Dave Remington (Gateway Top Tune)

Dave Remington and his Orchestra

That’ll Be The Day

Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Goin’ On

A Gateway Top Tune 1224

1957

 

Who needs to hear the Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis original hit versions when you can have good old Dave Remington and His Orchestra covering these songs for a cheaper price (and in my opinion not doing here a bad job) ?  

Dave Remington's Orchestra is credited to only a few records on Gateway (all in 1957) on which as a backing band.  That year, the orchestra was behind Earl Robbins and the Remington Brothers.

Is this Dave Remington, later Chicago Dixie jazz pianist/trombone and band leader ?  Who knows ? Possible, but then he's probably not the vocalist on these two covers.

Dave Remington, a native of Rochester, N.Y., decided in 1955 to end the road  routine and settle in Chicago after his wife presented him their first child.  He worked as "a slave laborer" in an ink factory until his local AFM card was issued, then returned to jazz.  One of his first jobs came to an end when, in a burst of Capone-era revisited competition, an angry faction tossed a few sticks of sizzling dynamite through the club's window.  The event convinced Dave that better jobs existed and he moved on to work with Muggsy Spanier and George Brunis and with Dixie groups at the suburban Red Arrow and at Jazz Ltd. in Chicago.  Until mid-1956, he played piano on all jobs.

Lover Please

Gene & Chris The Long Brothers

Lover Please

Scotty 45-GQP-651

1964

Eugene Drew Long (1946-1998) and his younger brother Chris were both of Wheeling Island (West Virginia). They began their career at a very young age as part of the Long Family.  .The duo ended with the drafting of Gene to Vietnam. Later, Gene continued by singing with a local group called The Blenders for many years.

Discography

Scotty 651    

Gene & Chris The Long Brothers , 1964    
Rock Around The Clock /  Lover Please

Prod Joe Gorlock

Agogo No #, 

Gene & Chris The Long Brothers ,   1965?

Don`t Worry, / Linda,    

 Jubilee 5541 

The Long Brothers,   1966
Dream Girl / Lonely Time 
Prod Lou Guarino

★ 

Scotty was a subsidiary of Gateway Records owned by Bob Schachner.

Robert Schachner, a native of New Jersey, was the son of an audio aficionado.  His father owned sophisticated audio equipment and a cutting disc to manufacture records.  Schachner came to Pittsburgh to study drama at Carnegie Tech but transferred to Duquense University to study journalism.  While in school he worked part time selling records and produced recordings of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans.  He quit school in 1961 to open Gateway Recordings with an initial investment of $341.

Scotty discography

Division of Gateway Recordings, Inc. Pittsburgh, Pa.

424 Flecker And The Countdowns
615 John Ivey, With The Chapelaires
645 Exciting Avantis
651 Gene & Chris The Long Brothers
652 Patti And The Playboys  
811 Tony Coz
818 The Marlins
822  Ronnie King And The Passions
939 Ollie And The Go-Go's
No# The Hides

Sweet Little Sixteen

 Rufus Brown

Sweet Little Sixteen

Gateway Records

1958

Cover of Chuck Berry biggest hit

Old Chuck with young girl

According to Maxwell Demon :

"During a show at the Ottawa Coliseum Berry saw a little German girl, seven or eight years old, pursuing singers for their autographs to add to her ‘wallet full of pictures’, seemingly more interested in the trophy than in the music being performed. The idea for one of his most successful songs was born, although the girl who provided inspiration was a little too young for his taste, she became ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’.

Early in December 1957 Berry laid down a demo of the song, perfectly capturing the excitement of its teenage heroine and is another striking demonstration of Berry’s ability to think himself into the mind of someone half his age. When released in February ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ proved Berry’s biggest hit to date."

Note 1 : Chuck Berry is well known to think (or else) himself  into the mind (or else) of someone (female, preferably) half his age.

Note 2 : there IS a website named Chuck Berry - Mr. Rock'n'Roll, dedicated to the memory of... Bo Diddley (?!?). This site has detailed tour information for several artists, including Chuck Berry : he played the Auditorium Arena  in Ottawa, Ontario on November, 18, 1957.

Short Fat Fannie

Chuck Lovett

with Herbie Layne's Orchestra

Short Fat Fannie

Gateway Parade of Hits 1220

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1957

Rather good cover of Larry Williams, New Orleans burglar and pimp turned artist.  I can't find any other recordings by Chuck Lovett  (a pseudonym?)

Tired of slippin' and slidin' with a long tall Sally
Peekin' and a hidin', duckin' back in the alley
Don't wanna rip it up, don't wanna dance with Annie
I've got a brand new lover name is Short Fat Fannie

One day while I was visit'n at HeartBreak Hotel
That's where I met Fannie and she sure looked swell
I told her that I loved her I'd never leave
She put her arms around me, gave me fever

She's my tutti fruiti, I love the child so
She watch me like a hound dog everywhere I go
Whenever I'm around her I'm on my p's and q's
She might step on my blue suede shoes

Well at a honky tonk party just the other night
Fannie got jealous and she started a fight
'Cause I was dancin' with MaryLou
I had to call Jim Dandy to the rescue

Short Fat Fannie she's my hearts desire
Short Fat Fannie sets my soul on fire
On Monday we were married on Blueberry Hill
Now we're so happy and I love her still

...

She's my tutti fruiti and I love the child so
She watch me like a hound dog everywhere I go
Whenever I'm around her I'm on my p's and q's
She might step on my blue suede shoes

Well at a honky tonk party just the other night
Fannie got jealous and she started a fight
'Cause I was dancin' with MaryLou
I had to call Jim Dandy to the rescue

Short Fat Fannie is my hearts desire
Got the kind of lovin' sets my soul on fire
Short Fat Fannie well I love her so
I'll never let Short Fat Fannie go

Stood Up

Bradley Arthur

with the Four Jacks, chorus

and Herbie Layne's orchestra

Stood Up

Gateway Top Tune

1957

Ricky Nelson cover on a budget label.  The only one other record by Bradley Arthur on Gateway is "The Stroll".

The song was written by Dub Dickerson (1927-1979), a country singer who dabbled in rockabilly and Erma Herrold,  wife of Imperial recording artist, Dennis Herrold.

In an interview quoted by Bill Millar, Dickerson could barely recall the singer. "Dennis and Erma Lee were married and living in Dallas.  They were about the same age as me so I guess they were born around 1927 or 1928.  I knew Dennis did a little picking but I didn't know he did any singing. I collaborated with Erma to write 'Stood Up' and I had a songwriting contract with Imperial.  It looks like the songs I wrote they gave them to Dennis to do.  I'm gonna have to check with BMI. I wasn't aware of him doing my stuff !"

Dennis and Erma Lee divorced in the late 1950s ; they had a son, Johnnie Lynwood Herrold, born in 1953.   Erma Lee died a few years ago.   Her second husband (to whom she was married for nearly 45 years) claims that Dennis always tried to take credit for writing "Stood Up".   There was a period of several years when Erma and her new husband moved a lot that Dennis managed to have BMI and the publisher send him the checks because the companies couldn't keep up with their moves.  But Dennis did record the demo of "Stood Up" that was sent to Lew Chudd, Imperial's owner.

From Black Cat Rockabilly

Heartbreak Hotel

Delbert Barker
and the Gateway All-Stars

Heartbreak Hotel

Gateway Records

May be there is some sort of conspiration around here : this cover version by the great Delbert Barker is unavailable anywhere on re-issue compilation or on YouTube or on any blog!

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