Jerry Naylor
Encyclopedia
Jerry Naylor is an American
country
and rock and roll
artist and broadcaster and inspirational speaker, who was the lead singer of The Crickets
following the death of Buddy Holly
.
to a great depression
farming family. His mother played piano in their local church and encouraged Jerry's love of music. Jerry listened to the greats of Country music
such as Hank Williams, Sr.
, Lefty Frizzell
, Bob Wills
(with whom he shared his birthday) and Slim Whitman, and Whitman's steel guitar player, Hoot Raines, led the 9-year old Naylor to purchase and learn to play a steel guitar
with money he earned picking cotton. By 12-years old, Jerry was playing that steel guitar at local honky tonks in and around Carlsbad and San Angelo, Texas, with his brother-in-law, Tommy Briggs' Hillbilly band which also featured Sherman Hamblin on fiddle and Earnest Smith lead guitar and vocals.
In 1953, at the age of 14, Jerry Naylor began working at a new radio station in San Angelo, Texas
called KPEP. Veteran broadcaster, Joe Treadway, who with his wife Matilda (Tillie) would become Jerry's foster parents when Naylor's mother died in 1955, hired Naylor and taught him to be a disc jockey, radio commercial salesman and radio maintenance engineer. Joe Treadway encouraged Naylor to continue his performing, but on the insistence of Jerry's mother, gave him the opportunity to be the lead singer of the band.
KPEP was co-owned by Joe Treadway and Dave Stone (Pinkstone) who also owned the, now legendary, KDAV
radio station in Lubbock, Texas
where Buddy Holly
was also an on-air performer with Bob Montgomery
, "Buddy & Bob".
These two West Texas radio stations were the first full-time country music radio stations in America and promoted live touring shows throughout West Texas with stars from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Louisiana Hayride
in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Joe Treadway and his close friend, Tillman Franks
, Talent Coordinator for the Louisiana Hayride
, managed Naylor's young singing career and booked Jerry and his band on these touring shows. It was here at KPEP that Naylor first heard rockabilly music, at its very beginning. After hearing and playing Elvis Presley's "That's Alright Mama" Sun Records recording, Naylor helped to form and became the lead singer of the rockabilly band The Cavaliers.
Joe Treadway, Jerry's manager, got Naylor to join other great artists of the day such as Elvis Presley
, Johnny Cash
, Johnny Horton
, Bob Luman
and many more on the Louisiana Hayride
.
Naylor played many more of the Louisiana hayride shows working with his mentors, KPEP Radio co-owner/ manager, Joe Treadway and Tillman Franks
, slap bass player/ personal manager of Johnny Horton
and other acts, and most important, talent director of the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana
. Jerry Naylor's first recording was the self-penned “Hillbilly Bop”, with the Rhythm & Blues classic “Money Honey” on the B side.
In 1960, following the death of Buddy Holly, Jerry was approached by Jerry Allison
, co-founder and drummer of the Crickets with Buddy Holly, to become their new front man. Jerry initially refused this, but on the advice of Eddie Cochran
and Jerry Capehart (Cochran's manager) he changed his mind and joined the band. Together with drummer Jerry Allison
, lead guitarist Sonny Curtis
and pianist Glen D. Hardin
, the Crickets were reformed in the fall of 1960.
The Crickets experienced chart success in Great Britain, including a legacy single record hits with Carol King / Gerry Goffin’s penned “Please Don’t Ever Change”, Sonny Curtis' “My Little Girl,” plus “Teardrops Fall Like Rain,” “Don’t Try to Change Me,” among others.
In 1962 they teamed up with Bobby Vee
, whose career was also inextricably linked to Holly's to release the album “Bobby Vee Meets the Crickets” which became one of the biggest global hit albums for both the Crickets and Bobby. Bobby Vee and The Crickets performed on an historic concert tour of the UK and Europe that has become legendary. While on this tour in the UK, both Bobby Vee and the Crickets were featured in the movie, "Just For Fun."
In 1964 the Crickets appeared in the movie “Girls on the Beach,” along with the Beach Boys
and Lesley Gore
, performing their special rendition of "La Bamba".
