Belford Hendricks
Encyclopedia
Belford C. Hendricks was an American
composer
, pianist
, arranger
, conductor and record producer
. He used a variety of names, including Belford Hendricks, Belford Cabell Hendricks, Belford Clifford Hendricks, Sinky Hendricks and Bill Henry. This was primarily to avoid competition between his own compositions at the height of his prolific career, but the result today is uncertainty about what the C in his official name really stood for - if indeed it stood for anything at all.
Hendricks is primarily remembered as the co-composer of numerous soft-R & B songs of the 1950s, many in collaboration with Clyde Otis
and Brook Benton
, and as an accomplished arranger, whose versatility allowed him to write in various styles, from big band
swing for Count Basie
, through bluesy ballads for Dinah Washington
and Sarah Vaughan
, R & B-influenced pop for Benton and country and western numbers for Nat King Cole
and Al Martino
, to early soul
for Aretha Franklin
.
, in May.11,1909 to Frank Hendricks, a lifelong learner with an eighth-grade education, and Melissa Belle (Logan) Hendricks, a graduate of Evansville's Frederick Douglass High School.He also had two siblings, Paul Lawrence and Dorothy Medesta. His love affair with music began when his father brought home a piano, quickly learning how to play additional instruments. In high school, he participated in band.
In 1924, Hendricks was graduated from the town's then-segregated Douglass High School, later rebuilt and renamed Lincoln High School. After taking several years off, working at local establishments, he enrolled at the Indiana State Teachers' College, now known as Indiana State University, in Terre Haute. Often diverted from his education for semesters at a time by a need to earn money and a desire to practice his musical craft, Hendricks' decade-long road to graduation was long. As well as taking jobs in local restaurants and hotels, Hendricks was able to play piano with bands in the area. In 1935, he joined the elite one percent of Black Americans with a college degree, having majored in science and music.
Though these were considered plum jobs reserved for white people, Hendricks, with the help of relative William Fauntleroy, was able to secure a job as a postal carrier. On postal records, however, he is recorded as being white. At the height of The Great Depression, Hendricks earned nearly triple the national average income.
In 1942, Hendricks was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving in a medical unit. He was stationed in New York, Arizona and Hawaii. A Jet magazine of the 1980s shows him accompanying popular songstress Lena Horne. Legend has it he also was photographed in a national magazine kissing American soil upon return from Hawaii.
After the war, Hendricks returned to Indiana to care for his aging parents. During this period, he co-hosted "Toast and Coffee," one of the first interracial radio programs in the United States, though most listeners were unaware he was Black. He often went home between the morning radio program to cook, clean and run errands for his parents before working gigs at local nightclubs.
During this period, he became acquainted with Emma Clinton, a native of Texas, who worked for Jane Blaffer Owens, heir to the Humble Oil fortune. Humble now is known as Exxon-Mobil. The Owens family helped resettle the utopian community of New Harmony, Ind., north of Evansville, which fell into disrepair.
Orchestra and was able to substitute for him on occasion.
By the mid-1950s, he met the man who was going to change his future. Clyde Otis, an ex-marine with a high school education, was a self-taught musician who was working his way up the ranks of the New York music scene. In 1957, he accepted a job as the first Black A and R man at Mercury Records and asked Hendricks to become his righthand man.
Soon after arriving in New York
, he had met Dinah Washington
, then an up and coming vocalist. By 1958, she was an established star and she asked Hendricks to arrange and conduct. They enjoyed several chart hits, the most enduring being What a Difference a Day Makes, which reached number 4 in the US R & B charts and number 8 in the US pop charts in 1959 and which remains well-known through TV commercials and radio airplay to this day. Unforgettable
and This Bitter Earth
are also notable hits. Hendricks arranged and conducted nearly 100 songs for Dinah from February 1959 to January 1961, but today most of them are considered to be mediocre and boring, compared to Dinah's jazz/blues-oriented recordings until 1958.
