name	Alan Freed
birth place	Windber, Pennsylvania, U.S.
death date	January 20, 1965
death place	Palm Springs, California, U.S.
occupation	Radio/Television/Screen personality
years active	1945–1965
spouse	Betty Lou Bean (1943–1949)Marjorie J. Hess (1950–1958)Inga Lil Boling (1959–1965)
website	}}

Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965), also known as Moondog, was an American disc jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960s.

Early years

Freed was born to a Jewish father, Charles S. Freed, and Welsh-American mother, Maude Palmer, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In 1933, Freed's family moved to Salem, Ohio where Freed attended Salem High School, graduating in 1940. While Freed was in high school, he formed a band called the Sultans of Swing in which he played the trombone. Freed's initial ambition was to be a bandleader; however, an ear infection put an end to this dream. While attending Ohio State University, Freed became interested in radio. Freed served in the Army during World War II and worked as a DJ on WKBN Armed Forces Radio. Soon after World War II, Freed landed broadcasting jobs at smaller radio stations, including WKST (New Castle, PA); WKBN (Youngstown, OH); and WAKR (Akron, OH), where, in 1945, he became a local favorite for playing hot jazz and pop recordings. Freed enjoyed listening to these new styles because he liked the rhythms and tunes.

Career

Freed is commonly referred to as the "father of rock and roll" due to his promotion of the style of music, and his introduction of the phrase "rock and roll", in reference to the musical genre, on mainstream radio in the early 1950s. He helped bridge the gap of segregation among young teenage Americans, presenting music by African-American artists (rather than cover versions by white artists) on his radio program, and arranging live concerts attended by racially mixed audiences. Freed appeared in several motion pictures as himself. In the 1956 film ''Rock, Rock, Rock'', Freed tells the audience that "rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat."

WAKR Akron

In the late 1940s, while working at WAKR (1590 AM) in Akron, Ohio, Freed met Cleveland record store owner Leo Mintz. Record Rendezvous was one of Cleveland's largest record stores, who had begun selling rhythm and blues records. Mintz told Freed that he had noticed increased interest in the records at his store, and encouraged him to play them on the radio. In 1949, Freed moved to Cleveland and, in April 1950, he joined WXEL (TV channel 9) as the afternoon movie show host. The next year, he got a job playing classical music on Cleveland radio station WJW.

WJW Cleveland

Mintz proposed buying airtime on Cleveland radio station WJW (850 AM) to be devoted entirely to R&B; recordings, with Freed as host. On July 11, 1951, Freed started playing rhythm and blues records on WJW. Freed called his show "The Moondog House" and billed himself as "The King of the Moondoggers". He had been inspired by an offbeat instrumental called "Moondog Symphony" that had been recorded by New York street musician Louis T. Hardin, aka "Moondog". Freed adopted the record as his show's theme music. His on-air manner was energetic, in contrast to many contemporary radio presenters of traditional pop music, who tended to sound more subdued and low-key in manner . He addressed his listeners as if they were all part of a make-believe kingdom of hipsters, united in their love for "black" music.

Later that year, Freed promoted dances and concerts featuring the music he was playing on the radio. He was one of the organizers of a five-act show called "The Moondog Coronation Ball" on March 21, 1952 at the Cleveland Arena. This event is known as the first rock and roll concert. Crowds attended in numbers far beyond the arena's capacity, and the concert was shut down early due to overcrowding and a near-riot. Freed gained a priceless notoriety from the incident. WJW immediately increased the airtime allotted to Freed's program, and his popularity soared.

In those days, Cleveland was considered by the music industry to be a "breakout" city, where national trends first appeared in a regional market. Freed's popularity made the pop music business sit up and take notice. Soon, tapes of Freed's program began to air in the New York City area.

Hardin, the original Moondog, later took a court action suit against the station WINS for damages against Freed for infringement in 1956, arguing prior claim to the name "Moondog", under which he had been composing since 1947. Hardin collected a $6,000 judgement from Freed, as well as him giving up further usage of the name Moondog.

WINS New York

In 1954, following his success on the air in Cleveland, Freed moved to WINS (1010 AM) in New York City. The station eventually became an around-the-clock Top 40 rock and roll radio station, and would remain so until April 19, 1965—long after Freed left and three months after he had died— when it became an all-news outlet. While in New York, Life magazine credited Freed as the originator of the rock 'n roll craze.

