From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Jun 6, 2002  1:14 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Gary U.S. Bonds
 
GARY U.S. BONDS (By Tony Wilkinson)

Born Gary Levohn Anderson, 6th June 1939, Jacksonville, Florida

Gary U.S. Bonds recorded some of the most exciting music of the early sixties, a
sound described by Jack Good writing for Disc in 1961 as 70% backing and 30%
vocals. Perhaps this is somewhat unfair but the combination of Bonds rough-hewn
vocals and the dirty party sound conjured up in Frank Guida's Norfolk, Virginia
studio resulted in inspired and unique records.

Gary's family relocated to Norfolk in 1941 and, whilst attending the Booker T
Washington High School, he joined The Turks vocal group who won second place in
a talent contest but thereafter only had one further public appearance. Like
many others of the era, the group used to hang around street corners singing.
One preferred location was outside Frank Guida's 'Frankie's Birdland', an R&B
and jazz shop.

Guida had arrived in Norfolk in 1952 from New York City where he had been a
calypso singer and canned food salesman. By 1959, Guida was well known on the
local music scene having regular weekly radio and television shows as well as
founding Legrand Records in April of that year. He hit pay dirt very quickly
with ex-Blue Cap Tommy Facenda's opus 'High School USA' which peaked at position
28 on the USA national charts in November 1959. Come July 1960, Guida purchased
the failing Norfolk Recording Studio and the scene was set.

Using Emmett Nabs Shields on drums, Willie Burnell on piano, trombonist Leonard
Barks, saxophonist Earl Swanson and Ron Junior Fairley on bass, Guida and his
song-writing collaborator Joe Royster were working up the song 'New Orleans'
with singer Leroy Bunchy Toombs. But the results were considered unsatisfactory
until they tried it with Gary Anderson on double tracked vocals and a new
arrangement and mix. Issuing the credited disc to 'By U.S. Bonds' it started to
take off locally and was then picked up for a distribution deal by Laurie. It
was broken nationally by the legendary, but vastly underrated, Pittsburgh DJ
Porky Chedwick on station WAMO.

'New Orleans' entered the UK top twenty in January 1961 and peaked at position
16. Guida used the aforementioned musicians as his regular house band along with
guitarist Wayne Beckner. However Earl Swanson left to tour with Little Walkin'
Willie and was replaced by Gene 'Daddy G' Barge, a teacher at the local Suffolk
High School who had a second career as a hard blowing sax man. This was the
outfit on the disc 'A Night with Daddy G' parts 1 and 2, which bubbled under the
USA Hot 100 in February 1961.

The follow up to 'New Orleans' was the ditty 'Not Me' which only reached #116 on
the USA chart. However, it had a substantial overseas release and in the U.K.,
it was on the Top Rank label. When 'Not Me' was revived by The Orlons in 1963,
it climbed to the # 12 spot on the charts. The low chart placing was rectified
with the next release 'Quarter To Three', the outcome of multiple overdubs and a
hot dirty sound, one of the perfect party records. This made number one in the
USA and was a huge hit elsewhere in the world and resulted in the album 'Dance
'Til Quarter To Three With U.S. Bonds'. This was followed by the string of hits
'School Is Out', 'School Is In', 'Dear Lady Twist', 'Twist Twist Senora', 'Seven
Day Weekend' and 'Copy Cat' - all with that hot live muzzy sound.

In 1962, Gary U.S. Bonds (Gary was added after 'Quarter To Three') toured the UK
for the first time in the company of Johnny Burnette and Gene McDaniels. There
was a difficulty in recreating the Legrand studio sound but the touring backing
musicians, who in actuality was an augmented line up of Dick Charlesworth And
His City Gents, a traditional jazz band, tried their best. Bonds also appeared
in the UK movie 'It's Trad Dad' singing 'Seven Day Weekend' but this portion of
the film was recorded in New York. The backing vocal group in the film was not
the Church Street Five but was in actually The Jive Five lead by Eugene Pitts.
It is not known who were the backing vocalists on the record, possibly members
of The Sheiks, the regular house vocalists for Legrand.

Gradually the hits faded out and in 1968, after 25 singles and three albums,
Gary U.S. Bonds left Legrand Records. However in 1981 there was a return to the
charts for Bonds, but this time under the auspices of Bruce Springsteen and two
successful albums, 'Gary U.S. Bonds' and 'On the Line' for EMI America. There
was also the same year a four track 10" E.P. on Charly Records of cuts produced
by Jerry Swamp Dog Williams. This was followed in 1984 by the album 'Standing In
The Line Of Fire' on Phoenix Records, this seemingly being the last new
recordings issued by Bonds. However, his classic Legrand sides have been
constantly regurgitated in various permutations and are relatively easy to find.

Recommended Listening:

(German) Line IMCD 9.00715 0 - 'The Gary US Bonds Collection', basically both
sides of his first 13 Legrand singles. (Similar, with some track amendments, is
also available on the Rhino, Music Club and Tring labels).

(UK) Ace CDCHD 549 - 'Take Me Back To New Orleans'

(UK) Ace CDCHD 692 - 'Quarter To Three/Twist Up Calypso'

(UK) Finbarr FICD 2 'U.S. Bonds Meets Daddy G And The Church Street Five

(UK) Ace CDCHD 541 - 'The Norfolk VA Rock 'n' Roll Sound', a various artists
compilation.

Recommended Reading:

Any issue of the sadly now defunct 'The Norfolk Echo' magazine which ran from
1986 through to 1993 and was edited by Brian Walsh, the leading authority on
Frank Guida recordings.

Official website: http://www.garyusbonds.com/