Even more successful were the light-hearted duets which Hendricks arranged for Washington and Brook Benton
in 1960. Baby (You've Got What It Takes)
made number 1 in the US R & B charts and number 5 in the US pop charts, earning over $1 million, whilst A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)
also made number 1 in the US R & B charts and number 7 in the US pop charts. Both recordings were also notable for featuring a young Joe Zawinul
on piano.
Hendricks, in fact, had an even closer musical relationship with Benton than the one he enjoyed with Washington, for, in addition to arranging many of the popular baritone
's recordings, he also co-wrote numerous songs with him, often together with Otis. The Hendricks-Otis-Benton composition It's Just a Matter of Time
, arranged by Hendricks and performed by Benton, went to number 3 in the US pop charts in 1959 and became a country music
standard
, with new interpretations reaching number 1 in the US country charts twice: first in 1970, sung by Sonny James
, and again in 1984, courtesy of Randy Travis
. The song remains one of the most-licensed compositions of the 20th century.
Other successful arrangements by Hendricks for Benton include Thank You Pretty Baby, Kiddio, Fools Rush In
and The Boll Weevil Song.
would pair him with one of their biggest names, Sarah Vaughan
, for some of the great jazz
singer's forays onto more commercial territory. His arrangements for her produced one minor US hit, the R & B-tinged Smooth Operator
, written by Otis with Murray Stein and seductively sung by "Sassy", as well as some distinctive takes on older songs, such as My Ideal, I Should Care, Irving Berlin
's Maybe It's Because I Love You Too Much and particularly attractive versions of Mack Gordon
and Harry Revel
's Never In A Million Years and Charlie Chaplin
's Eternally.
had already recorded some Hendricks co-compositions such as Nothing In The World and the hit Looking Back in the late 1950s, and when he and his producers at Capitol Records
decided to record a brand new country and western song, Ramblin' Rose, in 1962, the Belford Hendricks sound fitted their requirements perfectly. The result was a worldwide smash hit and Hendricks was asked to submit arrangements for a full album in a similar country and western vein, also entitled Ramblin' Rose. When that brought more success, Hendricks arranged a follow-up Cole-meets-Country album, Dear Lonely Hearts
, whose title track became another singles chart hit.
and Sy Oliver
, early R & B great Ivory Joe Hunter
, jazz diva Carmen McRae
on several Mercury Records
sessions and, spanning across to the sixties generation, big-voiced Timi Yuro
and soul
legend Aretha Franklin
, for whom Hendricks arranged songs such as A Mother's Love, Runnin' Out of Fools and his own composition, Can't You Just See Me.
When Al Martino
, whose sub-operatic singing style had gone out of fashion in the early 1960s, wanted to develop a more understated vocal technique, Nat King Cole
recommended that he contact Hendricks for help. http://www.almartino.com/article01.html Martino duly got his desired new sound and, to go with it, his biggest hit for years - a Hendricks-arranged reworking of the country song I Love You Because
, which got to number 3 on the Billboard
pop chart in 1963. A full album followed, with Hendricks at the helm.
Hendricks composed over a hundred songs, more than half of them co-written, using either a variant of his real name or his complete pseudonym, Bill Henry. As well as the compositions for other stars mentioned above, these included Call Me, a US number 21 for Johnny Mathis
in 1958 (not to be confused with the later Tony Hatch
-composed song of the same name), First Star I See Tonight for Patti Page
, I'm Too Far Gone (to Turn Around) for blues singer Bobby Bland
and The Mixed Up Cup for another R & B trailblazer, Clyde McPhatter
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
, conductor and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He used a variety of names, including Belford Hendricks, Belford Cabell Hendricks, Belford Clifford Hendricks, Sinky Hendricks and Bill Henry. This was primarily to avoid competition between his own compositions at the height of his prolific career, but the result today is uncertainty about what the C in his official name really stood for - if indeed it stood for anything at all.