Radio Luxembourg

In 1956, Freed was introduced to European audiences through his appearances in a succession of "rock and roll" movies such as ''Rock Around The Clock'', ''Don't Knock the Rock'' and other titles. That same year, while working for WINS in New York City, Freed began recording a weekly half-hour segment of the Radio Luxembourg show called ''Jamboree'' that was aired on Saturday nights at 9:30 P.M., Central European Time. The billing of his segment in the ''208'' magazine program guide described him as "the remarkable American disc-jockey whose programs in the States cause excitement to the fever pitch." ''Jamboree'' with Freed was heard throughout the British Isles and much of Europe via the powerful AM nighttime signal of Radio Luxembourg, and outside of Europe by a simultaneous relay via transmission on shortwave. Due to the strange effect that the ionosphere had on the sky wave signal of Radio Luxembourg, it sometimes was heard poorly in parts of southern England with extreme fading, but sounded like a local station in northern England cities such as Liverpool. The Beatles claim to have been influenced by Black artists such as Little Richard and Chuck Berry, both of whom were promoted on Freed's radio shows. After trying other names including "Johnny and the Moondogs" the band was finally known as "The Beatles" after hearing "Alan Freed and The Moondog Show". In August Ringo Starr confirmed in a radio interview in 2011 that his first exposure to Elvis Presley and Little Richard was through this show. The recordings made by these artists were in turn promoted on sponsored shows paid for by the record labels that were also heard over Radio Luxembourg, which was the only commercial radio station heard in the United Kingdom until 1964.

WABC New York

After departing from WINS, Freed for a time was employed in New York by WABC (770 AM) around 1958, about two years before it evolved into one of America's great Top 40 stations by launching its "Musicradio" format. At this time, WABC (unlike rocker WINS) was more of a full-service station which began implementing some music programming elements. Freed was employed at the station around the same time as another famous pioneering disc jockey who arose during a different era: Martin Block (of WNEW 1130 AM—now WBBR—"Make Believe Ballroom" fame. Freed was fired by WABC (1959) during a dispute where he refused to sign a statement certifying that he had never accepted payola.

Film and television

Freed also appeared in a number of pioneering rock and roll motion pictures during this period. These films were often welcomed with tremendous enthusiasm by teenagers because they brought visual depictions of their favorite American acts to the big screen, years before music videos would present the same sort of image on the small television screen. One side effect of these movies shown before mass audiences was that they sometimes presented an excuse for thugs to turn a fun event into a riot, in which cinemas in both West Germany and the United Kingdom were trashed.

Freed appeared in several motion pictures that presented many of the big musical acts of his day, including:

1956 - ''Rock Around the Clock'' featuring Freed, Bill Haley & His Comets, The Platters, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, Lisa Gaye.

1956 - ''Rock, Rock, Rock'' featuring Freed, Teddy Randazzo, Tuesday Weld (her first on-screen kiss by Teddy Randazzo), Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Johnny Burnette, LaVern Baker, The Flamingos, The Moonglows. Weld's vocal performance was dubbed by Connie Francis.

1957 - ''Mister Rock and Roll'' featuring Freed, Rocky Graziano and Teddy Randazzo, Lionel Hampton, Ferlin Husky, Frankie Lymon, Little Richard, Brook Benton, Chuck Berry, Clyde McPhatter, LaVern Baker, Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

1957 - ''Don't Knock the Rock'' featuring Freed, Alan Dale, Little Richard and the Upsetters, Bill Haley and His Comets, The Treniers, Dave Appell and His Applejacks.

1959 - ''Go, Johnny Go!'' featuring Freed, Jimmy Clanton, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, The Flamingos, Jackie Wilson, The Cadillacs, Sandy Stewart, Jo Ann Campbell, Harvey Fuqua and The Moonglows. Chuck Berry also played Freed's pal and sidekick, a groundbreaking role in those days.

In 1957, Freed was given a weekly prime-time TV series, ''The Big Beat'' (which predated ''American Bandstand''), on ABC, which was scheduled for a Summer run, with the understanding that if there were enough viewers, the show would continue into the 1957-58 television season. Although the ratings for the first three episodes were strong, the show was suddenly canceled after the fourth episode. During that episode, Frankie Lymon of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, after performing his number, was seen dancing with a white girl from the studio audience. Reportedly, the incident offended the management of ABC's local affiliates in the southern states, and led to the show's immediate cancellation despite its growing popularity. During this period, Freed was seen on other popular programs of the day, including ''To Tell The Truth'', where he is seen defending the new "rock and roll" sound to the panelists, who were all clearly more comfortable with swing music: Polly Bergen, Ralph Bellamy, and Kitty Carlisle. (This episode was re-broadcast on Game Show Network on February 4 or 5, 2007, and also on April 23, 2007.)