In 1965 the Crickets broke up and Jerry signed a multiple-performance contract with the popular ABC-Television Network music variety show, “Shindig,” a show produced by British TV producer, Jack Goode, and in the winter of 1965, Jerry Naylor re-launched a successful solo career and was booked as the opening act for the new British group, The Rolling Stones, before 17,000 screaming fans at the Long Beach, California Arena.
In 1968, Naylor's solo performances with his hot band and the "Goodtime Chariott Singers" once again went international, beginning what would be a series of 37 tours in Europe, the UK, Canada and Asia, plus concerts touring the United States and headlining at casinos in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
In 1970, Naylor, recording for CBS-Columbia Records, released the solo single "But for Love," produced by Sonny Knight a song that would garner him three Grammy nominations, and a strong position in Billboard Magazine's Top Forty Male vocalists of the Year with his friends Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.
In 1974, Naylor managed to fit into his schedule, the hosting of an award winning Billboard Magazine, Academy of Country Music
and Country Music Association
three-hour weekly radio show, Continental Country, which was syndicated throughout the United States and broadcast globally on American Forces Radio Network.
1976-1980
In 1976, while keeping a busy touring schedule and enjoying a new on-air "Celebrity Host" contract with the number one country music radio station in America, KLAC Radio, Los Angeles, California, Jerry Naylor founded a public relations company and film and video production company. One of The Naylor Company’s first clients was the former governor of California, Ronald Reagan
. Jerry and his company created and produced political commercials, documentaries, corporate commercials, and eventually created and developed feature motion pictures for HBO and several other major film companies.
During Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign Jerry Naylor became a senior campaign staff member, National Director of Special Events. The newly elected President Reagan appointed Jerry Naylor to two three-year terms as one of 14 commissioners of the National Commission for Employment Policy, working directly with the White House Office of the President and the Secretary of Labor.
, and Jerry Naylor, for national and international television broadcast networks and cable outlets, a shortened version customized for PBS Network Pledge Drive Broadcasts through March, 2010, a special DVD version of this production with 43-minutes of non-broadcast feature performances, four newly recorded soundtrack CDs, three featuring Naylor’s solo performances and one soundtrack CD featuring Naylor and Stan Perkins, son of Carl Perkins
, performing a duet tribute to Rockabilly Legend, Carl Perkins. The project also includes eight compilation CDs which feature 113 digitally refurbished and re-mastered original Rockabilly/ Early Rock and Roll Legends recordings, plus a very rare “Live at the Louisiana Hayride” CD which features live performances from Elvis Presley’s first performance on the Louisiana Hayride in October, 1954, plus live performances from Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Bob Luman
and Hank Williams.
, New York, as a Collector’s Edition coffee table book
for the Tribute to the Rockabilly Legends project. This Birth of Rock and Roll anthology features over two-hundred rare photos of the Rockabilly Royalty and personal inside stories from Naylor and his friends, the Rockabilly Legends, of this great musical era.
This two-and-a-half million-dollar multi-media production, The Rockabilly Legends project is marketed worldwide exclusively by The Jerry Naylor Company, LLC and J2 Global Limited, a global marketing company co-founded by Jerry Naylor and Jerry Grabner. J2 Global also manages the www.RockabillyLegends.com Web Store created and co-managed by Intelligent Technologies founder, Timothy Barry. Jerry Naylor and The Rockabilly Legends Project is also featured on Rock Band Network, through OffBeat Entertainment, Inc. and Jerry Naylor and The Rockabilly Legends APPS are now available through Kobu Apps and Apple's iPhone and other electronic devices. The Rockabilly Legends Project has been featured on PBS Television Network Pledge Drive for the past three years with a special edited one-hour PBS documentary, "The Rockabilly Legend; They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll" co-hosted by Kris Kristofferson
.
This multi-layered production is a special tribute to the Pioneers of Rockabilly Music with whom Naylor began his professional entertainment career in 1954, and highlights the launch of many of the Rockabilly Legends’ careers through the Louisiana Hayride and early performances in West Texas.
