From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Thu May 30, 2002 1:13 am Subject: Born To Be With You: Tooter Boatman TOOTER BOATMAN (By Jean-Marc Pezet) Born William McCon Boatman Jr, 30 May 1936, Mineral Wells, Texas Died 1 August, 1964, Clear Lake, California Tooter Boatman never had the time to find success, his life was stopped abruptly by a road accident, en route to a gig, in 1964. A school mate of Danny Wolfe, Huelyn Duvall and Johnny Duncan, Tooter formed his group, The Chapparals, in Mineral Wells, TX and they toured Texas, from Lubbock to Dallas. They began recording at Danny Wolfe's studios in Stephensville and Cliff Herring's studio in Forth Worth. In 1958, a single appeared on TWINKLE 501 "The Will Of Love" / "Thunder And Lightning", coupling two Texas rockabilly classics. Another single also appeared at the same time on REBEL 108 (out of Tennessee), credited to Tooter Boatman & The Chapparals, "Poor Gal". The Chapparals, including future country star Ronnie Milsap, left Tooter in 1959 and would find brief success on Roulette with the instrumental "Leapin' Guitar" (Roulette 4229) in 1960. They eventually regrouped with Tooter later in 1960, touring Texas, before members left one by one due to marriage and family duties. By the early 1960s, Tooter played drums for different groups. In 1964, he recorded his last single at Ben Hall (of "Blue Days Black Nights" fame) Studio in Forth Worth, "Lost Love/Heaven For Broken Hearts", out on GAYLO 117. He apparently was playing drums for Willie Nelson's band when he died. Recommended listening: "Rockin' Tooter Boatman" Collector CLCD 4408