Freed went on to host a local version of "Big Beat" over WNEW-TV New York until late 1959 when he was fired from the show after payola accusations against Freed surfaced.

Legal trouble, payola scandal

In 1958, Freed faced controversy in Boston when he told the audience, "The police don't want you to have fun." As a result, Freed was arrested and charged with inciting to riot.

Freed's career ended when it was shown that he had accepted payola (payments from record companies to play specific records), a practice that was highly controversial at the time. There was also a conflict of interest, that he had taken songwriting co-credits (most notably on Chuck Berry's "Maybellene"), which entitled him to receive part of a song's royalties, which he could help increase by heavily promoting the record on his own program. However, Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows insisted Freed co-wrote "Sincerely".

Freed lost his own show on the radio station WABC; then he was fired from the station altogether on November 21, 1959. He also was fired from his television show (which for a time continued with a different host). In 1960, payola was made illegal. In 1962, Freed pleaded guilty to two charges of commercial bribery, for which he received a fine and a suspended sentence.

Personal life

On August 22, 1943, Freed was married to Betty Lou Bean; both were 21 years old at the time. The couple had two children, Alana Freed and Lance Freed. On December 2, 1949, the Freeds divorced, with custody of the children awarded to Betty Lou. In 1950, Freed married again to Marjorie J. Hess. During this time, the couple had two children, Sieglinde Freed and Alan Freed, Jr. The marriage ended in 1958 whereupon Marjorie gained custody of the children. In 1959, Freed married for a third time to Inga Lil Boling, to whom he stayed married until his death on January 20, 1965.

Later years and death

Freed's punishment from the payola scandal was not severe. However, the side effects of negative publicity were such that no prestigious station would employ him, and he moved to the West Coast in 1960, where he worked at KDAY-AM in Santa Monica, California. In 1962, after KDAY refused to allow him to promote "rock and roll" stage shows, Freed moved to WQAM in Miami, Florida, but that association lasted two months. During 1964, he returned to the Los Angeles area and worked at KNOB-FM.

He died in a Palm Springs, California hospital on January 20, 1965 from uremia and cirrhosis brought on by alcoholism. He was 43 years old. Freed was initially interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York; his ashes were later moved to their present location in Cleveland, Ohio at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 21, 2002.

Legacy

In 1978, a motion picture entitled ''American Hot Wax'' was released, which was inspired by Freed's contribution to the rock and roll scene. Although director Floyd Mutrux created a fictionalized account of Freed's last days in New York radio by utilizing real-life elements outside of their actual chronology, the film does accurately convey the fond relationship between Freed, the musicians he promoted, and the audiences who listened to them. The film starred Tim McIntire as Freed. Several notable personalities who would later become well-known celebrities starred in the movie, including Jay Leno and Fran Drescher. The film included cameo appearances by Chuck Berry, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Frankie Ford and Jerry Lee Lewis, performing in the recording studio and concert sequences.

On January 23, 1986, Freed was part of the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was built in Cleveland in recognition of Freed's involvement in the promotion of the genre. In 1988, he was also posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. On December 10, 1991, Freed was given a Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame. On February 26, 2002, Freed was honored at the GRAMMY Awards with the Trustees Award.

Freed was used as a character in Stephen King's ''Nightmares & Dreamscapes'' as an evil version of himself, who enthusiastically announces the names of deceased rock n roll legends in ''You Know They Got a Hell of a Band'' as part of an upcoming concert to perform. He was portrayed by Mitchell Butel in the television adaptation on the Nightmares & Dreamscapes mini-series. The Cleveland Cavaliers' mascot Moondog is named in honor of Freed.

Freed was also mentioned in The Ramones song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" as one of the band's idols in rock and roll. ("''Do you remember Murray the K/Alan Freed/and high Energy '' Others to mention the influential D.J. include "Ballroom Of Mars" by Marc Bolan "They Used to Call it Dope" by Public Enemy and "Payola Blues" by Neil Young. He also is mentioned in "The Ballad of Dick Clark," a song on the eponymous first solo album by Skip Batin, a member of the Byrds.

