From:   "Dik de Heer"  
Date:  Tue Mar 5, 2002  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Hayden Thompson
 
HAYDEN THOMPSON (By Shaun Mather)

Born 5 March 1938, Booneville, Mississippi

Hayden Thompson was one of illustrious members of the Sun rockabilly club
and although he never made a hit record, the sheer quality of his recordings
in Memphis have ensured his place in the history books. Born just a few
miles north of Elvis Presley's birthplace, Tupelo, he was given a Gibson
guitar at the age of five and whiled away his childhood years copying the
country songs he heard on the family radio. He fell in love with the sounds
of Wayne Raney, Hank Snow and the Delmore Brothers and also got to hear the
blues of B.B. King and Howling Wolf as the blasted out of the nearby Memphis
airwaves. While still in school he formed his first band, the Southern
Melody Boys, and they had a single "I Feel The Blues Coming On" issued on
the local Von label in late '54. When the band split, Thompson moved to
Memphis as vocalist for the Slim Rhodes band. In late '56 he was recorded
by Sam Phillips with the mouthwatering house band of Jimmy Van Eaton, Roland
Janes, Marvin Pepper and a young piano pounder Jerry Lee Lewis. "Love My
Baby" and "One Broken Heart" were finally issued on Phillips International
but somehow failed to reach the charts. He cut some classics at the label
like "Fairlane Rock", "Blues Blues Blues" and "Rockabilly Gal" but nothing
happened and he moved north to Chicago. He got a regular gig at the Tally
Ho Club backed by Travis Westmoreland and Bob Millar, and they cut a single,
"Tom Thumb" for B.E.A.T. Records, followed by a 1961 single for Profile. In
1962 he recorded for Jack Clement at the Hallway Studio in Beaumont, Texas,
but the resultant single, "Queen Bee" on Arlen went nowhere. He cut a
country album for Kapp in 1966 (Here's Hayden Thompson) but Nashville wasn't
interested. The late 60's and early 70's saw the odd single release but his
career lay dormant until the rockabilly revival in Europe. He came over in
1984 and has been a regular visitor since. I saw him at Hemsby a couple of
years ago, and was lucky enough to be at the rehearsal where he jammed with
the band, playing requests. He played Charlie Rich's "On My Knees" for me
and his own "The Boy From Tupelo" for Phil. It was brilliant. Today
Thompson is a chauffeur in Chicago, where he lives with his wife Georgia and
son Keith in the Highland Park suburb.

Recommended listening;
Love My Baby - Gee-Dee (33 tracks)