George Motola

George Motola (born November 15, 1919 in Hartford , † February 15, 1991 ) was an American music producer, songwriter and sound engineer.

After childhood and youth in Hartford, the son of an Italian immigrant family moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s , where he worked as a producer for Modern Records . There he supervised R&B artists such as Jesse Belvin , Young Jessie and Jimmy Beasley . His most successful composition was Goodnight My Love (Pleasant Dreams) , which he composed with Jesse Belvin. The latter sold his co-author credits to the attending songwriter John Marascalco . The title became a hit and standard in American pop music.

For his own label Tender Records he formed a band called The Shields from Belvin, Frankie Ervin and Johnny Guitar Watson , whose Slades cover You Cheated became a chart hit with the national distributor Dot Records . Another recording for Tender was Kid Thomas ' Rockin' this Joint Tonight in 1960 .

Motola was a prolific songwriter, the BMI leads 121 of its titles, including Shattered Dreams of Johnny Burnette Trio , with Leiber & Stoller Here Comes Henry of Young Jessie , Ernie Fields ' Annie's Back and Sanford Clark Lou Be Do . Most of the collaborations he created with his wife Rickie Page , including Eddie Cochran's Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie . His wife also named her girl group The Georgettes after her husband.

Motola died in 1991. At his funeral at sea, Gretchen Christopher of the Fleetwoods sang his biggest hit, Goodnight My Love .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steve Propes, Galen Gart: LA R&B Vocal Groups 1945-1965 . 1st edition. Nickel Publications, Milford 2001, ISBN 0-936433-18-3 , Jesse Belvin (American English).
2. ↑ BMI Repertoire Search  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 28, 2012  
3. ↑ Interview with Ricky Page , accessed October 28, 2012