From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Thu Jul 18, 2002 1:12 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Sammy Masters SAMMY MASTERS (By Shaun Mather) Born Samuel Todd Lawmaster, 18 July 1930, Sasakawa, Oklahoma California rockabilly Sammy Masters reserved his place in European hearts thanks to a handful of red-hot rockabilly singles and as a writer of some classy country songs. He holds a special place in my heart after meeting him and his delightful wife Maria at Hemsby in 1998. When fellow Shaker Rod Pyke visited Sammy and Maria the following year he took with him a video I'd promised them. As a thanks they gave me an ornamental lamp which I am looking at now as I type. So I'm not really going to say he's crap! He was born in Sasakawa, Oklahoma and showed an early aptitude for music, working on radio in Tulsa whilst only 12 years old. The family moved to California whilst he was in high school. He continued with his music and in 1950 he cut his debut single for Connac records of Santa Ana, The Last Little Nickel In The Big Juke Box, followed by Crazy River. In 1953 he made some demos for Four Star and one of his compositions, Turn The Cards Slowly became a small hit for Patsy Cline. He joined Spade Cooley's band but got itchy feet when he started hearing some rock 'n' roll. So in 1956 with his band the Rocking Rhythm, he cut two great rockabillies for a Four Star single, Some Like It Hot and Pink Cadillac. Pink Cadillac was picked up by Modern Records who released it under the pseudonym Johnny Todd. The follow-up, Whop T Bop maintained the high standards, but despite high profile performances on the Jack Benny Show and Town Hall Party he was unable to get the elusive hit record. In December 1957 Patsy Cline recorded a beautiful version of Sammy's composition, If I Could See The World (Through The Eyes Of A Child). By the end of the decade he was a staff writer for American Music when Terry Fell of Lode Records signed him and released his interpretation of Rockin' Red Wing. It was picked up by Warner Bros and with the help of an appearance on the Dick Clark show climbed to number 64 in the national charts. The follow-up, Golden Slippers was leased to Dot but failed to click with the public. In 1961 at the Huntingdon Park Ballroom, where Sammy was working with Johnny Cash, Ray Price and Willie Nelson, he auditioned a song he'd written, Who Can I Count On for Nelson, who in turn arranged for Cline to record it as the b-side of her next single, Crazy. Millions of copies and no end of royalties later, it remains his career high. The song had previously been cut by Jewel and Eddie with Eddie Cochran on guitar, and later covered by Bobby Darin and Wayne Newton. In the 60's he tried his luck with Kapp, Dot and Galahad (his own label) before moving into TV production work. Recent times have seen him record an album, Everybody Digs Sammy Masters (1998) for Dionysus Records with Ray Campi and Deke Dickerson among the supporting band. He also made his long awaited European debut at Hemsby in 1998 where he was accompanied by his long-time guitarist Carl Walden. Hopefully he'll be back soon. More info: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/SammyMasters.html and http://perso.wanadoo.fr/rockin.paul/Whop-T-Bop.htm LP: Rockin' Red Wing - Hydra LP 7708