From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sat Feb 8, 2003  7:10 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Larry Verne
 
LARRY VERNE

Born Larry Vern Erickson, 8 February 1936, Minneapolis, Minnesota

When Larry Verne was discovered in late 1959, he was a photographer's
assistant with no musical background whatsoever. In the same building
where he was developing pictures in the darkroom, three fellows, Fred
Darian, Al DeLory and Joe Van Winkle had an office. This trio (the vocal
group The Balladeers) had written a novelty song, "Mr. Custer", about
the battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, and were looking for someone to
sing and record it. They liked Verne's southern drawl and took him into
Gold Star Studio in Hollywood. Eighteen hours later they came out with
a four-and-a-half minute track.
Every record company, major and independent, turned it down. Finally,
Bob Keene of Del-Fi Records gave Darian, DeLory and Van Winkle $300
advance so he could release the record. After waiting an interminable
amount of time, Darian called and asked when it would be coming out.
Keene said, "You know, I don't think it's so funny anymore".
Then, back in the studio making a redubbing, Herb Newman (founder
of Era Records) happened to be in the hallway and heard it. He snatched
it up, signed Verne to a contract and ten months after it was recorded,
a shortened version of "Mr. Custer" finally hit the market. It went all the
way to # 1, in October 1960, keeping Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" from
the top spot.
In the UK, where his record was released on London-American, Verne
was outsold by a cover by Charlie Drake, whose version went to # 12.
Verne did eight more singles and an album for Era, but only the immediate
follow-up, "Mister Livingston", charted (# 75). When the records stopped in
1963, Verne got into something he liked much better : the motion picture
business, doing film set construction. The last movie he worked on was
"Lost World, Jurassic Park 2". He retired in February 1997.

(With thanks to Wayne Jancik.)

CD : Mr. Custer (Collectables)