been playing the guitar since!
In his early teens, Jeff played and sang at school programs and began writing music at 18 years of age.
When he was 18, he carried his songs and guitar to Charlie Fitch who owned a small record company
(SARG) located in Luling, Texas. With all the confidence in the world, he walked in and told Mr. Fitch that
he wanted to record some of the songs he had written. Charlie laughed and invited B. J. to sing some of
them. Fitch was impressed and asked if he would record two of the compositions. One side of the "45"
was "The Clown" and the flip side was "Everybody Rock".
In the late 1980s, ACE Records in England purchased the master and rights and again released the
music on their London label; this was some 30 years after having been recorded by Stone. A short time
after the London release, a label in Sweden purchased the master and released the music for the third
time on their label.
Jeff teamed up with a fiddle player in San Antonio who was looking for a guitar player to "make music"
most anywhere they could! In those days "ice houses" (now called convenience stores) always had an
area for customers to sit at tables and listen to music from the jukebox or from live entertainment (who
would play for the "kitty" - a cigar box where customers could drop change). Stone recalled the money
was always pretty light saying: "A good night would be $5 to $10 and then we'd have to split it!"
At about the same time, Jeff approached Doc Parker who owned a radio station in Pleasonton, Texas
(KBOP) - Willie Nelson and Johnny Bush were both working at the station at the time - and asked if he
could have a 30-minute live radio show on Saturdays. After an audition, Parker agreed and the show
was called JEFF STONE AND HIS TEXAS CUT-UPS.
After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Stone returned to San Antonio determined to have a career in music.
He organized THE WESTERNAIRS, a five-piece country band, and enjoyed success in the San Antonio
area. The door finally opened when Nashville producer, Tommy Hill asked him to come to Nashville for a
recording session. Stone recorded four of his own compositions, one of which became a national hit,
"Hey, Little Newsboy". Because of the success of the song, Jeff's band changed their name to THE
NEWSBOYS. With hand-picked musicians, Bobby Stone (as he was known then) toured and played
across the U.S. with his band. The many locations included Las Vegas, the LBJ Ranch during his
presidency, clubs, fairs and rodeos. He had a new booking agent, Billy Deaton, who was also managing
Faron Young at the time.
Working on the road and managing a band became an ordeal and to slow down, Stone broke up his
band and began working as a single act, touring and working with such greats as Marty Robbins, Willie
Nelson, Jim Ed Brown and other legends. Jeff has starred on many albums produced by the U.S. Air
Force, recorded in Nashville, and aired throughout the United States. He formed Newsboy Publishing in
the 1960s through B.M.I. which he still owns.
In 1974, B. Jeff went through a burn-out period. In a recent interview he said: "I was tired and the
excitement was gone that I had always felt when I walked on stage. I didn't feel the music and each
performance became a chore. I realized it wasn't fair to the fans or myself." And the entertainer, that
Marty Robbins once said would be one of the top country artists someday, walked out of the spotlight. B.
Jeff started his own construction company, one that grew to be successful.
In 1981, while attending a high school reunion, Jeff met and became reacquainted with Patricia Berry,
his firt "girlfriend" and the girl he had dated through high school. B. J. offered: "I loved her back when
we dated and that flame ignited again when I saw her!" B. Jeff and Patricia married October 2nd of that
year and lived in Fort Worth until 1985 when they moved to Corsicana, Texas, where they still reside and
enjoy the friendly people and small town living. They own Stone Properties, a real estate investment
business.
In 1995, with the love of music still intact and a desire to record again, B. Jeff called his old friend and
record producer, Tommy Hill, in Nashville to get his thoughts on cutting a new album. They released
EVERYBODY LOVES ME on Tommy's label (HILLTON) and distributed the ten-song CD in Europe. There
was a big question mark in the mind of B. Jeff: "After 21 years, will my music be accepted?" After all this
time, knowing that country music had gone through a drastic change, it was Jeff's opinion that many of
the artists were nothing but a cast of young look-alike imitators! The question was quickly answered
when play lists and letters of acceptance from European country radio came in on a daily basis. B. JEFF
WAS BACK!!!
