From:   "Jean Marc Pezet" 
Date:  Sat Aug 24, 2002  6:48 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Carl Mann
 
CARL MANN (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born 24 August 1942, Huntingdon, Tennessee

Carl Mann was only 16 when he scored his first big hit, a re-working of the
old Nat King Cole standard "Mona Lisa". But he was not a starter in the
music business, playing in country groups from as early as 1954, only 12.
Raised in rural Tennessee, his dad ran a logging business, Carl was
influenced by the country music he heard on the radio, and later by Elvis
Presley and Carl Perkins.
From a local radio show and schools hops, Carl and his band made their
first recording for the small Jaxon label in 1958, "Gonna Rock'n'Roll
Tonight"/"Rockin' Love". But it was not until he got on Sun (Phillips Int.),
through WS Holland, that he recorded a rocked up version of "Mona Lisa",
with a very distinctive sound (due mainly to guitarist Eddie Bush) that
things got started, his single peaking at #25 (though Conway Twitty issued
his version around the same time).
Sam Phillips stuck to the formula and a series of old re-worked standards
followed : "Pretend", "Some Enchanted Evening", "South Of The Border",
"The Wayward Wind", each one leading to less sales than its predecessor.
Sadly, good original material such as "I'm Comin Home", later covered by
Elvis, was relegated to the B side or album tracks. Carl somehow had enough
success to be one of the few to have an LP released on Phillips International,
"Like Mann" (1960).
In 1964, Carl was drafted and served in Germany. Upon his return to the
States in 1966, the music business had changed and after an unsuccessful
single for Monument, he quit and head back to Huntingdon to work with his father
and brothers for the family logging business. He tried to revamp his career
in 1974 with singles on ABC and paid visits to Europe in the late 1970s and
early 1980s, recording 2 LPs for Rockhouse in Holland. Plagued by alcoholism
problems since his heavy touring heydays of the early 1960s, Carl had now
reverted to Christianism and sadly doesn't perform anymore, preferring singing
Gospel at local church in Huntingdon where he still lives.

Footnote:
Eddie Bush, the great and eccentric guitarist with the so-distinctive sound
was last seen in Houston, Texas. Anybody had seen him lately?

Recommended listening:
"Mona Lisa" 4 CD BEAR FAMILY BCD 15713, 1993
"Gonna Rock'n'Roll Tonight" STOMPER TIME STCD 5,1995
More info: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/CarlMann.html (by Phil Davies)