From:  "Dik de Heer"  
Date:  Sun Sep 5, 2004  2:27 am 
Subject:  This Is My Story : Donnie Brooks
 
DONNIE BROOKS

Born John Dee Abohosh, 6 February 1936, Dallas, Texas

Donnie Brooks recorded under a lot of different names. Most biographies
tell us that his real name was Johnny Faircloth. In an interview* with
Donald John Long from July 2003, Donnie reveals: "Well, it's never really
been made public before, but my real name was John Dee Abohosh".

He assumed the name Johnny Faircloth when his stepfather adopted
him (circa 1954) and moved the family to Ventura, California. To avoid
confusion, I will refer to him as Donnie in what follows.

From a rock 'n' roll point of view, he was an inconsistent singer. His early
recordings (as Johnny Faire, Dick Bush and Johnny Jordan) are certainly
worthwhile, but almost all his sixties hits had nothing to do with rock 'n'
roll.

Donnie's first recordings were made for a local label in Los Angeles, Fable
Records, using the name Johnny Faire. Three singles were released in
1957, which, for some unknown reason, were all numbered # 601.

From there he went to the Kenny Babcock's Surf label in Burbank. Donnie's
friend Dorsey Burnette had recorded a single for Surf, "Bertha Lou"/"Till the
Law Says Stop", but Babcock found out belatedly that he couldn't release it,
because Dorsey was still signed to Coral Records. Donnie was asked to
sing over Dorsey's voice (on both sides), as there was no separate track
for the vocal. Interviewed by Cub Koda, Donnie said: "I think you can still
hear Dorsey on the record. It took forever, line by line, just hours of studio
time!" The Johnny Faire version of "Bertha Lou" attracted enough attention
to be released in the UK (on London HLU 8569), but it was a cover version
by Clint Miller on ABC-Paramount that charted.

After a second Surf single as Johnny Faire ("Betcha I Getcha"), Donnie
became Dick Bush on Era Records. "Hollywood Party"/"Ezactly" is rock
& roll at its most contrived, but, as the liner notes of the "Hollywood Rock
'n' Roll" album say : "Hollywood Party" is a wonderfully inept checkroll of
song-titles-cum-party guests". Dick Bush lasted only one single ; for his
next record, "Sweet, Sweet, Sweet"/ "Don't Cry Little Baby", Donnie was
credited as Johnny Jordan! This was a one-off release on the Jolt label, but
in 1959 Donnie would return to Herb Newman's Era label and stay there for
the next four years. From now on he recorded as Donnie Brooks and it was
his fourth record under that name that finally gave him his big break. The
lightweight pop tune "Mission Bell", complete with girl chorus and strings,
went to # 7 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 1960. The follow-up,
"Doll House"/"Round Robin" was a better record, but got no higher than # 31,
while in the UK Donnie's version of "Doll House" was outsold by a cover by
the King Brothers, which peaked at # 21. The next Era single, "Memphis"
reached # 90 in Billboard, but it would be Donnie's chart swansong.
Seven more Era singles were released before Donnie moved to Reprise
Records (1964-65) and then to Challenge. In the sixties, he appeared in
three films, "A Swingin' Summer" (with Raquel Welch), "Get Yourself A
College Girl" (with Nancy Sinatra) and "The Love-Ins". Until 1971, he had
regular record releases, but after these stopped, he continued to tour and
perform all over the USA, and occasionally Latin America, Europe and the
Far East.

A very religious person, Donnie played the role of Jesus Christ in the rock
opera "Truth of Truths" in 1971. (See interview mentioned below.)
In December 2003, we received the news that Donnie was involved in a
serious car accident near Las Vegas. He drove into the back of a truck
loaded with pigs at 85 mph and the truck dragged his car quite a ways
until they stopped. His left lung wasn't working and some ribs were crushed.
Since then I have not heard anything further about his recovery.

More info: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/DonnieBrooks.html
Discography: http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/johnnyfaire.htm

CD: Donnie Brooks, Greatest Hits 1958-1968. Canetoad International 6458 .
An Australian release from 2001. 34 tracks from the Surf, Era and Reprise
labels.

The CD "Hits and Rarities" (Teen Sound TSR-59631, Canada) has more
or less the same contents (though not the four Surf sides), with 35 tracks,
but this looks like a bootleg to me, whereas the Canetoad CD is a legal release.

* Interview: http://one-way.org/jesusmusic/index.html,
Choose "Interviews", then "Ray Ruff (Truth of Truths Rock Opera)."