From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Dec 5, 2002  6:20 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Don Robertson (1)
 
My firm editorial hand has failed me for once : Jean-Marc and I have
both written a piece on Don Robertson. I have not tried to integrate
them ; they are different enough to complement each other nicely. - Dik

DON ROBERTSON (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born 5 December 1922, Peking, China

Songwriter.
With a physician father and a nurse mother, Don's future was likely to be
a medical one and he even started in pre-med at the University of Chicago.
But he always had a great passion for music and had started piano lesson
at the young age of 4. So much so that after dropping University (after a
near-depression), he took several small jobs and finally landed a job with
a vocal trio, The Brandt Sisters, in 1942.
This marked the start of a successful 55+ years in the music business.
Classically trained, Don got interested in jazz, he played in small pop
combos and big bands. In the early 50s, he worked for Capitol as an
accompanist / rehearsal pianist / song demonstrator for four years and he
worked with practically the entire Capitol roster of the time: Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin, Kay Starr, Nat King Cole, Al Martino, Ella Mae Morse, Johnny
Mercer, Tex Ritter, etc. He also had records out on his own.
1954 was the year that started it all off as a songwriter for Don, Hank Snow
had a big hit with the Robertson/Rollins - penned "I Don't Hurt Anymore".
Through Capitol, he also had his first acquaintances with the Aberbachs
and Hal Blair.
In late 1955, he managed to place one of his songs "I'm Counting On You"
with the Aberbachs, expecting Eddy Arnold to record it, but it instead ended
up being recorded by Elvis.
Elvis would record several other of his compositions in the early 60s, either
at standard studio sessions ("There's Always Me", "Starting Today", "No
More", "I'm Yours", "Anything's That Part Of You", "I Met Her Today") or for
movie soundtracks ("Marguerita", "They Remind Too Much Of You"), to name
but a few.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Don Robertson was also responsible or
co-responsible for numerous successful songs for Hank Locklin ("Please Help
Me I'm Falling"), Al Martino ("I Love You More And More Everyday"), Lorne
Greene ("Ringo") and Hank Snow ("Ninety Miles An Hour (Down A Dead End
Street").
In the 80s, Don teamed up with Billy Swan (a long time fan) for Billy's Epic
project.
Statistical figures for Don are impressive: he had around 130 songs recorded
on major labels by 250 different artists worldwide, issued on 570 singles and
800 albums!

Recommended reading:
"I Met Him Today" Part 1 & Part 2: Don Robertson Interview by Gordon Minto,
Elvis The Man And His Music #33 and #34.

=====

From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Dec 5, 2002  6:21 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Don Robertson (2)
 
DON ROBERTSON

Born Donald Irwin Robertson, 5 December 1922, Peking, China

Songwriter / singer / pianist.
We can't leave out the composer of the song that gave our feature its
name, can we? Don Robertson's father was head of the department of
medicine at Peking Union Medical College. In 1927, the family returned
to Chicago. There Don studied medicine and music and worked in radio.
In 1945 he moved to Los Angeles, making demos for publishers and
moving into songwriting. His first major hit came in 1954 : " I Really Don't
Want To Know" (# 1 country for Eddy Arnold ; there have also been six
pop charting versions of this song 1954-71, including one by E. Presley),
soon followed by another country # 1, "I Don't Hurt Anymore" by Hank Snow.
"Hummingbird", his first totally self-penned song, was a Top 10 hit in 1955
for Les Paul and Mary Ford and a Top 20 record for Frankie Laine. In 1956,
Robertson had his own hit, the well-known "The Happy Whistler" (# 6), an
instrumental on Capitol. A few months later, the Chordettes hit the Top 10
with his "BORN TO BE WITH YOU". Also in 1956, he established his own
publishing firm, Birchwood Music Company, later changed to Don Robertson
Music Corporation.
In 1960, he co-wrote another big hit, "Please Help Me I'm Falling" (a country
chart topper for Hank Locklin for 14 weeks), which launched a new piano style,
the "slip-note" technique, first practised by Robertson, but developed into a
hallmark of the Nashville sound by Floyd Cramer. The next year he met Elvis
Presley, who had already recorded his "I'm Counting On You" in 1956, leading
to a friendship as well as several compositions for the Tupelo Flash (There's
Always Me, Anything That's Part Of You, etc.).
Many of his compositions were co-written with his longtime partner Hal Blair
(1915-2001), including his first # 1 pop hit, "Ringo", by Lorne Greene (1964).
In 1967 he received a Grammy nomination for "Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger"
(Best Country & Western Song), a # 4 country hit for Charley Pride. He was
inducted into the Nashville Songwriters' Association Hall of Fame in 1972.

In his sleeve notes for Ace 845 (Golden Age of American Rock 'n' Roll, Country
Edition), Rob Finnis refers to Don as "the late Don Robertson". I have found no
confirmation of his death and I think this is premature.

"Born to Be With You" has been recorded by the Chordettes (# 5 pop, 1956,
also # 8 UK), Sonny James (# 1 country, # 81 pop, 1968), Dave Edmunds
(# 5 UK, 1973), Sandy Posey (# 21 country, 1978), Patti Page, Leo Kottke,
Anne Murray, Frankie Laine, Billy Vaughn, Duane Eddy, The Young Americans,
Jim Ed Brown & Helen Cornelius, Kitty Wells, and The Wilburn Brothers.