Quotation

References

Further reading

Wolff, Carlo (2006). ''Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-886228-99-3

''Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rock & Roll'', by Jackson, John A. - Schirmer Books, 1991. ISBN 0-02-871155-6

''The Pied Pipers of Rock '' Roll: Radio Deejays of the 50s and 60s'', by Smith, Wes (Robert Weston). - Longstreet Press, 1989. ISBN 0-929264-69-X

''Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution'' by Dawson, Jim (Backbeat Books/Hal Leonard, 2005. ISBN 0-87930-829-X

External links

Freed's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame page

http://www.history-of-rock.com/freed.htm

AlanFreed.Com: death certificate

Article on the career of Alan Freed

Information on Freed from the first chapter of the book ''Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories''

DVD review of Mr. Rock 'n Roll

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/freed_alan/artist.jhtml

Category:1921 births Category:1965 deaths Category:American DJs Category:National Radio Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from cirrhosis Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:People from Somerset County, Pennsylvania Category:Radio personalities from Cleveland, Ohio Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees

ca:Alan Freed cs:Alan Freed de:Alan Freed es:Alan Freed fr:Alan Freed it:Alan Freed nl:Alan Freed ja:アラン・フリード nn:Alan Freed pl:Alan Freed pt:Alan Freed sh:Alan Freed fi:Alan Freed sv:Alan Freed

Wilburt Prysock (February 2, 1926 – July 19, 1993) known as Red Prysock, was an American rhythm and blues tenor saxophonist, one of the early Coleman Hawkins influenced saxophonists to move in the direction of rhythm and blues, rather than bebop.

While with Tiny Grimes and his Rocking Highlanders, Prysock staged a memorable sax battle with Benny Golson on "Battle of the Mass". He first gained attention playing with Tiny Bradshaw's band, playing the lead sax solo on his own composition "Soft", which was a hit for the Bradshaw band in 1952. He also played with Roy Milton and Cootie Williams.

In 1954, he signed with Mercury Records as a bandleader, and had his biggest hit, the R&B; instrumental "Hand Clappin'" in 1955. That same year, he joined the band that played at Alan Freed's stage shows. He also played on several hit records by his brother, the singer Arthur Prysock, in the 1960s.

Prysock, who was born in 1926 in Greensboro, North Carolina, died of a heart attack in 1993 in Chicago, at the age of 67.

Discography

''Rock and roll'' (Mercury, 1955)

''Fruit Boots'' (Mercury, 1957)

''The Beat'' (Mercury, 1957)

''Swing softly Red'' (Mercury, 1958)

''Battle Royal'' with Sil Austin (Mercury, 1959)

''The Big Sound of Red Prysock'' (Forum Circle)

''For Me and My Baby'' (Gateway, 2003)

References

External links

Home.earthlink.net

Category:1926 births Category:1993 deaths Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists Category:Soul-jazz saxophonists Category:American saxophonists Category:Mercury Records artists Category:American bandleaders Category:Musicians from North Carolina Category:People from Greensboro, North Carolina Category:Chess Records artists Category:Jump blues musicians Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in Illinois

pl:Red Prysock

Jimmy Cavallo (b. March 14 1927 in Syracuse, New York) is an American musician best known for performing with his band in the 1956 movie, ''Rock, Rock, Rock'', by pioneering music DJ Alan Freed. Jimmy and the Houserockers were the first all-white band to play at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, where they celebrated the movie's release.

Starting out In Syracuse

When Cavallo (often misspelled Cavello) was in high school in Syracuse in the early 1940s, he played in a swing band, playing harmony on alto sax. He knew even then that playing the harmony was not for him, and he wanted to do the melody line, sing and lead a band. Cavallo started buying Louis Jordan records and learning those songs, and other jump blues records, and soon switched to tenor sax because that was the lead horn in jump blues. When Cavallo was around 16, he formed his own band, but the only work they got was playing local Italian weddings (and the occasional Polish, Jewish, or Irish wedding).

The Navy Years and Time in North Carolina

When he left home to serve in the United States Navy at the end of World War II, Cavallo took his saxophone with him. While in the service in North Carolina, and Washington DC, he spent his free time in black clubs, listening to the latest in the blues, and jamming with some of the rising stars of what would soon be called rock and roll.