Hendricks is primarily remembered as the co-composer of numerous soft-R & B songs of the 1950s, many in collaboration with Clyde Otis
Clyde Otis
Clyde Otis, born in Prentiss, Mississippi, , was an American songwriter and producer best known for his collaboration with singer Brook Benton, and for being one of the first African American A&R executive for a major label.According to the music licensing organization Broadcast Music Inc., Otis is...
and Brook Benton
Brook Benton
Brook Benton was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter Of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.He made a comeback in 1970...
, and as an accomplished arranger, whose versatility allowed him to write in various styles, from big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
swing for Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, through bluesy ballads for Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
and Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, R & B-influenced pop for Benton and country and western numbers for Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
and Al Martino
Al Martino
Al Martino was an American singer and actor. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid 1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop crooners", and also became well known as an actor, particularly for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in The...
, to early soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
for Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
.
Early life and education
Hendricks was born in Evansville, IndianaIndiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, in May.11,1909 to Frank Hendricks, a lifelong learner with an eighth-grade education, and Melissa Belle (Logan) Hendricks, a graduate of Evansville's Frederick Douglass High School.He also had two siblings, Paul Lawrence and Dorothy Medesta. His love affair with music began when his father brought home a piano, quickly learning how to play additional instruments. In high school, he participated in band.
In 1924, Hendricks was graduated from the town's then-segregated Douglass High School, later rebuilt and renamed Lincoln High School. After taking several years off, working at local establishments, he enrolled at the Indiana State Teachers' College, now known as Indiana State University, in Terre Haute. Often diverted from his education for semesters at a time by a need to earn money and a desire to practice his musical craft, Hendricks' decade-long road to graduation was long. As well as taking jobs in local restaurants and hotels, Hendricks was able to play piano with bands in the area. In 1935, he joined the elite one percent of Black Americans with a college degree, having majored in science and music.
Marriage and army service
Hendricks married North Vernon, Ind., native Mae Etta Bean, a classmate studying to become an elementary school teacher. After spending a year in Maryland, Bean returned to Indiana. They divorced in the 1940s. Bean died in the early 1960s.Though these were considered plum jobs reserved for white people, Hendricks, with the help of relative William Fauntleroy, was able to secure a job as a postal carrier. On postal records, however, he is recorded as being white. At the height of The Great Depression, Hendricks earned nearly triple the national average income.
In 1942, Hendricks was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving in a medical unit. He was stationed in New York, Arizona and Hawaii. A Jet magazine of the 1980s shows him accompanying popular songstress Lena Horne. Legend has it he also was photographed in a national magazine kissing American soil upon return from Hawaii.
After the war, Hendricks returned to Indiana to care for his aging parents. During this period, he co-hosted "Toast and Coffee," one of the first interracial radio programs in the United States, though most listeners were unaware he was Black. He often went home between the morning radio program to cook, clean and run errands for his parents before working gigs at local nightclubs.
During this period, he became acquainted with Emma Clinton, a native of Texas, who worked for Jane Blaffer Owens, heir to the Humble Oil fortune. Humble now is known as Exxon-Mobil. The Owens family helped resettle the utopian community of New Harmony, Ind., north of Evansville, which fell into disrepair.
The New York Years
Hendricks quickly became a big fish in the little pond that was Evansville. Though he already was middle-aged, Hendricks decided to move to New York to pursue a fullt-time musical career. He continued his musical education, studying composition and organ at New York University. He knew a member of the Count BasieCount Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
Orchestra and was able to substitute for him on occasion.
By the mid-1950s, he met the man who was going to change his future. Clyde Otis, an ex-marine with a high school education, was a self-taught musician who was working his way up the ranks of the New York music scene. In 1957, he accepted a job as the first Black A and R man at Mercury Records and asked Hendricks to become his righthand man.
