From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Feb 4, 2002  1:18 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Gil Bernal
 
GIL BERNAL

Born 4 February, 1931, Watts, Los Angeles, California

Tenor saxophonist. The son of a Mexican mother and a Sicilian father,
Bernal went to school with Mike Stoller. Stoller and his songwriting partner
Jerry Leiber established their own label, Spark Records, in 1954. During
the two years of the label's existence, Bernal was the in-house sax player
for Spark. He plays on all West Coast recordings by The Robins / Coasters,
starting with "Riot In Cell Block # 9" (1954) and ending with "Searchin'"/
"Young Blood" in 1957. He can also be heard on the Duane Eddy single
"Rebel Rouser"/"Stalkin'" (1958), which was originally recorded in Phoenix
without the sax part. Bernal's saxophone was overdubbed in Hollywood.
Before that, Gil had played with musical parodist Spike Jones and his
City Slickers (1955-1957).
The current issue of Now Dig This tells us that Bernal is alive and well
and still recording in Los Angeles, according to NDT subscriber Duane
Eddy (page 11).

Gil Bernal is featured prominently on the 2001 CD "Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller Present the Spark Records Story" (Ace 801). Apart from his backing
work, the CD includes the A-sides of his two Spark singles.