Upon his discharge, Cavallo hit the Carolina beaches with a band called the Jimmy Cavallo Quartet, one of the world's first white R&B; bands, playing Wynonie Harris, Louis Jordan, and Hucklebuck Williams tunes, as well as originals. The line-up was Bobby Wrenn, drums; Max Alexander, bass; Bobby Hass, sax, and Diz Utley, sax. They played in the beach music or "shag" scene all over North Carolina through 1947 and '48, and during 1949 had a residency in Carolina Beach at a dance club called Bop City, drawing huge crowds of dancers. (A first-hand account of this scene can be found in ''Shagger'' Magazine, volume 2 issue 2).

Success in upstate New York

thumb|left|Jimmy Cavallo in 1949At the end of the summer of 1949, Cavallo moved back to Syracuse, got together some local musicians, [Sam Barone, bass; Al Antonello, drums; Mike Peluso, piano] and went looking for work, but the clubs in the white section of town were still playing hotel music, so in order to get work, he had to play in black clubs like the Penguin. His big break came at the end of 1949 when his uncle, who owned a large night club called Sorrentos, let him play there. He was expected to play old standards to the mostly Italian audience, but when he sneaked in uptempo R&B; numbers, the crowd went nuts. After that, the Jimmy Cavallo Quartet started packing the club, and playing all the R&B; they wanted. The band was a phenomenon. In the summer of 1950, he got a steady gig at Di Castros in Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake.

Word spread fast in Central New York's large Italian community, and Jimmy drew a crowd from an area which spanned from Utica to Rochester to Binghamton, with people flocking by the thousands to dance to Jimmy Cavallo's rocking R&B.; In 1950, Jimmy's band was drawing crowds of 1000 to 1200 every Sunday afternoon to DiCastros. In 1951, they cut 2 records for the tiny BSD label, numbers 1004 and 1005. These records were recorded in the basement of the home of label owner Angelo Pergolito, in Auburn, New York, 25 miles from Syracuse. This record label, which lasted from 1951 to 1955, was strictly aimed at recording local talent.

thumb|The 1951 Jimmy Cavallo version of Rock The Joint, originally done by Jimmy Preston in 1949Side A of BSD 1004 was "Ha Ha Ha Blues," which was Jimmy's reworking of a Joe Morris tune, also from 1951, called "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" The flip side was "I Got Eyes For You." BSD 1005 had on the A side, Cavallo's cover of Jimmy Preston's "Rock The Joint." Bill Haley and his Saddlemen's 1952 waxing of that tune marked the dawn of guitar-based rockabilly, but Cavallo's earlier record was done with saxophones and brass in the germinal rock and roll style.

Side B, "Leave Married Women Alone," is an original done also in that vein. He wrote the tune with Diz Utley, another tenor saxophonist, who had honked alongside Cavallo in the earliest days in North Carolina. Other artists on these two recordings are Syracuse natives Elmer "Al" Antonello on drums, Sam Barone on bass, Mike Peluso on keyboards, and Georgie Horton on trumpet. (note: the song was re-written as "Soda Shop Rock" in 1956). Vocals on "Rock The Joint" are Jimmy in the lead with Diz and Horton backing up.

They played Di Castros for two more years and disbanded, and Jimmy went on the road with a new band, in 1953 and '54. A falling-out in Detroit led to this band's demise, and Jimmy's manager appointed him as the new leader of tenor saxophonist Joe Marillo's band, an already-working R & B band in the Buffalo area, and named them "Jimmy Cavallo and The House Rockers." With the dual-sax sound of Marillo and Cavallo, national recognition came for the House Rockers after an audition, in July 1956, for Alan Freed in his studio at WINS in NYC. They soon began appearing at Alan Freed shows and making records for the Coral label.

