From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Jan 3, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Gene Summers

GENE SUMMERS

Born 3 January 1939, Dallas, Texas

Singer / songwriter. Gene Summers formed his own group, The
Rebels, in 1957, and signed a recording contract in that same year,
with Tom Fleeger's Jan label. His first release, in February 1958, was
"School Of Rock & Roll"/"Straight Skirt". The Jan recordings of 1958
and 1959 still stand out as classic examples of Gene's great work in
the early rock (or rockabilly, if you prefer) genre. Most of these were
recorded in Los Angeles, some of them (Nervous, Gotta Lotta That,
Twixteen) with top West Coast session men Rene Hall, Plas Johnson,
Earl Palmer and Red Callendar. However, Gene never had the massive
promotional push of a major label at any point in his career. Thus, his
records had little chance of becoming national hits, though "Big Blue
Diamonds" (1963) came pretty close.
Summers recorded prolifically for a variety of independent Texas labels,
remaining surprisingly faithful to his original style through the decades.
In 1980 he did his first European gig, in Lille, France, and would return
for European tours several times. Two heart attacks in 1991 forced him
to slow down, but he made a comeback.

Further reading: http://www.rockabiilyhall.com/GeneSummers.html
CD: The Ultimate School Of Rock & Roll. Released in 1997, in the
USA on Crystal Clear Sound, in the UK on Rollercoaster. 32 tracks
from 1957-1977.