Rockbilly Project Soundtrack
The Jerry Naylor-Stan Perkins’ produced soundtrack CDs include original compositions and unique “Roots of Rockabilly” revivals; an anthology of the music which formed the foundation of Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll Music
. These unique four soundtrack CDs feature Jerry Naylor singing many of the classic 1950s songs made famous by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison
, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Charlie Rich
, Gene Vincent
, Buddy Holly/ Crickets, Muddy Waters
, Bob Luman, and Ernest Tubb
. The CDs include two unique never-before-heard Carl Perkins
performances from the documentary production featuring Carl with just his acoustic gut string guitar singing "Blue Suede Shoes
" and “Mr. Bill.” “Mr. Bill” is Carl Perkins’ special tribute to his “idol,” the legendary Bluegrass founder, Bill Monroe
. The four CD set also includes Jerry and Stan Perkins singing duets of legendary Carl Perkins classics as a personal tribute to Carl Perkins; “To Carl; Let it Vibrate.” Naylor’s solo performances also include never-before-recorded original rockabilly songs, “Yesterday’s Teardrops,” a song co-written by Jerry Naylor and Glen Campbell
in 1959, a bluesy “B. B. King” type Southern Gospel
song, “Without Warning”, co-written by Jerry Naylor and Rick Miller specifically for this project, and “She’s Gone,” a 1960’s hit for Buddy Knox
co-written by Jerry Naylor and Buddy Knox, Naylor’s longtime West Texas
friend. Among the additional highlights of this CD soundtrack production is a unique acoustic Roots of Rockabilly tribute to one of the world’s most influential guitarists, Django Reinhardt
, with the song, “Don’t Say Nothin’ That Won’t Improve the Silence,” co-written by Rockabilly Pioneer, singer-songwriter, Larry Collins (Larry & Laurie Collins, “The Collins Kids”) and Naylor in the early 1970s, with a musical track masterfully emulating the 1930s and 1940s classic Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli
Quintet of the Hot Club, Paris, France
musical magic.
Vancouver
, British Columbia, Canada’s legendary radio and television personality, Red Robinson, co-hosts the three-hour television documentary with Naylor. Naylor’s long time friend and renowned television host, Wink Martindale
, serves as the voiceover storyteller of the classic Tribute to the Rockabilly Legends television production.
Other projects
The Rockabilly Legends Foundation was founded in 2010 as a Not-For-Profit Corporation for the purpose of Global Ministry, Education, Preservation and Restoration of this critical era of Music History that changed a culture of the world, assisted in breaking the color discrimination of segregation and influenced the birth of Rock and Roll creating iconic super stars of the 21st Century. "Did You Know that Rock and Roll began on the Continent of Africa in the 17th Century?" The Rockabilly Legends, Creator, Historian, Author, Singer, Songwriter, Recording Artist, Performer, Jerry Naylor, reveals the truth that African Spirituals, Southern Gospel, Delta Blues, Hillbilly Country and Bill Monroe's classic Bluegrass make up the rich Roots of Rockabilly and indeed Rock and Roll. Actually born as we know it in Memphis, Tennessee, in the hot, muggy summer of 1954, these deep, marvelous spiritual roots of Rockabilly stretch all the way back to Christian Missionaries and African converts of the 17th Century; slave converts bought an sold from the block. Slave-human-merchandise who brought these immortal memory-verse-melodies to the United States as rugged, chained slaves singing songs of salvation and Trust in God in glorious but painful harmonies recalled by rote, often spilling over into the rhythm of the heavy motion of the ores, while all clustered up tight in the filthy, mucky bottoms of those rugged, slop-vintage slave ships. These African Spirituals morphed themselves into Southern Gospel and often eased into fallen juke joint black blues somewhat blended with field-worked slave songs to become aged deep-row roots of Rockabilly and Rock and Roll when finally distilled into the heart pulling Hillbilly Country mixed with the grand and unchallengable mysteries of Scotland's best renderings of what was to be coined by Bill Monroe as "Bluegrass Music." As they say, "Put it all together and that is Rockabilly and the birth of Rock and Roll. The Rockabilly Legends Foundation is filled with train loads of first-hand, truthful "Did-Ja-Know" information about our Rockabilly American Music History and the iconic pioneers who created it from their small rural country churches to the cotton fields and juke joints. Join The Rockabilly Legends Foundation and become an active preservation member of Rockabilly and the Birth of Rock and Roll. Visit www.RockabillyLegends.com for detailed Membership information and life-changing Donations. Benefits Galore! And, You Can't Rock Another Second Without It!
