From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon May 12, 2003  1:20 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Bob Montgomery
 
BOB MONTGOMERY

Born 12 May 1937, Lampasas, Texas

Vocalist / songwriter / producer / music publisher.
Bob Montgomery is probably best known to rock 'n' roll fans for his
association with Buddy Holly. Buddy's first performances were with
Bob and together they wrote "Down The Line","Wishing", Heartbeat", 
"Love's Made A Fool Of You" and others. 

Montgomery moved to Lubbock at age 12 and first met Buddy Holly
in Junior High. They had a common interest in music and started
playing in school talent shows. Eventually they had their own little
weekly radio show on KDAV. The recordings that exist from that period
(released on the "Holly In The Hills" album, with overdubs by the
Fieballs) were mostly demos, done in Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, 
New Mexico. That's where Bob also cut a single of his own, "Taste Of
The Blues"/"Because I Love You" (Brunswick, 1959), which was followed
by three singles on Warner Bros under the name of Bob & Carol (Carol
being Montgomery's first wife). One of them was "That's What You Do 
To Me", later recorded by the Everly Brothers on their "It's Everly Time"
LP. 

Bob's first big success as a songwriter came in 1966 with "Misty Blue",
which was intended for Brenda Lee, but she turned it down. There are
over 200 versions of the song, the most successful being by Wilma
Burgess (# 4 country, 1966), Eddy Arnold (# 3 country, # 57 pop, 1967)
and Dorothy Moore (# 3 pop, 1976). Before that, Cliff Richard had a hit 
in the UK with Montgomery's "Wind Me Up" (1965). 

Bob went on to become a successful producer and publisher ("Behind
Closed Doors" was his biggest song) in the country field. One of the
songs he produced was Marty Robbins' last hit, "Some Memories Just
Won't Die" (1982), a personal favourite of mine.

Montgomery was recently interviewed by Spencer Leigh for Now Dig This
(February 2003 issue). The interview is available on the Web at
http://www.spencerleigh.demon.co.uk/bobmonty.htm