Sujet: COCHRAN TOO SAD, LATE FOR "THREE STARS" HIT !!! Jeu 03 Jan 2008, 16:20
Cochran too sad, late for 'Three Stars' hit
Posted: Jan. 2, 2008
Q.A friend and I have unsuccessfully searched for years for a record that came out when we were kids. Titled "Three Stars," by Tommy Dee with Carol Kay and the Teen-Aires, it was issued in April 1959 as a memorial to the deaths two months earlier of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.
Their deaths are said to have closed the first chapter in the history of rock 'n' roll, and is so referenced in Don McLean's "American Pie" (i.e., "the day the music died")
We have learned that Eddie Cochran - himself killed a year later in an auto accident - actually released "Three Stars" first. We have both recently heard Eddie's version and agree it is not as good as the one by Tommy Dee and Carol Kay.
Still, how did the rock star Eddie Cochran fail to have a hit with "Three Stars"?
- Mike Rice, Sparta, Wis.
A. Simple - Eddie's recording did not come out until 1971! Tommy Dee (nee Donaldson) wrote "Three Stars" just a few hours after news of the plane crash stunned the music world.
Two days later, Eddie heard a tape of Dee's narrative and decided to record it, which he did at Goldstar Studios on Feb. 5, 1959.
Cochran, a very close friend of Ritchie Valens, was too overwhelmed with grief to stick with it. After three takes, he gave up on "Three Stars."
Eddie's label, Liberty Records, agreed it was not commercial enough and chose not to release his "Three Stars."
Tommy then gathered vocalists Carol Kay and the Teen-Aires to complement his moving narrative, and by the end of March "Three Stars" (Crest 1057) was on its way toward the nation's top 15.
Although not much competition for Tommy Dee and Carol Kay, a cover version is worth noting. For this May '59 release (King 5192), Dee's narrative is copied by Dick Pike and Kay's vocal part is supplied by Ruby Wright.
As to how we eventually got to hear Eddie Cochran's rendition, it is one of the tracks in the 1971 compilation "Legendary Masters" (United Artists UAS-9959).
Rock 'n' roll icon Eddie Cochran began his professional career as a session guitarist for traditional country artists.
His first session work came in the summer of 1956, at Capitol Records in Hollywood, playing lead guitar for Wynn Stewart and Skeets MacDonald.
Based strictly on the sound, even Eddie's biggest fans wouldn't recognize the 17-year-old lad accompanying Wynn Stewart on "Keeper of the Keys" and "Slowly But Surely" (Capitol 3515).
Write Jerry Osborne at Box 255, Port Townsend, WA 98368; www.jerryosborne.com.
Sujet: COCHRAN TOO SAD, LATE FOR "THREE STARS" HIT !!!