Jerry Naylor and co-author, Steve Halliday are busy creating an Enhanced eBook from their best-selling book, The Rockabilly Legends, They Called it Rockabilly Long Before They Called it Rock and Roll, for 2012 global release, and are launching global Multi-Media Concert/Lecture tours featuring super star Friends and Family of The Rockabilly Legends, plus Rock,Country and Gospel guest-star performers.
Naylor has recently written or co-written with Rick Miller over twenty contemporary Christian songs and is currently working in the studio recording "The Rockabilly Legends; 50th Anniversary Tribute; The Crickets Don't Ever Change" Anthology album project with Arranger/ Music Director/ Engineer/ Keith Sommers, Arranger Matt Burnette, Co-Producer Dr. Colin A. Ross and The Rockabilly Legends Studio and Concert Band and Solid Rock Singers. Watch for tracks coming to your Rock Band Network Digital Download games. I mean it, "You Really Can't Rock Band Another Minute Without It!!" "Tear It Up!" "All I Want Is You" "Real Wild Child" "Don't Ever Change" ... and much more rocking your block off!
, and The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
. Jerry is listed in, or has creative works in, The Country Music Hall of Fame (“The Legend of Johnny Brown Country Opera” album on which he sings the lead role of Johnny Brown), The Who’s Who of Country Music, The Who’s Who of Rock and Roll, The Encyclopedia of Country Music, The Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll and his creative works are registered in the United States Library of Congress
.
Jerry Naylor is a member of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, Zeta Phi Chapter. In 1991, Jerry Naylor was inducted into the Marquis’ Who’s Who in the West; in 1993 he was honored in the Marquis’ Who’s Who in Finance and Industry for his contributions to international business consultation; and in 1994, Jerry was inducted into the Marquis’ Who’s Who in Entertainment and Marquis’ Who’s Who in America.
In 2007, The Jerry Naylor Company’s production, The Rockabilly Legends, was honored with the “2007 Millennium Award” for overall creative broadcast production quality for its Direct Response Television Marketing (DRTV) 28-Minute television infomercial hosted by Kris Kristofferson and Jerry Naylor and produced by Kent Hofmiester, Scott Petersen and Jerry Naylor.
Also in 2007, Dr. Gary Hartman, Phd., Founder of The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University introduced Jerry Naylor's Rockabilly Legends Tribute Project into the undergraduate and graduate studies curriculum of Texas State University's Music History Department.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country
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...
and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
artist and broadcaster and inspirational speaker, who was the lead singer of The Crickets
The Crickets
The Crickets are a rock & roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer/songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s. Their first hit record was "That'll Be the Day", released in 1957....
following the death of Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
.
Early life and career
Jerry Naylor Jackson was born in Chalk Mountain, TexasChalk Mountain, Texas
Chalk Mountain is a small unincorporated community in Erath County, Texas, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 67 near the Somervell County line, about 25 miles southwest of Glen Rose.-Bengal Kitten:...
to a great depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
farming family. His mother played piano in their local church and encouraged Jerry's love of music. Jerry listened to the greats of 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...
such as Hank Williams, Sr.
Hank Williams, Sr.
Hank Williams , born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most important country music artists of all time...
, Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
, Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
(with whom he shared his birthday) and Slim Whitman, and Whitman's steel guitar player, Hoot Raines, led the 9-year old Naylor to purchase and learn to play a steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
with money he earned picking cotton. By 12-years old, Jerry was playing that steel guitar at local honky tonks in and around Carlsbad and San Angelo, Texas, with his brother-in-law, Tommy Briggs' Hillbilly band which also featured Sherman Hamblin on fiddle and Earnest Smith lead guitar and vocals.
In 1953, at the age of 14, Jerry Naylor began working at a new radio station in San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...
called KPEP. Veteran broadcaster, Joe Treadway, who with his wife Matilda (Tillie) would become Jerry's foster parents when Naylor's mother died in 1955, hired Naylor and taught him to be a disc jockey, radio commercial salesman and radio maintenance engineer. Joe Treadway encouraged Naylor to continue his performing, but on the insistence of Jerry's mother, gave him the opportunity to be the lead singer of the band.
