Bernie
Lowe (November 22, 1917 - September 1, 1993) was an American songwriter, record
producer, arranger, pianist and bandleader.
Born
Bernard Lowenthal, Mr. Lowe graduated from Central High School and studied
piano at The Juilliard School in New York. When he was 13, he was playing the
piano in clubs, hotels and cafes around the city. After high school, he played for
Meyer Davis and for orchestras led by Howard and Lester Lanin. He performed in
night clubs around the country.
He was arranging
and conducting the orchestra on "The Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club" in
the early fifties when he met Dick Clark, the announcer for the show's live
Tootsie Roll commercials. The two became friends and, later, business
associates.
At the
end of 1956, Lowe founded Cameo Records, with an old friend, Kal Mann (real
name Kalman Cohen) and set up offices in the basement of his house in the
Wincote area of North Philadelphia. Lowe and Mann got into the record business
as songwriters for Hill & Range Songs in New York. Together they wrote
"Teddy Bear" for Elvis Presley, which he recorded in January
|
Lowe & Mann |
1957.
Lowe was looking for his own Elvis. He found Charlie Gracie, one of the first
white artists who had recorded rock 'n' roll. Lowe tamed Gracie into a polite
rocker and supplied him with the songs "Butterfly" and
"Ninety-nine Ways", both Mann-Lowe compositions (though the writing
credit on "Butterfly" went to "Anthony September", their
joint pseudonym).
When
"Butterfly" went to number one in April 1957, Bernie Lowe was
convinced that rock 'n' roll - or at least an approximation of it - was the way
to go. Still, Lowe and Mann were the products of an earlier, much different
generation and never fully concealed their contempt for rock 'n' roll. It was
just that Lowe's "love of money exceeded his dislike of rock 'n'
roll", as Bill Millar has put it. In a way, "Butterfly" foretold
the shape of things to come : R&R records whose sound was determined more
by a producer's formula than by a singer's uninhibited spirit. It was no
coincidence that this development started in Philadelphia, a city associated
more than any other with the corruption of rock 'n' roll.
Lowe and
Mann wrote more songs for Charlie Gracie (Just Lookin', Fabulous, Wanderin'
Eyes) and Lowe also plays piano on all of Gracie's Cameo recordings. But by
mid-1958, Gracie was gone. "I was expendable", Gracie said. "I
was the first one to get screwed by Cameo. I sued for my royalties, settled for
$40,000 and left". Lowe and Mann launched Cameo's sister label, Parkway,
in 1959. By this time, most of the A&R work was done by Dave Appell, who
also led an instrumental group, The Applejacks.
|
Lowe & Rydell |
Lowe
co-wrote the early hits of Bobby Rydell (Kissin' Time, We Got Love, Wild One,
Good Time Baby), but after that he left most of the songwriting to Mann and
Appell. Apart from Rydell, Cameo-Parkway had success with Chubby Checker, the
Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp and the Orlons. Jerry Gross of the Dovells says:
"Cameo-Parkway was not what I call a professionally run company. It was
quick turnover; get the product out, jam as much as they could down the
public's throat and sell as much as they could... Bernie Lowe's thing was don't
go for quality, go for quantity. Throw enough up against the wall, something's
going to stick."
|
Dave Appell |
Cameo-Parkway
suffered its greatest loss when patron Dick Clark defected from Philly to Los
Angeles in March 1964. By then Kal Mann had already retired and Dave Appell had
moved on to other projects. Lowe sold the company to a couple of Texas businessmen
a year or two later and retired. In July 1967, Allen Klein, the manager of the
Rolling Stones, bought controlling interest in Cameo-Parkway. However, Kal Mann
chose to retain the master tapes and after years of litigation, Klein and Mann
(who died in November 2001) became bogged down in a legal stalemate, with the
consequence that Klein still cannot release CD's of Cameo-Parkway material.
For a
time, Lowe continued to work in the recording industry, doing some freelance
music work and scouting for new performing groups. But he developed Parkinson's
disease after he retired and was soon unable to work.
In April
1993, Lowe was inducted into the
Philadelphia Walk of Fame, and his star was placed in the sidewalk in front of
309 S. Broad St., the building that was once the headquarters for Cameo-Parkway.
He died in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, on September 1,
1993 (age 75).
(Info edited from Black Cat Rockabilly, Andy
Wallace @ The Inquirer and Wikipedia. Quotes are from: The Twist : the story of the song and dance
that changed the world by Jim Dawson).