Dinah and Brook
With Hendricks' talents on the radar at last, they were drawn upon more and more as the 1950s progressed.Soon after arriving in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, he had met Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
, then an up and coming vocalist. By 1958, she was an established star and she asked Hendricks to arrange and conduct. They enjoyed several chart hits, the most enduring being What a Difference a Day Makes, which reached number 4 in the US R & B charts and number 8 in the US pop charts in 1959 and which remains well-known through TV commercials and radio airplay to this day. Unforgettable
Unforgettable (song)
"Unforgettable" is a popular song written by Irving Gordon. The song's original working title was "Uncomparable". The music publishing company asked Irving to change it to "Unforgettable". The song was published in 1951....
and This Bitter Earth
This Bitter Earth
"This Bitter Earth" is a 1960 song made famous by rhythm and blues singer Dinah Washington. Written and produced by Clyde Otis, it topped the U.S. R&B charts for the week of 25 July 1960 and also reached #24 on the U.S. pop charts...
are also notable hits. Hendricks arranged and conducted nearly 100 songs for Dinah from February 1959 to January 1961, but today most of them are considered to be mediocre and boring, compared to Dinah's jazz/blues-oriented recordings until 1958.
Even more successful were the light-hearted duets which Hendricks arranged for Washington and Brook Benton
Brook Benton
Brook Benton was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter Of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.He made a comeback in 1970...
in 1960. Baby (You've Got What It Takes)
Baby (You've Got What It Takes)
"Baby " is a 1960 song written by Clyde Otis, Murray Stein and Brook Benton. It was originally recorded as a duet by Dinah Washington and Brook Benton. In their first collaboration, the single was very successful on both the pop and R&B charts...
made number 1 in the US R & B charts and number 5 in the US pop charts, earning over $1 million, whilst A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)
A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)
"A Rockin' Good Way " is a song first recorded by The Spaniels in 1958.. In 1960, the song was recorded as a pop and R&B duet by Dinah Washington and Brook Benton. The single was the second pairing for both Washington and Benton...
also made number 1 in the US R & B charts and number 7 in the US pop charts. Both recordings were also notable for featuring a young Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul
Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...
on piano.
Hendricks, in fact, had an even closer musical relationship with Benton than the one he enjoyed with Washington, for, in addition to arranging many of the popular baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
's recordings, he also co-wrote numerous songs with him, often together with Otis. The Hendricks-Otis-Benton composition It's Just a Matter of Time
It's Just a Matter of Time (Brook Benton song)
"It's Just a Matter of Time" is a popular song written by Brook Benton and Clyde Otis. The original recording by Benton topped the Billboard rhythm & blues chart in 1959 and peaked at No...
, arranged by Hendricks and performed by Benton, went to number 3 in the US pop charts in 1959 and became a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
standard
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
, with new interpretations reaching number 1 in the US country charts twice: first in 1970, sung by Sonny James
Sonny James
James Loden , known professionally as Sonny James, is an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his 1957 hit, "Young Love". Dubbed the Southern Gentleman, James had 72 country and pop chart hits from 1953 to 1983, including a five-year streak of 16 straight among his 23 No. 1...
, and again in 1984, courtesy of Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...
. The song remains one of the most-licensed compositions of the 20th century.
Other successful arrangements by Hendricks for Benton include Thank You Pretty Baby, Kiddio, Fools Rush In
Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)
"Fools Rush In" is a popular song. The lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer with music by Rube Bloom. The major hits at the time of introduction were Glenn Miller with Ray Eberle and Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra. It was also recorded by Billy Eckstine...
and The Boll Weevil Song.
Still at Mercury, with Sarah Vaughan
As Hendricks' stature as an arranger grew, it was inevitable that Mercury RecordsMercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
would pair him with one of their biggest names, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, for some of the great jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer's forays onto more commercial territory. His arrangements for her produced one minor US hit, the R & B-tinged Smooth Operator
Smooth Operator
"Smooth Operator" is a song by the English group Sade, released as the fourth and final single from their debut album Diamond Life . It was released as a 7" single with "Spirit" as its B-side, and as a 12" maxi single with "Smooth Operator" and "Red Eye" on side A and "Spirit" on side B...