KPEP was co-owned by Joe Treadway and Dave Stone (Pinkstone) who also owned the, now legendary, KDAV
KDAV
KDAV is an AM radio station licensed to Lubbock, Texas, broadcasting an oldies format which focuses on 1950s and early 1960s pop, rockabilly, mild doo-wop, and country oldies....
radio station in Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
where Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
was also an on-air performer with Bob Montgomery
Bob Montgomery (musician)
Bob Montgomery is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer/publisher.Montgomery was born in Lampasas, Texas. He was a songwriting partner and best friend of Buddy Holly, performing together as the duo "Buddy and Bob" while teenagers in high school...
, "Buddy & Bob".
These two West Texas radio stations were the first full-time country music radio stations in America and promoted live touring shows throughout West Texas with stars from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...
in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Joe Treadway and his close friend, Tillman Franks
Tillman Franks
Tillman Ben Franks was an American bassist and songwriter who was also the manager for a number of country music artists including Johnny Horton, David Houston, Webb Pierce, Claude King and the Carlisles.-Biography:...
, Talent Coordinator for the Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...
, managed Naylor's young singing career and booked Jerry and his band on these touring shows. It was here at KPEP that Naylor first heard rockabilly music, at its very beginning. After hearing and playing Elvis Presley's "That's Alright Mama" Sun Records recording, Naylor helped to form and became the lead singer of the rockabilly band The Cavaliers.
Career with The Crickets
After Jerry Naylor had become the lead singer of the Post Buddy Holly Crickets, the Cavaliers, with J. Frank Wilson replacing Naylor as lead singer, went on to have Top 10 national chart success in 1964 with the song "Last Kiss."Joe Treadway, Jerry's manager, got Naylor to join other great artists of the day such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Johnny Horton
Johnny Horton
John Gale "Johnny" Horton was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
, Bob Luman
Bob Luman
Bob Luman was an American country and rockabilly singer.-Early life and career:...
and many more on the Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...
.
Naylor played many more of the Louisiana hayride shows working with his mentors, KPEP Radio co-owner/ manager, Joe Treadway and Tillman Franks
Tillman Franks
Tillman Ben Franks was an American bassist and songwriter who was also the manager for a number of country music artists including Johnny Horton, David Houston, Webb Pierce, Claude King and the Carlisles.-Biography:...
, slap bass player/ personal manager of Johnny Horton
Johnny Horton
John Gale "Johnny" Horton was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
and other acts, and most important, talent director of the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
. Jerry Naylor's first recording was the self-penned “Hillbilly Bop”, with the Rhythm & Blues classic “Money Honey” on the B side.
In 1960, following the death of Buddy Holly, Jerry was approached by Jerry Allison
Jerry Allison
J.I. Allison is an American musician, best known for being the drummer for The Crickets and co-writer of their Buddy Holly hit "Peggy Sue"....
, co-founder and drummer of the Crickets with Buddy Holly, to become their new front man. Jerry initially refused this, but on the advice of Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
and Jerry Capehart (Cochran's manager) he changed his mind and joined the band. Together with drummer Jerry Allison
Jerry Allison
J.I. Allison is an American musician, best known for being the drummer for The Crickets and co-writer of their Buddy Holly hit "Peggy Sue"....
, lead guitarist Sonny Curtis
Sonny Curtis
Sonny Curtis is an American singer and songwriter. Most of his work falls into the Pop and Country genres. He was a teenage pal and band member with Buddy Holly in Lubbock, Texas...
and pianist Glen D. Hardin
Glen Hardin
Glen D. Hardin is an American piano player, songwriter and arranger. He has performed and recorded with such notable artists as Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, Ricky Nelson and many others.-Career:...
, the Crickets were reformed in the fall of 1960.
The Crickets experienced chart success in Great Britain, including a legacy single record hits with Carol King / Gerry Goffin’s penned “Please Don’t Ever Change”, Sonny Curtis' “My Little Girl,” plus “Teardrops Fall Like Rain,” “Don’t Try to Change Me,” among others.
In 1962 they teamed up with Bobby Vee
Bobby Vee
Robert Thomas Velline , known as Bobby Vee, is an American pop music singer. According to Billboard magazine, Vee has had 38 Hot 100 chart hits, 10 of which hit the Top 20.-Career:...