3 comments:
For “VA - Wild One ~ The Cameo-Parkway Story (2013)” go here:
https://www72.zippyshare.com/v/HRFIjgKI/file.html
CD 1
1. The Rocky Fellers - Long Tall Sally (2:14)
2. Mike Miller, Jack Casey & The Star Mountain Boys - Don't Mess Up My Hair (2:10)
3. Ray Vernon - I'm Countin' On You (2:09)
4. Carl & The Commanders - Farmer John (2:15)
5. Charlie Gracie - Butterfly (2:24)
6. The Dovells - Bristol Stomp (2:20)
7. Dee Dee Sharp - Mashed Potato Time (2:32)
8. Bobby Rydell - Kissin' Time (2:12)
9. The Applejacks - Mexican Hat Rock (2:04)
10. Temptations - Birds 'n' Bees (2:17)
11. The Rays - Silhouettes (2:44)
12. Don Covay - The Popeye Waddle (2:30)
13. The Dream Girls - Don't Break My Heart (2:29)
14. George Young & The Rockin' Bocs - The Sneak (2:32)
15. Charlie Gracie - Fabulous (2:19)
16. Jerry Arnold & The Rhythm Captains - Race for Time (1:58)
17. Rick & The Masters - Flame of Love (2:53)
18. John Zacherie - Dinner With Drac' (2:58)
19. Chubby Checker - The Twist (2:37)
20. The Orlons - I'll Be True (2:31)
21. The Philadelphians - I Missed Her (2:05)
22. Ray Rush - So What (2:30)
23. The Skyliners - Three Coins in the Fauntain (2:19)
24. Wayne Handy - So Much to Remember (2:33)
25. Dina Raye - Little White Diamonds (2:21)
CD 2
1. Bobby Rydell - Wild One (2:23)
2. The Orlons - Don't Hang Up (2:19)
3. The Dovells - Do The New Continental (2:39)
4. Charlie Gracie - Wanderin' Eyes (2:26)
5. The Rays - Daddy Cool (2:42)
6. Paul Hampton - Maybe Tomorrow (2:11)
7. The Storey Sisters - Bad Motorcycle (1:58)
8. Madman' Jones - 'Jess' One Mo' Time (2:03)
9. Donnie Elbert - Set My Heart At Ease (3:40)
10. The Applejacks - Rocka Conga (2:20)
11. The Turbans - When You Dance (2:56)
12. Chubby Checker - The Hucklebuck (2:32)
13. Ray Vernon - Evil Angel (2:18)
14. Dee Dee Sharp - Gravy (For My Mashed Potatos) (2:06)
15. Pookie Hudson & The Spaniels - Turn Out The Lights (2:23)
16. Jo Ann Campbell - I'm The Girl From Wolverton Mountain (2:43)
17. Charlie Gracie - Cool Baby (1:38)
18. Denny Mela - Forget My Past (2:00)
19. Georgie Young & The Rockin' Bocs - Two Weeks With Pay (2:11)
20. The Playboys - Over The Weekends (2:41)
21. The Philadelphians - The Vow (1:56)
22. The Sequins - The Mountains (2:10)
23. Mike Pedicin Quintet - Shake A Hand (2:51)
24. The Roomates - Sunday King Of Love (2:26)
25. The Four Of A Kind - You Were Made T'Love (2:25)
Just found this whilst surfing for any of Bernie Lowes albums
For Bernie Lowe Orchestra – Os Sucessos de Hoje (1960)” go here;
https://mega.nz/#!zBM0WazI!4CjhFq3dFhYkzicMZClqyh4g4Kv4rymaiGYKzvt-5aE
01. Exodus (03:01)
02. Never on Sunday (02:08)
03. Tonight (02:18)
04. Gigi (03:41)
05. Midnight in Moscow (02:26)
06. Make Someone Happy (03:37)
07. The Twist (02:53)
08. Wonderland by Night (02:42)
09. I Could Have Danced All Night (02:26)
10. Portrait of My Love (03:41)
11. Calcutta (02:14)
12. Moon River (03:31)
A big thank you to zokyat @ Instrumental Music Café blog for active link.
Bob, thank you for this great comp. Favorite for Part 2, Rick & The Masters Let It Please Be You & I Don't Want You Love.
To be sixteen again back in Philly, summer of "62".
Post a Comment