RODNEY & BLAZERS RARE ROCKABILLY "TEENAGE CINDERELLA" KAMPUS 1ST PRESS 1960
$
100
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Description
RODNEY & THE BLAZERS RARE ROCKABILLY "SUMMERTIME ROCK/ TEENAGE CINDERELLA" KAMPUS 1960
During the first half of the 1960's, when the Beach Boys and the Beatles were bombarding the American charts and rewriting the rules of rock, Kansans Rodney and the Blazers were crossing the country as rock & roll throwbacks, a raucous, wild combo that was more Little Richard than British Invasion, and more R&B than pop. They recorded a plethora of outstanding sides in varying styles and proved to be a very influential Midwestern band, employing both a saxophone and a trumpet and touring as one of the first truly biracial bands.
Bass player Rodney Lay Sr. and drummer Bob York kicked around together in a band known as the Off Beats throughout the last couple years of the 1950s. By 1960, with the addition of Bob "Sir Robert" Scott on saxophone and Pete "Peaches" Williams on guitar, they had transformed themselves into Rodney and the Blazers. Named after their habit of wearing blazers instead of normal jackets for their stage show. They also dyed their hair silver and wore sunglasses onstage. Don Downing was soon added on piano as well as sharing lead vocals with Lay, and they were soon playing regular gigs every Friday night at the El Rancho Opera House located between their Coffeyville hometown and Independence, Kansas.
That summer, 1960, they recorded and released their first single, "Teenage Cinderella," on their own Kampus label. It became a number one hit in several large markets around the country. The single, however, did not have enough distribution to go national (although it was later re-released on the Dore label without the band's consent, after Johnny Tillotson's manager shopped it around Hollywood). Predictably, the band received no royalties.
Rodney & the Blazers were very busy in 1961. They played at the Seattle World's Fair and New York City's famed Peppermint Lounge, as well as travelling to gigs in many large American cities and Canada. They also completed a six week tour with Bill Haley & the Comets that ended in Mexico City. At that time all band members left the band, except for Lay and York. They returned to Coffeyville and started to put together a new band. The new band played together until 1965 and produced several other notable recordings including, "Little Orphan Annie", "Warpaint", and Oriental Nightmare". They also toured with Jerry Lee Lewis during the time he was being blacklisted by the recording industry for marrying his teenage cousin.
This original recording on Kampus label has only been around twice since 2008! The A side is an excellent prom-dance ballad with strong lead vocals, great guitars, and piano fills. The B side is an outstanding uptempo Rockabilly instrumental with excellent raw rippin' guitar breaks, great sax breaks, and bangin' piano.
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