, whose career was also inextricably linked to Holly's to release the album “Bobby Vee Meets the Crickets” which became one of the biggest global hit albums for both the Crickets and Bobby. Bobby Vee and The Crickets performed on an historic concert tour of the UK and Europe that has become legendary. While on this tour in the UK, both Bobby Vee and the Crickets were featured in the movie, "Just For Fun."
In 1964 the Crickets appeared in the movie “Girls on the Beach,” along with the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
and Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
, performing their special rendition of "La Bamba".
Solo recording and performing career
1965-1975In 1965 the Crickets broke up and Jerry signed a multiple-performance contract with the popular ABC-Television Network music variety show, “Shindig,” a show produced by British TV producer, Jack Goode, and in the winter of 1965, Jerry Naylor re-launched a successful solo career and was booked as the opening act for the new British group, The Rolling Stones, before 17,000 screaming fans at the Long Beach, California Arena.
In 1968, Naylor's solo performances with his hot band and the "Goodtime Chariott Singers" once again went international, beginning what would be a series of 37 tours in Europe, the UK, Canada and Asia, plus concerts touring the United States and headlining at casinos in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
In 1970, Naylor, recording for CBS-Columbia Records, released the solo single "But for Love," produced by Sonny Knight a song that would garner him three Grammy nominations, and a strong position in Billboard Magazine's Top Forty Male vocalists of the Year with his friends Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.
In 1974, Naylor managed to fit into his schedule, the hosting of an award winning Billboard Magazine, Academy of Country Music
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
and Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
three-hour weekly radio show, Continental Country, which was syndicated throughout the United States and broadcast globally on American Forces Radio Network.
1976-1980
In 1976, while keeping a busy touring schedule and enjoying a new on-air "Celebrity Host" contract with the number one country music radio station in America, KLAC Radio, Los Angeles, California, Jerry Naylor founded a public relations company and film and video production company. One of The Naylor Company’s first clients was the former governor of California, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Jerry and his company created and produced political commercials, documentaries, corporate commercials, and eventually created and developed feature motion pictures for HBO and several other major film companies.
During Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign Jerry Naylor became a senior campaign staff member, National Director of Special Events. The newly elected President Reagan appointed Jerry Naylor to two three-year terms as one of 14 commissioners of the National Commission for Employment Policy, working directly with the White House Office of the President and the Secretary of Labor.
Recent projects
Naylor recently completed a project, over seven years in production, which includes a three-hour feature television broadcast documentary, co-hosted by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame radio and television icon, Red RobinsonRed Robinson
Red Robinson was the first Canadian disc jockey to play Rock and Roll music, both in the Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland, Oregon markets....
, and Jerry Naylor, for national and international television broadcast networks and cable outlets, a shortened version customized for PBS Network Pledge Drive Broadcasts through March, 2010, a special DVD version of this production with 43-minutes of non-broadcast feature performances, four newly recorded soundtrack CDs, three featuring Naylor’s solo performances and one soundtrack CD featuring Naylor and Stan Perkins, son of Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
, performing a duet tribute to Rockabilly Legend, Carl Perkins. The project also includes eight compilation CDs which feature 113 digitally refurbished and re-mastered original Rockabilly/ Early Rock and Roll Legends recordings, plus a very rare “Live at the Louisiana Hayride” CD which features live performances from Elvis Presley’s first performance on the Louisiana Hayride in October, 1954, plus live performances from Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Bob Luman
Bob Luman
Bob Luman was an American country and rockabilly singer.-Early life and career:...
and Hank Williams.
The Rockabilly Project
Naylor and award-winning-best-selling author, Steve Halliday, have written a 288-page hard bound book, The Rockabilly Legends: They Called it Rockabilly Long Before They Called it Rock and Roll, published by Hal Leonard Publishing CoHal Leonard Publishing Co
Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation is the world’s largest music print publisher as well as the world’s largest educational music publisher, producing songbooks, sheet music, educational publications, reference books, DVDs, CD-ROMs, children’s music products and more...
, New York, as a Collector’s Edition coffee table book
Coffee table book
A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
for the Tribute to the Rockabilly Legends project. This Birth of Rock and Roll anthology features over two-hundred rare photos of the Rockabilly Royalty and personal inside stories from Naylor and his friends, the Rockabilly Legends, of this great musical era.
