From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu May 15, 2003  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Andy Anderson
 
ANDY ANDERSON

Born 15 May 1935, near Clarksdale, Mississippi

One of the mainstays of Mississippi rockabilly is Andy Anderson. Born
into a Plantation owning family near Clarksdale, from the age of 10, Andy
was listening to Saturday afternoon Live shows on the Plantation, given by
artists like Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker. During a Christmas holiday in
1951 Andy's mother Elizabeth suggested that Andy could do well playing &
singing as a sideline and they promptly went to Memphis to buy a guitar.
Andy listened to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night, learning some of
the songs, with his mother's encouragement, who, in turn played piano, sang
and composed. The untimely death of Andy's mother in 1953 signalled the
end of any family support. Andy's first band 'The Rolling Stones' was formed 
in 1954 at Mississippi State University and included Joe Tubb, 'Cuz' Covington,
Bobby Lyon, James Aldridge and Roy Estes. 

The band played all around the Campus and neighbouring towns, but by 1956
their popularity was so great that management was needed. At this point,
Jimmy Ammons of Delta Records and Mabel McQueen of Pine-Sol fame
contracted the Rolling Stones. This arrangement worked well for a year at 
which point the Stones decided to made the trip North to Memphis to record
at the Sun Recording Studios with Jack Clement engineering. The band paid
for the session themselves, but offered the original recordings of "Johnny
Valentine" and "Tough, Tough, Tough" to Sam Phillips for release on Sun, 
an offer that was refused. 

1957 found the band signing with Murray Nash Associates in Nashville who
signed the band to Felsted records, a subsidiary of London Records. "Johnny
Valentine" was re-recorded with studio musicians and became a local hit. The
next release turned up on Apollo Records from New York. Shopped by Murray
Nash, "You Shake Me Up" was extremely popular in the New York State area. 
The band played on Dick Clark's Bandstand and had an appearance on the Alan
Freed show in Philadelphia.

In 1959, after a spell in the military, Andy and the Rolling Stones broke up
and Anderson formed a new band called the Dawnbreakers. This outfit's first release
was "Tough, Tough, Tough"/"Gimme A Lock 'O Your Hair" on Andy's own Century
label, followed by "Tall Oak Tree"/"All By Myself" on Hermitage. In 1965, Andy
left the music business and headed out for California to pursue an acting career,
under the guiding hand of Aaron Spelling, leaving the band in the capable hands of
Murray Kellum as lead singer. Andy still found time to make the occasional record,
but the great days of rock 'n' roll were over and he found it necessary to move 
on to other styles of music in order to compete in the marketplace. 

CD: Andy Anderson, You Shake Me Up (Sunjay SJCD 592). 26 tracks.
Sleeve notes by Dave Travis, from which I have unashamedly copied the above.
More info: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/AndyAnderson.html