From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Sun Sep 1, 2002 2:41 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Conway Twitty CONWAY TWITTY (By Tony Wilkinson) Born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, 1 September 1933, Friars Point, Mississippi Died 5 June 1993, Springfield, Missouri Conway was born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, the son of Floyd and Velma, in the town of Friars Point which had a population of around 500. He started singing on the riverboats and wrote his first song at the age of ten. In 1945/1946, he joined forces with John Huey and Wesley Pickett and formed the hillbilly outfit The Phillips County Ramblers, an outfit that finally broke up in 1953 when Twitty moved to Chicago. (Huey joined Slim Rhodes in Memphis and stayed with him until Slim's death in 1966). Twitty joined the army in 1954 and upon his discharge two years later, he returned to Arkansas and wanted to join in with the new breed of music that had developed, i.e. rock 'n' roll. Soon he was front man with Harold Jenkins & The Rockhousers who, apart from Twitty, comprised Bill Harris on bass (soon replaced by Jimmy Evans), Jimmy Ray Paulman on guitar and Billy Weir on drums. Twitty auditioned for Sun Records and wrote 'Rock House' only to see it recorded by Roy Orbison, as the latter's second single for the label. (A version of 'Rock House' by Twitty has subsequently surfaced and whilst clearly a demo. it has that Sun sound all over it). Laying down several tracks for Sun, none were released at the time. Linking up with Don Seat, he gained a contract with Mercury in 1957 with the first session being on 13th March. It was around this time that the name change from Harold Jenkins to Conway Twitty took place. The first single, 'I Need Your Lovin' reached # 93 on the Hot 100 but the bosses at Mercury did not appreciate Conway's styling and, after one more session, dropped his contract. Around July 1957, Twitty and his band went up to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He returned later that year for a second gig but with a new band including Blackie Preston (aka Preston Wilkerson) on bass, Jack Nance on drums and Joe Lewis on guitar. Whilst up in Canada, Nance wrote 'It's Only Make Believe' which Conway made a demo recording of and sent it to his manager Don Seat who in turn made a deal with MGM Records. The song was re-recorded in Nashville on 7th May 1958 with 'I'll Try' and 'I Vibrate'. 'I'll Try' was released as a single in Canada, made some noise and then disappeared. However back in Columbus, Ohio, a DJ by the name of Doctor Bop flipped the record and started to play 'It's Only Make Believe'. The record took off big time and reached #1 on 10th November 1958. The follow up was the rather similar sounding 'The Story Of My Love', that had the cult favourite 'Make Me Know Your Mine' as the flip. This peaked at #28. His third single was 'Hey Little Lucy' when MGM rush released his rocked up treatment of 'Mona Lisa' using an arrangement he had heard by Carl Mann on a visit to Memphis. Both versions were hits in the USA but, in the UK, Twitty won the honours. As a follow up, Twitty rocked 'Danny Boy', another smash hit. However due to publishing problems, Conway re-recorded it as 'Rosealeena' for the British market. Twitty's second biggest hit record for MGM was 'Lonely Blue Boy', a song originally written for Presley under the title 'Danny' but the version by Elvis intended to be on the soundtrack of the movie King Creole was dropped and was not released for another 20 years. Gene Bua released the disc on Warner Bros. and in the UK, both Cliff Richard and Marty Wilde covered it. Changing the title to 'Lonely Blue Boy', it made #6 on the American charts. MGM issued a steady stream of singles and albums and Twitty appeared in three B- grade movies, 'Platinum High School', 'College Confidential' and 'Sex Kittens Go To College' (aka 'The Teacher Was A Sexpot'), the last two mentioned starring Mamie Van Doren. Life was not all bad. His run of hit singles petered out in February 1962 with 'Portrait Of A Fool', which made #98. By all accounts, Twitty wanted to cut country music but his producer, Jim Vienneau, apparently denied him the opportunity. Conway's MGM contract expired in 1963 but he did not immediately take the country music route. Instead, he signed for ABC Records and released two singles for the label, 'Go On and Cry' (which was issued in the UK on HMV) and a great version of 'Such A Night' that was produced by Felton Jarvis. In June 1965 he signed with Decca Records and after scoring his first country charter in 1966, and his first country number one in 1968, he went on to become one of the biggest country stars of all time. From the late sixties and during the seventies and eighties he ruled the country charts and released a whole mass of singles and albums and secured around 80 chart hits. Twitty was a good lyricist and many of his hits were from his pen. He did not entirely ignore his rock 'n' roll past and often slipped in the odd rocker. However, many of his other business ventures were far from successful, especially his (in)famous Twittyburgers (which was advertised under the slogan 'Tweet Yourself To A Twittyburger'). On 5 June 1993, Conway was returning from a date in Branson to his home Twitty City on the outskirts of Nashville when he was taken ill at a truck stop and he died in Springfield, Missouri of an abdominal aortic aneurysm just short of his sixtieth birthday. Without doubt, Twitty was one of the most successful rock 'n' roll singers and left behind a legacy of great recordings. Recommended Listening: Bear Family BCD 16112 HI - 'The Rock 'n' Roll Years' (eight CD box set covering his Sun, Mercury, MGM and ABC recordings) MCA MCAD4-11095 - 'The Conway Twitty Collection' (a four CD set mainly concentrating on his Decca/MCA recordings).