From:   "Dik de Heer" <
Date:  Tue Jan 21, 2003  6:19 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Pat Cupp

PAT CUPP (By Kevin Carey)

Born 21 January 1938, Nashville, Arkansas

Pat Cupp was born and raised in Arkansas within a family of musicians, so it was
hardly surprising that the young Pat Cupp should find himself carrying on the
family tradition, something he clearly excelled in, as he won his first talent
contest at the ripe old age of 13.

By 1954, Pat's family had moved to another area of Arkansas, where Pat's own
music tastes began to veer towards Country 'n Western, performing at local
dances in the area, although mostly backing his friend, Chessie Nelson. On one
memorable occasion, Pat and Chessie were asked to stand in for the late arrival
of Elvis, Scotty and Bill, whose car had broken down. After seeing Elvis
perform, Pat decided that, musically, he wanted to follow Elvis' footsteps.

Pat continued playing solo until prompted by Carl Perkins to get a backing band,
who he later christened 'The Flying Saucers.' More dates followed, but it wasn't
until 1956 that Pat came to the attention of Joe Bihari at Modern Records who
signed Pat up to his RPM subsidiary label.

Pat Cupp recorded "Long Gone Daddy", "Do Me No Wrong", "Baby Come Back", "I
Guess It's Meant That Way" "I Won't Remember To Cry" and "That Gal Of Mine",
which resulted in the release of Do Me No Wrong c/w Baby Come Back on RPM
45X461.

For some reason, Joe Bihari asked Pat to re-cut I'm A Long Gone Daddy, this time
using an R&B backing provided by Little Richard's band. Being effectively pushed
in another musical direction, Pat rebelled, quit the business and joined the US
Air Force in March 1957, where he spent four years.

On leaving the air force, Pat continued playing music mainly as a hobby, which
was more pop or jazz influenced. His only post RPM recordings were released on
his own label, 'Chance', in 1967. Appearing at Hemsby in 1995, the hearing loss
which Pat had suffered gradually since the 80's made further appearances
impossible.

With so little laid down to disc, finding all of Pat's recorded output from the
Modern sessions, including the alternate version of Long Gone Daddy, can all be
found on 'Long Gone Daddies' on Ace (CDCHD 768).

Recommended websites - http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/index.htm

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/PatCupp.html