From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Jul 30, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Sonny West
 
SONNY WEST (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born Joe West, 30 July 1937, Lubbock, Texas

Sonny (or Sonnee) will always be remembered as the writer of the mega
rock'n'roll classics "Oh Boy!" and "Rave On", better known in the versions
by fellow Lubbock rocker Buddy Holly.

Sonny was born in Lubbock, but moved a lot with his family around Texas,
New Mexico and California. As a child, he was influenced by Jimmie
Rodgers and Gene Autry, and later by Hank Williams before taking an
interest in Rhythm & Blues and early rockers (Elvis & Bill).
He formed his first band in late 1955 in Farmington, New Mexico. In 1956,
after being refused at Sun in Memphis, Sonny recorded for Norman Petty,
in Clovis, NM, yielding one of the best one of the best-ever double-sided
rockabilly singles, "Rock-Ola Ruby"/"Sweet Rockin' Baby", for Petty's
Nor-Va-Jak label (a very rare and expensive 45!).
Sonny recorded a lot over the next 2 years, but only "Rave On" saw a
release on Atlantic. He was backed on this single by The Big Beats which
featured later star Trini Lopez on guitar.
His last recording session was done in Phoenix with Al Casey in 1961 :
"Wasted Days And Wasted Nights" / "Maybe You're The One" on Bandbox 276.
He then quit the music business temporarily, but recorded again in 1990 and
earlier this year and also performed at Hemsby in May 2002.

Recommended listening:
- Sweet Rockin' Rock-Ola Ruby (Rollercooaster RCCD 3050). 24 tracks.
Released in 2002, lead review in the July issue of Now Dig This.
- "Rock-Ola Ruby"/"Sweet Rockin' Baby"  are also on West Texas Bop (Ace 699).
- "Rave On" is also on the old LP Red HHot Rockabillies LP WEA K 58344
More info: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/SonnyWest.html