This two-and-a-half million-dollar multi-media production, The Rockabilly Legends project is marketed worldwide exclusively by The Jerry Naylor Company, LLC and J2 Global Limited, a global marketing company co-founded by Jerry Naylor and Jerry Grabner. J2 Global also manages the www.RockabillyLegends.com Web Store created and co-managed by Intelligent Technologies founder, Timothy Barry. Jerry Naylor and The Rockabilly Legends Project is also featured on Rock Band Network, through OffBeat Entertainment, Inc. and Jerry Naylor and The Rockabilly Legends APPS are now available through Kobu Apps and Apple's iPhone and other electronic devices. The Rockabilly Legends Project has been featured on PBS Television Network Pledge Drive for the past three years with a special edited one-hour PBS documentary, "The Rockabilly Legend; They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll" co-hosted by Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
.
This multi-layered production is a special tribute to the Pioneers of Rockabilly Music with whom Naylor began his professional entertainment career in 1954, and highlights the launch of many of the Rockabilly Legends’ careers through the Louisiana Hayride and early performances in West Texas.
Rockbilly Project Soundtrack
The Jerry Naylor-Stan Perkins’ produced soundtrack CDs include original compositions and unique “Roots of Rockabilly” revivals; an anthology of the music which formed the foundation of Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll Music
Rock and Roll Music
"Rock and Roll Music" is a song written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry which became a hit single in 1957 and has been covered by many artists....
. These unique four soundtrack CDs feature Jerry Naylor singing many of the classic 1950s songs made famous by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich
Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...
, Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
, Buddy Holly/ Crickets, Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Bob Luman, and Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
. The CDs include two unique never-before-heard Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
performances from the documentary production featuring Carl with just his acoustic gut string guitar singing "Blue Suede Shoes
Blue Suede Shoes
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955 and is considered one of the first rockabilly records and incorporated elements of blues, country and pop music of the time...
" and “Mr. Bill.” “Mr. Bill” is Carl Perkins’ special tribute to his “idol,” the legendary Bluegrass founder, Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
. The four CD set also includes Jerry and Stan Perkins singing duets of legendary Carl Perkins classics as a personal tribute to Carl Perkins; “To Carl; Let it Vibrate.” Naylor’s solo performances also include never-before-recorded original rockabilly songs, “Yesterday’s Teardrops,” a song co-written by Jerry Naylor and Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
in 1959, a bluesy “B. B. King” type Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
song, “Without Warning”, co-written by Jerry Naylor and Rick Miller specifically for this project, and “She’s Gone,” a 1960’s hit for Buddy Knox
Buddy Knox
Buddy Knox was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1957 rockabilly hit song, "Party Doll".-Biography:...
co-written by Jerry Naylor and Buddy Knox, Naylor’s longtime West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
friend. Among the additional highlights of this CD soundtrack production is a unique acoustic Roots of Rockabilly tribute to one of the world’s most influential guitarists, Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
, with the song, “Don’t Say Nothin’ That Won’t Improve the Silence,” co-written by Rockabilly Pioneer, singer-songwriter, Larry Collins (Larry & Laurie Collins, “The Collins Kids”) and Naylor in the early 1970s, with a musical track masterfully emulating the 1930s and 1940s classic Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
Quintet of the Hot Club, Paris, France
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
musical magic.
Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia, Canada’s legendary radio and television personality, Red Robinson, co-hosts the three-hour television documentary with Naylor. Naylor’s long time friend and renowned television host, Wink Martindale
Wink Martindale
Winston Conrad Martindale , known professionally as Wink Martindale, is an American disc jockey and television game show host.-Radio:...
, serves as the voiceover storyteller of the classic Tribute to the Rockabilly Legends television production.