EVERYBODY LOVES ME became album of the week in England and numerous cuts crowded the European
charts. "A Good Woman's Love" became a mainstay, being one of Europe's favorites. The song was one
of B. Jeff's biggest hits to that date with his "Hey, Little Newsboy" running a close second, hitting Number
2 in the U.S. charts. B. Jeff recalled: "The good songs come to you in the blink of an eye; it's as though
the good Lord is sending you a message. I wrote "Hey, Little Newsboy" on a napkin while having lunch at
a San Antonio restaurant. "A Good Woman's Love" came to me one night while returning home from a
performance." The title cut "Everybody Loves Me", another of B.J.'s compositions, became Europe's
Number 9 album and made B. Jeff Stone the fourth-most-played artist in Europe.
In 1996, Stone came back with his second album, SOMETHING'S GOING ON, a CD which was again
released in Europe but on his own label, Gold Crest International. Stone says: "I have never liked
recording on other labels; there are too many draw-backs! You never know where your music is being
played or what it is doing; you are only handed bits and pieces of information from busy record
representatives. The incoming mail is seldom seen and I am a firm believer that any mail from country
radio stations or fans should be answered. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is that you have no
control over your destiny!"
From that 1996 release came "The Other Side of Town" which hit European charts and was listed high in
the World's Top 500 (all types of music). Bringing chuckles from millions was "Honey Do" another hit that
incidently became the DJ's "rest" song because of it's five-minute play time. "Starlet Angel" and
"Patricia's Song" (a song written for his wife) were also chart makers. Again, all four songs were penned
by B. Jeff Stone.
In 1997, B&T Records in Georgia was putting together a compilation CD (numerous artists) and asked
me to participate. "I was hesitant at first knowing that it was like being thrown into a bag of marbles and
getting lost in the confusion. We were working on a new album at the time and knowing that the release
date was a while off, I decided to include a song I had recently written and recorded, "Hello, Mr.
Heartache". That song was on the compilation and on the new album; it has become my biggest hit."
In 1998, B. Jeff changed the name of his label to Nashville Gold Records, a title befitting the new album
TEXAS COUNTRY which produced three major hits. "Texas Country Boy" reached the number one spot in
Scandinavia and was number two in all of Europe. "The Blizzard" became number one in Scandinavia
and in Europe. "Hello, Mr. Heartache" held the number one spot in Europe for an unheard-of sixteen
weeks. The album became one of the Top Country Albums of 1998.
The release of B. Jeff's fourth album, STONE COUNTRY, was in 1999 which produced a number of hits
including another number one, "Mary Ann Regrets". B. Jeff Stone won ten major country awards in 1999.
He was named Europe's number one Traditional Country Artist by E.C.M.A.
With the Nashville album, STONE TRADITION, the year 2000 was destined to be another great year for
B. Jeff Stone. He was inducted into Florida's Greater Southern Country Music Hall of Fame and that same
year, Jeff was inducted into the European ICMAG Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2001 he was inducted
into the Texas-Lone Star State Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2002, he was nominated for the Colorado
Country Music Hall of Fame.
Country Music Chart Hits: B. Jeff's first #1 came in 1998 with "Hello, Mr. Heartache" and he scored an
unbelievable total of seventeen (17) #1 songs by the end of 2006. He has also had in excess of forty
songs reaching the charts' Top Ten list.
When Patricia asked B. Jeff when he planned to "hang-it-up" and stop writing and singing, he smiled and
said: "When they stop playing my music on radio!" Hopefully, that won't be for a long, long time.
Source : HERE
Sujet: R.I.P. : Rockabilly Hall of Famer B. Jeff Stone Passes Away 