From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Mon Jul 22, 2002 1:12 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Thomas Wayne THOMAS WAYNE (By Tony Wilkinson) Born Thomas Wayne Perkins, 22nd July 1940, Batesville, Mississippi Died 15th August 1971, Memphis, Tennessee His full name is Thomas Wayne Perkins and his famous brother, the late Luther Perkins, was the guitar player for Johnny Cash from the days of The Tennessee Two until his death in a house fire. Thomas called by Scotty Moore's (who had recently gone his separate way from Elvis) home to see if he could get a record deal. Scotty, who was by this time firmly ensconced with Slim Wallace's Fernwood Records, liked what he heard. The first disc cut was 'This Time/You're The One That Done It' (Fernwood 106) was a scorching debut and was leased by Mercury Records but failed to achieve chart success. 'This Time' was subsequently revived by Troy Shondell and turned into a monster hit. Gerald Nelson, a disc jockey from Kentucky, had co-written the song 'Tragedy' with Fred Burch and had recorded the original version with his group The Escorts. Nelson brought this song to the attention of Scotty who decided that it suited the vocal stylings of Thomas. With Scotty playing the guitar fills and Bill Black on bass plus vocal backing by The De-Lons (Nancy Reed, Sandra Brown, Carol Moss), the song was recorded along with 'Saturday Date' at Hi's Royalty Studio and released on Fernwood 109 in September 1958. At first 'Saturday Date' was plugged as the main side but in the spring of 1959, a disc jockey in Kentucky played the flip 'Tragedy' and the disc took off. It eventually peaked at #5 on the national charts and sold over a million copies along the way. Only three records recorded in Memphis (Jerry Lee's 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' and 'Great Balls Of Fire' plus 'Blue Suede Shoes' by Carl Perkins) had reached higher positions up to that time. Sadly this was to be the only hit for Thomas, despite having a touring band consisting of Scotty, Bill Black, D J Fontana and Reggie Young to help him promote his releases. Indeed, it was the only record to make the national charts on the Fernwood label. [Pardon me for interrupting, Tony, but the follow-up to "Tragedy", "Eternally" on Fernwood 111, went to # 92 on the Billboard chart - Dik] Thomas Wayne issued five further singles on Fernwood and, in addition, there were two releases on Santo and one on Pure Gold, both being Fernwood subsidiariess. These included the original version of 'The Girl Next Door Went A Walkin' that was subsequently recorded by Elvis and updated versions of 'Tragedy'. Wayne also cut the single 'I've Got It Made' for Sam Phillips, this being released on the Phillips International 3577. By 1966, Scotty Moore had moved to Nashville and was the engineer at Music City Recorders studio. Thomas Wayne had joined him there as an assistant. They continued to record together and the occasional release ensued, such as 'Kiss Away' on Racer Records plus two issues on the Chalet label (including another remake of 'Tragedy' which was also appeared on Capehart Records, Belle Meade Records, Gusto Records and Starday Records). Try as he may, Wayne was not able to rekindle the hit making ways and after helping out Scotty Moore on the Ringo Starr 'Beaucoup Of Blues' sessions, he had returned to Memphis to sort out some domestic problems when he was killed in a car accident on Interstate 240. The Scotty Moore autobiography ''That's Alright Elvis' alludes to Wayne's behaviour becoming erratic around this time. There was another guy who recorded for TWP Records in 1979 as Thomas Wayne, but it is not the same person. Recommended listening: Sadly there is no overall compilation of Thomas Wayne's recordings available but a good selection of his work for Fernwood is included on the following two CDs. Stompertime STCD 7 - 'Fernwood Rockabillies' Stompertime STCD 9 - 'Fernwood Rock 'n' Roll'