| WAYNE WALKER |
Wayne Walker’s childhood seems to be a mystery. There isn’t much left about this passage of his life. He was born on December 13, 1925, in Quapaw, Oklahoma, as Wayne Paul Walker. In 1949, he first appeared as a musician and songwriter. Together with Tillman Franks, Wayne began to write songs and by 1954, he was a regular member of the Louisiana Hayride out of Shreveport, Louisiana. He had introduced Faron Young to Franks and had a big impact on Faron’s career as a country music star. Late in 1954, he had signed a recording contract with the Chicago-based rhythm and blues label Chess Records and his first record Now Is The Time For Love b/w You Got The Best of Me was released soon after. On these songs he was backed by the Hayride band that included Jimmy Day on steel guitar. The session was held at the KWKH studio in Louisiana. Although Wayne wasn’t keen on performing in front of a crowd, he teamed up with singer and guitarist Jimmy Lee Fautheree, who, by then, had split up with his partner "Country" Johnny Mathis. Jimmy Lee and Mathis had recorded as "Jimmy and Johnny" and hit big in 1954 with If You Don’t Somebody Else Will, but soon after the success, in early 1955, Johnny Mathis refused to continue the partnership. So Tillman Franks persuaded Wayne to join Jimmy Lee and the duo cut the country song Lips That Kiss So Sweetly along with the rockabilly tune Love Me for Chess in January 1955. The single proved to be a strong seller in some regions but didn’t become a big hit for the two. In May, Wayne split up with Jimmy Lee and decided to go solo, although both worked together on some songs later on. His shyness dominated him and he rejected to perform on a stage unless Tillman Franks was there, but Franks was busy with Johnny Horton at that time, so Wayne didn’t make much appearances. Shortly after, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he could concentrate on his songwriting. But he didn’t want to give up his career as a recording artist, so he signed a short time with ABC-Paramount. In 1956, the company issued Wayne’s second solo single All I Can Do Is Cry, another rockabilly song he had written. The song was also recorded by Johnny Bond. After his contract ended with ABC-Paramount, he switched to Columbia. In the meantime, his ex-singing-partner Jimmy Lee had teamed up with his brother Lynn Fautheree and had given Wayne a song he had worked on, but was unable to finish it. Wayne, by then under contract with Cedarwood Music, took the lyrics and composed a new tune on it, entitled Sweet Love On My Mind. He was sure this would be a real "rock and roll hit" and pitched it first to Johnny Burnette and his Rock’n’Roll Trio, who recorded it for Coral in 1956. Four months later, Jimmy Lee and his brother recorded the song. It was the most oustanding single they ever made. However, the song did not hit the charts. Wayne continued to release rockabilly oriented material on his own and wrote country music songs. As a songwriter, he had his first success when Ray Price had a hit with Wayne’s I’ve Got A New Heartache. In the following years, Wayne wrote a great amount of songs that you will recognize: Why Why, Memory No.1 and Burning Memories were just some of them. His song All The Time was chosen to be the "Song of the Year" in 1967. Wayne had a lot of success as a songwriter during the 1950’s and 1960’s, but as a singer he never made it big. He released many singles on various labels, but never had a hit. His last recording was made in 1970 for Starday Records. Wayne Walker died on January 2, 1979, at the age of 54. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975. Southern Canonball - https://sites.google.com/site/rockabillyatsc/ |
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ETCD1026 WAYNE WALKER HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL – THE SIGER AND HIS SONGS Wayne Walker will forever be known as a highly-successful songwriter in the country and pop fields during the 1950s and 1960s. Since his death in the late 1970s, however, he became something of a rockabilly hero in Europe with such obscure recordings as “All I Can Do Is Cry”, “Love Me”, “Bo-Bo Ska Diddle Daddle”, “You’ve Got Me” and “Little Ole You” which have kept the dance floors of the many rock ‘n’ roll clubs filled. Strangely, those thirty-odd years that have since elapsed have never seen a complete Wayne Walker reissue…until now! This is Wayne Walker – The singer and his songs |
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