Alan Freed and ''Rock, Rock, Rock''

In August 1956, they played the Brooklyn Paramount with Fats Domino and Big Joe Turner, after which they appeared with Freed in the Vanguard movie ''Rock, Rock, Rock'', in which they played the title song, and another tune called "The Big Beat," (that's Joe Marillo in the movie on second sax). The movie was released December 5, 1956, and the House Rockers played Harlem's Apollo Theater at the same time to promote the movie's release. In the 10-day extended gig, the House Rockers were augmented by a big band of veterans of the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras, led by Sam The Man Taylor. Playing the Apollo in December 1956 was special, because it put the House Rockers in the books as being the first white rock 'n' roll act to play the celebrated Apollo Theater (Buddy Holly would play there in 1957). In 1957, they did a summer-long residence in Wildwood, New Jersey at a club called Harry Roeshe's Beachcomber, and the headliners of this bill were the Treniers. After that, Freed put them in another movie, ''Go, Johnny, Go,'' in 1959. After cutting 12 tracks for Coral, they waxed for the Sunnyside and Hand labels in 1959, the Darcy label in 1963, and the Romar label in 1965.

Continuing to Perform and Record

Jimmy still visits hometown Syracuse for a gig or two every summer. His fans there never seem to tire describing the old days in Sylvan Beach, and even 55+ years later, he can still pack a club in Syracuse with followers who went to his shows in the early 1950s, and who wait patiently every year for Jimmy's annual migration back home. Once a year, these people, now in their 70s and 80s, dance like they were 25 years old again. Jimmy is still playing in Florida, and had a resident engagement at P.G. Doogie's in Deerfield Beach and Saba Asian Restaurant & Lounge in Boca Raton, until recently.

After years of playing R&B; in America, Cavallo finally played his first gig in the United Kingdom on November 22, 2002 at Rhythm Riot festival in Rye, England. Joe Marillo lives in San Diego and still plays actively. The dual-sax sound of Cavallo and Utley, heard on the beaches of North Carolina in 1947 and in the 50's with Cavallo and Marillo, has echoed in Cavallo's work ever since.

Jimmy has three CDs on PetCap called ''Jimmy Cavallo Live at The Persian Terrace'', of big band music, ''Live At Freddy's'', recorded in 2003, and ''Jimmy Cavallo and the Houserockers, Then and Now'', released in 2006. They can be bought directly from Petcap Music. There also is a CD of new recordings cut in 2002, called ''The Houserocker'' released on Blue Wave Records, which can be purchased directly from them. Also available from Blue Wave is a compilation CD that has every record Jimmy made from 1951 to 1973, even the rare BSD records, a total of 29 sides. Petcap also gave Jimmy a dedicated web site, www.jcavallo.com.

References

External links

NewTimesBPB.com article

LeonoreDecor.com article

imdb.com biography

Profile on aol.com

Category:American rhythm and blues musicians Category:American saxophonists Category:1927 births Category:People from Syracuse, New York Category:United States Navy personnel Category:Living people

Trade Martin is an American musician, songwriter, and producer.

Martin worked with Johnny Power in the late 1950s, recording as Johnny & the Jokers and together launching the label Rome Records, active from 1960 to 1962. The label signed the groups The Earls, Del & the Escorts, and The Glens. On many of these recordings, Martin played all of the backing instruments, overdubbing them track by track. Martin also released some solo material on Coed Records, including the 1962 hit "That Stranger Used to Be My Girl", a #28 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. He released several further singles on Roulette Records and other labels in the 1960s and an LP entitled ''Let Me Touch You'' on Buddah Records in 1972.

Martin spent nearly thirty years in production and arrangement, doing work from the '60s girl group era through to 1980s pop. Among his credits are songs by Eric Andersen, Ellie Greenwich, Lesley Gore, The Tokens, Ian & Sylvia, Rick Nelson, B.T. Express, Pam Russo, and Solomon Burke. He also wrote a number of songs covered by noted acts, including "Take Me for a Little While" (Dusty Springfield), "Peace to the World" (B. B. King), and "Don't You Double Cross Me" (Dave Edmunds).

Martin wrote several film scores. Credits include ''Stormy Monday'', ''The Inkwell'', ''It's My Party'', and ''West New York.''

Released in August 2010, Martin's single, "We've Got To Stop The Mosque At Ground Zero" was recognized as "the worst song in the history of recorded music" at Fark.

In January 2011, rights-management firm Beach Road Music, LLC, content-owner of the Coed Records' catalog, re-released a digitally re-mastered version of Martin's 1964 Coed single "Liverpool Baby" on the compilation album ''From The Vault: The Coed Records Lost Master Tapes, Volume 1''.

References

Category:American record producers Category:American songwriters Category:American pop musicians Category:American session musicians Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Living people

External links

Trade Martin Music bio

Trade Martin at Internet Movie Data Base