, written by Otis with Murray Stein and seductively sung by "Sassy", as well as some distinctive takes on older songs, such as My Ideal, I Should Care, Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
's Maybe It's Because I Love You Too Much and particularly attractive versions of Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"...
and Harry Revel
Harry Revel
Harry Revel was an English composer of musical theatre.Revel was born in London. Before emigrating to the United States in 1929, he wrote musicals for productions in Paris, Copenhagen, Vienna and London....
's Never In A Million Years and Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's Eternally.
Cole calls from Capitol
By now, Hendricks' arrangements had developed a recognisable style all of their own, typically featuring short-bowed strings, set over a gently R & B-inspired beat and bassline. Nat King ColeNat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
had already recorded some Hendricks co-compositions such as Nothing In The World and the hit Looking Back in the late 1950s, and when he and his producers at Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
decided to record a brand new country and western song, Ramblin' Rose, in 1962, the Belford Hendricks sound fitted their requirements perfectly. The result was a worldwide smash hit and Hendricks was asked to submit arrangements for a full album in a similar country and western vein, also entitled Ramblin' Rose. When that brought more success, Hendricks arranged a follow-up Cole-meets-Country album, Dear Lonely Hearts
Dear Lonely Hearts
Dear Lonely Hearts is a 1962 studio album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Belford Hendricks. The title track went to number two for two weeks on the Easy Listening charts and number thirteen on the Hot 100.-Track listing:...
, whose title track became another singles chart hit.
With other artists
Among other stars with whom Belford Hendricks worked were big band leaders Jimmie LuncefordJimmie Lunceford
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
and Sy Oliver
Sy Oliver
Melvin "Sy" Oliver was a jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader...
, early R & B great Ivory Joe Hunter
Ivory Joe Hunter
Ivory Joe Hunter was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid 1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recording, "Since I Met You Baby" . He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie, and also known as The...
, jazz diva Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
on several Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
sessions and, spanning across to the sixties generation, big-voiced Timi Yuro
Timi Yuro
Timi Yuro was an American soul and R&B singer. She is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era.-Early years:...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
legend Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, for whom Hendricks arranged songs such as A Mother's Love, Runnin' Out of Fools and his own composition, Can't You Just See Me.
When Al Martino
Al Martino
Al Martino was an American singer and actor. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid 1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop crooners", and also became well known as an actor, particularly for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in The...
, whose sub-operatic singing style had gone out of fashion in the early 1960s, wanted to develop a more understated vocal technique, Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
recommended that he contact Hendricks for help. http://www.almartino.com/article01.html Martino duly got his desired new sound and, to go with it, his biggest hit for years - a Hendricks-arranged reworking of the country song I Love You Because
I Love You Because
I Love You Because is a musical set in modern day New York, inspired by the Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice. It features lyrics by Ryan Cunningham, set to music by Joshua Salzman.-Production history:...
, which got to number 3 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
pop chart in 1963. A full album followed, with Hendricks at the helm.
Hendricks composed over a hundred songs, more than half of them co-written, using either a variant of his real name or his complete pseudonym, Bill Henry. As well as the compositions for other stars mentioned above, these included Call Me, a US number 21 for Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
in 1958 (not to be confused with the later Tony Hatch
Tony Hatch
Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...
-composed song of the same name), First Star I See Tonight for Patti Page
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
, I'm Too Far Gone (to Turn Around) for blues singer Bobby Bland
Bobby Bland
Robert Calvin Bland better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of the Beale Streeters, and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues"...
and The Mixed Up Cup for another R & B trailblazer, Clyde McPhatter
Clyde McPhatter
Clyde McPhatter was an American R&B singer, perhaps the most widely imitated R&B singer of the 1950s and 1960s, making him a key figure in the shaping of doo-wop and R&B. He is best known for his solo hit "A Lover's Question"...
.