From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Jan 25, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Sid Manker
 
SID MANKER

Born 25 January 1932, Memphis, Tennessee
Died 15 December 1974, Biloxi, Mississippi

Guitar player. Born in Memphis, Sidney Manker lived there until he
was drafted at the age of 20. After his return to Memphis, he went
to the Academy of Art to study design until the guitar entered his
life. Abandoning art for music, he quit the academy and went to
work with Bill Justis. Together they wrote the instrumental rock 'n'
roll standard "Raunchy", which was a # 2 Billboard hit in late 1957.
Manker is the one who plays the same guitar riff over and over on
the Bill Justis version, recorded for Sam Phillips's Phillips International
label. Two covers of "Raunchy" (by Ernie Freeman and Billy Vaughn)
also made the US Top 10.
For some time he worked as a session player at Sun and toured with
Justis. Basically a jazz man, Manker invested some of the royalties
from "Raunchy" in his Memphis Jazz Quartet. Unfortunately, Manker
acquired a penchant for narcotics that neatly took care of all his
royalties from the 3 million sales (all versions combined) of "Raunchy".
In April 1960, Manker was sent to the penal farm for six months.
After his release, he married and dropped out of sight. He and his
wife, Linda, moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1969. He continued to
compose and worked at the Axent studio in Biloxi until his death,
of a heart attack, in 1974.