From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Aug 15, 2002  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Bobby Helms
 
BOBBY HELMS (By Shaun Mather and Tony Wilkinson)

Born 15 August 1933, Bloomington, Indiana (other sources have 1936)
Died 19 June 1997, Martinsville, Indiana

Bobby Helms started his musical career along with his brother Fred as
The Smiling Boys with a daily 15 minute radio show, on station W9HXZ
(which later turned into WTTS) out of Bloomington, Indiana. His father ran
a family store and subsequently built a large barn behind this and created
the Monroe County Barrence. Helms became a regional star. His first
recordings were in 1955 when he cut four sides for Speed Records which
were only for sale at public appearances and were not commercially released.
Helms met Ernest Tubb in Indianapolis at a date in February 1956 and Tubb
invited Bobby to Nashville where he appeared on the forger's 'Midnight
Jamboree.'
This led to an audition with Decca Records on 14th April 1956 and on 25th April
he cut the classic 'Tennessee Rock 'n' Roll' which was released in August of
that year. Helms left the Hayloft Frolics in October and returned to Nashville
where in November he recorded 'Fraulein' which was released in February 1957.
Three months later, the disc started to take off and seemingly quickly sold
a million. The story goes that at the time Decca Records was in financial
trouble but the sales of this record saved the company. The follow up, 'My
Special Angel' was released on 1st September 1957 and this too turned into
a monster hit. Both of the aforementioned records crossed over from the
country charts on to the national Hit Parade.
Decca seemed to have missed the boat with 'Jingle Bell Rock', which they only
released two days before Christmas. It still managed to peak at # 6 and hit the
charts again in December of 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1996. In 1958 he
scored a couple more country top Tenners with 'Just a Little Lonesome' and
'Jacqueline'. Helms also covered UK skiffler Dickie Bishop's 'No Other Baby'
and turned in a superlative reading of the song. He didn't chart again until
1960 when 'Lonely River Rhine' hit the country Top 20. Come 1962, matters
were bad for Helms. His mentor at Decca, Paul Cohen had left the company,
his manager Lee Emerson parted from Helms leaving him broke and, in June,
Decca did not pick up the option to renew his recording contract. He signed
with Columbia the next year which saw a one album and one single release.
Despite his personal problems, especially those with the bottle, Helms
continued to tour throughout the sixties. He rejoined Paul Cohen, this time
at Kapp Records, and three albums and a clutch of singles were issued.
In 1968, he released 'All For You' on the Little Darlin' label. He had a couple
of minor country hits during 1967-68, including 'He Thought He'd Die Laughing'
and 'So Long'. His last non-Jingle Bell Rock hit came in 1970 with 'Mary Goes
'Round' on Certron. His career thereafter was a combination of bad deals and
serious domestic problems (especially the health of his wife), but he kept
trying for that elusive come back and never gave up.
Shaun's personal favourite is probably 'A Hundred Hearts', an easy going
number that to me says everything about his style. It's got the real late '50s
Nashville sound and isn't a million miles from the what artists like Don Gibson
were busy cutting. Tony's choices are the aforementioned 'Tennesse Rock 'n'
Roll', 'No Other Baby', the somewhat similar in styling 'Sad Eyed Baby' plus
'Hurry Baby'.

Recommended listening: Fraulein: The Classic Years - Bear Family BCD 15594.
This Bear Family double CD of Helms' Decca recordings is a classy release that
should appeal to most Shakers.
Reading: Helms' biography is told in the book 'Jingle Bell Rock' by Lisa E.
Brown
and Davis Ward Davis, published in 1998 by Aalida Press, Florida.