Other projects
The Rockabilly Legends Foundation was founded in 2010 as a Not-For-Profit Corporation for the purpose of Global Ministry, Education, Preservation and Restoration of this critical era of Music History that changed a culture of the world, assisted in breaking the color discrimination of segregation and influenced the birth of Rock and Roll creating iconic super stars of the 21st Century. "Did You Know that Rock and Roll began on the Continent of Africa in the 17th Century?" The Rockabilly Legends, Creator, Historian, Author, Singer, Songwriter, Recording Artist, Performer, Jerry Naylor, reveals the truth that African Spirituals, Southern Gospel, Delta Blues, Hillbilly Country and Bill Monroe's classic Bluegrass make up the rich Roots of Rockabilly and indeed Rock and Roll. Actually born as we know it in Memphis, Tennessee, in the hot, muggy summer of 1954, these deep, marvelous spiritual roots of Rockabilly stretch all the way back to Christian Missionaries and African converts of the 17th Century; slave converts bought an sold from the block. Slave-human-merchandise who brought these immortal memory-verse-melodies to the United States as rugged, chained slaves singing songs of salvation and Trust in God in glorious but painful harmonies recalled by rote, often spilling over into the rhythm of the heavy motion of the ores, while all clustered up tight in the filthy, mucky bottoms of those rugged, slop-vintage slave ships. These African Spirituals morphed themselves into Southern Gospel and often eased into fallen juke joint black blues somewhat blended with field-worked slave songs to become aged deep-row roots of Rockabilly and Rock and Roll when finally distilled into the heart pulling Hillbilly Country mixed with the grand and unchallengable mysteries of Scotland's best renderings of what was to be coined by Bill Monroe as "Bluegrass Music." As they say, "Put it all together and that is Rockabilly and the birth of Rock and Roll. The Rockabilly Legends Foundation is filled with train loads of first-hand, truthful "Did-Ja-Know" information about our Rockabilly American Music History and the iconic pioneers who created it from their small rural country churches to the cotton fields and juke joints. Join The Rockabilly Legends Foundation and become an active preservation member of Rockabilly and the Birth of Rock and Roll. Visit www.RockabillyLegends.com for detailed Membership information and life-changing Donations. Benefits Galore! And, You Can't Rock Another Second Without It!
Jerry Naylor and co-author, Steve Halliday are busy creating an Enhanced eBook from their best-selling book, The Rockabilly Legends, They Called it Rockabilly Long Before They Called it Rock and Roll, for 2012 global release, and are launching global Multi-Media Concert/Lecture tours featuring super star Friends and Family of The Rockabilly Legends, plus Rock,Country and Gospel guest-star performers.
Naylor has recently written or co-written with Rick Miller over twenty contemporary Christian songs and is currently working in the studio recording "The Rockabilly Legends; 50th Anniversary Tribute; The Crickets Don't Ever Change" Anthology album project with Arranger/ Music Director/ Engineer/ Keith Sommers, Arranger Matt Burnette, Co-Producer Dr. Colin A. Ross and The Rockabilly Legends Studio and Concert Band and Solid Rock Singers. Watch for tracks coming to your Rock Band Network Digital Download games. I mean it, "You Really Can't Rock Band Another Minute Without It!!" "Tear It Up!" "All I Want Is You" "Real Wild Child" "Don't Ever Change" ... and much more rocking your block off!
Awards and honors
Naylor is a member of the Academy of Country Music, The Country Music AssociationCountry Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
, and The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...
. Jerry is listed in, or has creative works in, The Country Music Hall of Fame (“The Legend of Johnny Brown Country Opera” album on which he sings the lead role of Johnny Brown), The Who’s Who of Country Music, The Who’s Who of Rock and Roll, The Encyclopedia of Country Music, The Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll and his creative works are registered in the United States Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.
Jerry Naylor is a member of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, Zeta Phi Chapter. In 1991, Jerry Naylor was inducted into the Marquis’ Who’s Who in the West; in 1993 he was honored in the Marquis’ Who’s Who in Finance and Industry for his contributions to international business consultation; and in 1994, Jerry was inducted into the Marquis’ Who’s Who in Entertainment and Marquis’ Who’s Who in America.
In 2007, The Jerry Naylor Company’s production, The Rockabilly Legends, was honored with the “2007 Millennium Award” for overall creative broadcast production quality for its Direct Response Television Marketing (DRTV) 28-Minute television infomercial hosted by Kris Kristofferson and Jerry Naylor and produced by Kent Hofmiester, Scott Petersen and Jerry Naylor.
Also in 2007, Dr. Gary Hartman, Phd., Founder of The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University introduced Jerry Naylor's Rockabilly Legends Tribute Project into the undergraduate and graduate studies curriculum of Texas State University's Music History Department.