Billy Storm

Billy Storm (born June 29, 1938 in Dayton , Ohio; † 2000 ; born William E. Spicer , after his mother's name also Billy Jones , stage name Billy Fortune , as a songwriter under the pseudonyms John Carson and Billy Carson ) was a American R&B singer.

Life

William "Billy" Spicer was a student at LA High School and sang in the choir with Brice Coefield . He had founded a vocal ensemble called "The Sabers" with his cousin Rip Spencer from Jordan High School, Walter Carter and a classmate named Herbie. After their first recording in 1955 for Hite Morgan , Billy joined the group, who could sing both bass and a tenor reminiscent of Clyde McPhatter . After a second recording session, the group renamed itself "The Chavelles". The jazz pianist Lloyd Glenn , whom Coefield's father brought the mail as a postman, made contact with the producer Bumps Blackwell of Specialty Records , who then became the group's manager. Blackwell brought new recordings, including the Valley of Love co-authored by Billy to Vita Records . After that, Herbie and Walter Carter left the band, the gap left by the singer and guitarist Chester Pipkin of the Squires . With the reshuffle, the next change of name to The Valiants took place .

Autograph

Billy, who now called himself Billy Storm, had become the lead singer of the quartet with his bright tenor . Shortly before their first recordings for Specialty in 1957, their manager Blackwell was fired from there and they followed him to Keen Records . In two recording sessions with Don and Dewey as instrumentalists, among others , the Valiants recorded a large part of their work, including the up-tempo numbers This Is the Night and Good Golly Miss Molly . The latter had already been recorded by Little Richard the year before , but the very fast version of the Valiants came on the market in November 1957 before Richard's version. Blackwell also used the group as the opening act for Sam Cooke at his concerts on the west coast. This Is the Night was to remain the only chart success of the Valiants and after a few more unsuccessful single releases and the looming business closure of Keen Records, Billy Storm left the band to try a solo career.

Billy Storm on a DJ copy of Infinity INX-018

First, Billy recorded with the rest of the Squires for Hite Morgan Every Word of the Song and Listen to Your Heart , which were released on Morgan's Dice Records label under the name "Billy Fortune & the Squires" and on Deck Records under the name "Billy Storm & The Squires". the Squires ”came out. A few more tracks were released on the Barbary Coast label . It wasn't until 1958, after Columbia Records bought Billy for $ 1,700 from a contract with Barbary Coast, that the singer made a 28th place on the pop charts with I've Come of Age . The recording was produced by Mitch Miller , who worked with Billy the following year. In 1960 and 1961, Billy recorded R&B and pop standards for Atlantic Records under Phil Spector . Depending on his account balance, Billy also supported his old colleagues from the Valiants, who now published in different compositions as The Electras , The Untouchables or The Alley Cats . When Billy supported the Untouchables for the recording of You're on Top on Liberty Records , they were looked after by Lou Adler and Herb Alpert . The latter played his first trumpet solo on the piece and would later achieve world fame on the wind instrument. In 1962, Billy recorded three singles for Infinity Records under John Marascalco . Marascalco, who with Bumps Blackwell was already responsible as the songwriter of Good Golly Miss Molly and other Little Richard hits, was in charge of Electras as A&R manager for Infinity and on his own small labels. The next station was the label Buena Vista Records of Disney Studios , where Billy not only recorded material for six singles, but also lent his voice in Disney films cartoon characters. In 1966 he sang again with the Electras on Marascalco's Ruby-Doo Records label .

In 1968 the singing friends founded a soul group with Africa , which recorded the album Music from Lil Brown , on which Billy Storm placed his own composition Here I Stand . The record was released, as well as two single releases and two solo singles by Billy on Ode Records . Also on Ode was Dylan's Gospel, an album of the 28-person project The Brothers and Sisters of Los Angeles , which included Africa's Billy Storm and Chester Pipkin. The album only contains compositions by Bob Dylan in gospel style.

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

I've come of age   US 28 04/13/1959 (14 weeks)

Singles

For more recordings with Billy Storm, see The Valiants , The Electras and Africa .

• 1958 - Every Word of the Song / Listen to Your Heart , Deck 478 (as Billy Jones & the Squires)
• 1958 - The Way to My Heart / Angel of Mine , Barbary Coast 1001 (as Billy Storm & the Squires)
• 1958 - Every Word of the Song / Listen to Your Heart , Dice 478 (as Billy Fortune & the Squires)
• 1959 - I've Come of Age / This Is Always , Columbia 41356
• 1959 - Easy Chair / You Just Can't Plan These Things , Columbia 41431
• 1959 - Emotion / I Can't Stop Crying for You , Columbia 41494
• 1959 - When the Whole World Smiles Again / Enchanted , Columbia 41545
• 1960 - Sure as You're Born / In the Chapel in the Moonlight , Atlantic 2076
• 1961 - Dear One / When You Dance , Atlantic 2098
• 1961 - A Kiss from Your Lips / Honey Love , Atlantic 2112
• 1961 Who'll Keep an Eye on Jane? / 3000 Tears , Gregmark 9
• 1962 - Love Theme from "El Cid" / Don't Let Go , Infinity 013 and Delta 3162
• 1962 - A Million Miles from Nowhere / Since I Fell for You , Infinity 018
• 1962 - I Can't Help It / Educated Fool , Infinity 023
• 1962 - Puppy Love Is Here to Stay / Push Over , Buena Vista 403
• 1962 - Cee Cee Rider / Love Theme from "El Cid" , Buena Vista 413
• 1963 - Good Girl / Double Date , Buena Vista 415
• 1963 - Deed I Do / Lonely People Do Foolish Things , Buena Vista 418
• 1963 - He Knows How Much We Can Bear / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child , Buena Vista 424
• 1963 - Since I Fell for You / Body and Soul , Buena Vista 429
• 1964 - I Never Want to Dream Again / Baby, Don't Look Down , Loma 2001
• 1965 - Goldfinger / Debbie and Mitch , Loma 2009
• 1966 - Please Don't Mention Her Name / The Wamest Love , HBR 474
• 1969 - Down Home / Monday, Monday , Ode ZS7-117
• 1969 - Tonight I'll Be Staying with You / Coal Mine , Ode ZS7-120

Albums

• 1963 - Billy Storm , Buena Vista LP-3315

swell

1. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Billboard Books, New York 2007, ISBN 0-89820-172-1

Web links

• Discography at Soulfulkindamusic
• Marv Goldberg on The Valiants