"It was a full-time country station," he says. So I quit doing that and started on radio."īond would land a job as a disc jockey on Memphis' K-WAM. I was on the road for a year doing that and it was just traveling, traveling, traveling," says Bond. "I worked a year with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Warren Smith all that Sun bunch. With his first flush of chart success, Bond headed out on tour for an endless stream of one-nighters. Most of Bond's musical reputation rests on the dozen or so blazing rockabilly sides he cut for Mercury between 19, among them classics of the genre including "Rockin' Daddy" "Slip Slip Slippin' In" and "Bopin' Bonnie." His first single, 1955's "Talking off the Wall"/ "Double Duty Lovin'," did well enough to attract the attention of Mercury Records, who quickly signed him. After failing to win over Sam Phillips at Sun, Bond got a deal with tiny Ekko Records out of Hollywood. It was around this time, in 1952, that Bond formed his original band, the Stompers, playing hot country swing music in local bars for several years.īut by the mid-'50s, country was fading commercially and rock and roll was taking off, so Bonds followed the trend.
(later, when he found success in the music business, Bond would buy the company). As a child, Bond practiced and played until his fingers bled, aping the styles of the country music stars of the day, particularly Hank Williams and George Morgan.Īfter high school and a stint in the Navy, Bond worked a variety of jobs in town, eventually joining his father as a paint salesman for M.C. where he continues to be revered as godhead by rockabilly aficionados.īorn in South Memphis in 1933, early on, Bond flashed the hustle and pluck that would come to mark his career, winning his first guitar - a Gene Autry model - by selling the most garden seed in a local competition.
Still, he occasionally turns up to perform locally - including this weekend's Memphis Music and Heritage Festival - as well as in the U.K.
#Legend maker band professional
He's mostly divested himself of his various professional interests and lives quietly with his wife, Gladys, in Bolivar, Tenn. So whether it was it was recording rockabilly, country, or topical songs, the guy always had a flair to what he did."Įven the unflattering stories about Bond boasted this same uniquely colorful quality for years it had been popularly held that he was the person who told a young Elvis Presley he should "stick to driving a truck" - a legend that Bond says is false.Īfter a lifetime of activity, Bond, who turned 74 last month, has slowed down in recent years. "He was always on top of the trends too - he cut a song about Vietnam in '64 or '65, very early on. "Like after he was on Decca Records, he started his own label and called it Deccer - hey, when you say it from the stage, they both sound the same," says Evans, laughing. "Whatever he did, Bond was always one of those really colorful characters," says Memphis musician and rockabilly historian Monsieur Jeffrey Evans. Eddie gave me my first break in pretty much everything." "There's no telling what I'd be doing today. "If it wasn't for Eddie Bond I wouldn't be in the wrestling business," says Lawler. Bond earned his nickname as the "Tennessee Legend Maker" bringing the story of McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser to light and launching the career of wrestling royal Jerry "The King" Lawler. In the process he's given early career boosts to everyone from guitar great Reggie Young - who began as a member of Bond's backing group the Stompers - to Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, who got their start as the house band at Bond's Diplomat Club.
#Legend maker band tv
In his 50-plus years as a Mid-South mover and shaker he's been a musician, radio deejay and station owner, cult TV star, wrestling promoter, nightclub impresario, record label head - even a police chief. But no matter how you characterize his exploits, it's clear he's one of a dying breed of old-school music men: a slicked-back rockabilly cat with a country heart, a sharp wheeler-dealer with a silver tongue, a canny trend watcher with a dead eye for talent. You could get fancy and call him a "polymath" or you could just say he's always had his fingers in a bunch of different pies. There's a lot of different ways to describe Eddie Bond.
0 kommentar(er)
