From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Feb 13, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Boudleaux Bryant
 
BOUDLEAUX BRYANT

Born Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant, 13 February 1920, Shellman, Georgia
Died 30 June 1987, Knoxville, Tennessee

A classically trained violinist turned songwriter, Bryant composed over 750
songs. After marrying Felice Scaduto (born 7 August 1925, Milwaukee) in
1945, Bryant and his wife teamed up as songwriters, their first success coming
with "Country Boy", a # 7 country hit for Little Jimmy Dickens in 1949.
The next year the Bryants were hired as staff writers at Acuff-Rose Publishing
in Nashville and penned hits for Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine ("Hey Joe")
and Eddy Arnold in the first half of the fifties. But their biggest success
came with a long and fruitful collaboration with the youthful Everly Brothers.
Starting with "Bye Bye Love" in 1957, they provided a string of hits for the
brothers, including "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have To Do Is Dream",
"Bird Dog", "Problems" and "Take a Message to Mary". The collaboration
ended in 1961 after a conflict between the Everlys and their manager Wesley
Rose, also head of Acuff-Rose. The Bryants also composed "Raining In My
Heart" (Buddy Holly), "Let's Think About Living" (Bob Luman) and "Mexico",
a big international instrumental hit for Bob Moore and his Orchestra in 1961.
After the rock 'n' roll era had subsided, they returned to the country scene.
They left Acuff-Rose in 1967 to form their own publishing company.
In the late 70s, Felice and Boudleaux recorded their own compositions for
the first time: "A Touch Of Bryant" (1977) and "Surfin' On A New Wave" (1979).
Boudleaux's most recorded song (written without Felice) is probably "Love
Hurts",
first recorded by the Everlys in their early Warner Bros days.
Bryant died of cancer at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Knoxville. Felice is
still alive.