From: "Tapio Vaisanen" Date: Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:35 pm Subject: Born To Be With You : Gary Usher GARY LEE USHER born 14 Dec 1938, Los Angeles, California. died 25 May 1990, Los Angeles, California, (lung cancer). Gary Usher was born in California, but grew up in New England before moving back to the Golden State upon graduation. There he roomed with his Uncle Benny who lived in the city of Inglewood, close to the Murry and Audree Wilson family home in Hawthorne. Although Usher began a recording career in 1960 with "Driving Insane", he became better known as a multitalented musical dynamo of the California Sound, the leading composer of the surfing/hot rod genres. Since Usher was interested in cars and drag racing, the lyrics and the ardor expressed by the song represented first hand experiences. However, besides all this, Gary Usher was certainly one of the most uncredited talents in Los Angeles during the 1960s. The beginning really goes back to 1960-61 when, as a Titan Records recording artist, Gary performed with Carol Conners and Ginger Blake (later of the Honeys) at the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino. The host disc jockey was none other that Roger (hot rod) Christian from KFWB radio. After the show, Roger and Gary struck up a friendship that centered around his car, a customized 1955 Corvette. Ginger drove Gary's car home and Gary "flew" home with Roger at an average speed of 90 miles per hour! Roger was equally fascinated with Gary's 348 cubic inch Chevy. A collaboration with his neighbour Brian Wilson resulted in several classic early Beach Boys releases, including "The Lonely Sea", "409" and "In My Room". Usher carried the concept of "409" further with "My Sting Ray" and "R.P.M.", released under the name of the Four Speeds, it retained the essence of "409". Like "409", "R.P.M." was also unplanned, conceived by Usher on the way to Tijuana with Dennis Wilson in search of some local action. "My Sting Ray" was actually written for Dennis because of his interest in owning a Corvette. The subsequent release of the single on the Challenge label (featuring Dennis on drums) slid the career of Gary into fourth gear. The following years saw a massive amount of products released bearing the Usher moniker as songwriter, vocalist, arranger, or producer. The height of the hot rod fad climaxed during a one month period when Roger and Gary actually wrote, and Gary recorded, over 50 car songs. Usher practically lived in the recording studio! It was a great period for the "California Sound" By that time, Gary had purchased a new 426 Plymouth Hemi Superstock. It's interesting that he never did own a 409 Chevy; by the time Gary had "saved the dimes," the 426 was considerably faster. Gary won many events at the San Fernando dragstrip with his 426 and a young Dennis Wilson by his side. Gary Usher achieved greater success supervising a myriad of releases for several other acts, notably Dick Dale, the Hondells, Donna Loren, Annette, Surfaris, Castells, Revells, Super Stocks, Knights, Ghouls, Chuck and Joe, Toads, Devons, Weird-Ohs, Silly Surfers, Wheel Men, Competitors, Kickstands, Mr. Gasser & The Weirdos, Captivations, Customs, Sunsets, Quads, Road Runners, Devons, and the Timers. Most of these were simply names given to an Usher recording project and the groups that were on the recording sessions never performed live. Some of the recordings were also used in numerous Beach films like "Beach Party", "Bikini Beach" and "Muscle Beach Party". Ably supported by lyricist Roger Christian, Usher maintained a frantic pace which, during its most prolific period, spawned three albums per month. This workload required an on-hand pool of musicians and three vocalists - Chuck Girard, Joe Kelly and Richie Burns - joined guitarist Richie Podolor in a studio group augmented by Glen Campbell & Tommy Tedesco (guitars), Steve Douglas (saxophone), Carol Kaye (bass) and Hal Blaine (drums). Usher also continued his solo career with several singles, including "Three Surfer Boys" (on which he was joined by the Honeys) and "Sacramento', co-written and produced with Brian Wilson. In 1965, Gary took up a staff producer post at CBS Records where he subsequently oversaw three classic Byrds albums, Younger Than Yesterday, The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. His work on the The Notorious Byrd Brothers was particularly inventive for the period, and was continued on the over-ambitious Of Cabbages And Kings by Chad And Jeremy. He also worked with Dick Campbell, the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Firesign Theatre and Gene Clark, before resuming freelance operations later in the decade. Usher was also the mainstay behind Sagittarius, a studio-based act consisting of several Los Angeles associates, including Bruce Johnston and Curt Boettcher. He worked as A&R man at RCA and also founded the Together label, responsible for several archive repackages, before retiring from music altogether in the early 70s. Gary headed up to the San Juan Islands near Seattle to open a restaurant, which failed. He returned to production in 1977, but re-emerged as a songwriting force the following decade with contributions to the soundtrack of Police Academy 4, the soundtrack for Frankie and Annette's reunion, "Back to The Beach" and albums by the Commodores, Chicago and Roger Daltrey. He supplied the latter portion to the Fat Boys/Beach Boys" "Wipeout", a US Top 5 hit, but this deserved commercial regeneration ended with Usher's premature death in 1990. Websites: http://www.garyusher.com/ Discography 1960-1966: http://www.garyusher.com/disc.html Recommended listening GARY USHER GREATS VOLUME 1 - The Knights Vs. The Kickstands (AVI 1996) SUPER STOCKS - THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS ONE WAY S22-18680 (1996) MUSCLE BUSTLE (Ace CDCHD 533) THE REVELLS - THE GO SOUND OF THE SLOTS! SUNDAZED SC 6067 (1995) SURF & DRAG VOL. 1 (11 tracks) SUNDAZED SC-11003 (1989) SURF & DRAG VOL. 2 (3 tracks) SUNDAZED SC-11015 (1993) HOT ROD CITY - SUNDAZED SC-11025 (1995) BEST OF GARY USHER VOL. 1 (30 tracks) M&M MMCD-1008 (JAPAN)(BOOTLEG)(1994) Note: Greats Volume 2 was never released, although the liner notes are on Usher website. More Gary Usher on CD: http://www.garyusher.com/cds.html Bibliography: The California Sound: An Insider's Story - The Musical Biography Of Gary Lee Usher (five volumes) by Stephen J McFarland. The Illustrated Discography of Hot Rod Music 1961-1965 by John Blair and Stephen J. McParland. The Illustrated Discography of Surf Music, 1961-65 (3rd Edition) by John Blair Mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gary_Usher/ More great Hot Rod & Surf books from Cmusic http://www.garyusher.com/cmusic.html