User:Brieflysentient/Johnny Cymbal draft rewrite

Johnny Cymbal
File:J Cymbal.jpg Publicity Photo of Johnny Cymbal, 1970s-80s
Background information
Birth name	John Hendry Blair
Genres	Traditional Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer Songwriter Record Producer
Years active	1960s-1980s
Labels	MGM Capitol Kapp DCP Chelsea Columbia Amaret

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• THIS PAGE IS, AS THE DREADFUL SAYING GOES, 'UNDER CONSTRUCTION'
• The full rationale behind the pretty savage culling of the original page is on the Johnny Cymbal talk page. Feel free to comment, either there, on the talk page for this page, or on my talk page.
• This is largely the structure I envisage finishing with - with the possible addition of a discography, and the definite addition of as many citations and references as I can manage (if anyone can do the Gale book stuff that would be useful!). There's still links and tidying to do though.
• I'll be adding and deleting here for a while, so there's plenty of time for comment. However, please don't just tell me that you like the original page as it was (for the reasons I've already explained).

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Johnny Cymbal (b. John Hendry Blair, February 3, 1945 Ochiltree, Scotland - March 16, 1993) was a Scottish born American songwriter, singer, and record producer who had a hit record with his signature song, "Mr. Bass Man", and wrote a number of other hit records, including "Teenage Heaven", "Cinnamon", "Mary In The Morning", "Rock Me Baby" and "I'm Drinking Canada Dry".

Cymbal's songs have been recorded by numerous artists, including Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Gene Pitney, Al Martino, The Partridge Family, Spencer Davis Group, Frankie Ford, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Ed Ames, Adam Wade, Aaron Tippin, Mike Curb, Jan and Dean, Trini Lopez and David Cassidy.

Biography

Johnny Cymbal was born in Ochiltree, Scotland on February 3, 1945. He was adopted by his mother's second husband, Nick (possibly Nikolas) Cymbal, who was a Polish national, and took his name. When Johnny was seven or eight years old, the family moved from Scotland to Goderich, Ontario, Canada, and later to Cleveland, Ohio. A fan of Elvis Presley, Johnny taught himself guitar, and began writing his own songs at the age of 13.

1960 - 1966

Aged 15, Cleveland music entrepreneur Sid Lawrence brought him to the attention of Philadelphia radio personality, Jack Gale, who in 1960 negotiated a recording contract with MGM Records. However, the two singles released by MGM failed to chart. Gale became his manager and legal guardian, and Johnny went to live with his family in Philadelphia. After several one-shot releases on various labels, he eventually charted with "Bachelor Man" and signed a contract with Kapp Records.

On December 14, 1962 Johnny recorded the self-penned, "Mr. Bass Man" at Mirasound Studios in NYC, together with producer/arranger Alan Lorber, and Ronnie Bright from The Valentines and The Cadillacs on bass vocal. "Mr. Bass Man", released in January 1963, became a worldwide hit, reaching #16 in the US charts, #1 in Japan and Argentina, Top 5 in England, and also charting in many other countries. The song was released in France (with French lyrics) by Henri Salvador as "Monsieur Boum Boum"; and, with different lyrics, as "Monsieur La Basse" by Gilles Brown in Canada. Johnny then toured the US, Europe and Japan, performing as both a solo headlining act and in rock and roll package shows.

The July 1963 follow-up single, "Dum Dum De Dum" only reached #77 on the Billboard chart, while the next single, "Teenage Heaven", a 'death record' about pop musicians who were in heaven, reached #58 in the US and was a #1 hit in Sweden, but subsequent releases (including "There Goes A Bad Girl", written by Bobby Darin) failed to chart.

When Gale's radio career took him to Cocoa Beach, Florida, Johnny returned to live with his parents, who had moved from Cleveland to Chico, California, but he returned to the Gale family when Gale returned to the Northeast as a deejay at WMEX in Boston, and once again signed to Kapp Records, without success. In 1965 he signed to Don Costa's label DCP Records, again without success, and was similarly unsuccessful with Columbia Records. By 1966, having married and started a family, he withdrew from live performances and concentrated on songwriting.

1966 - 1980

Cymbal became friends with Michael Rashkow, a recording engineer at Costa's studio who had recently signed to the writing staff at Pamco Music, the BMI wing of ABC Records. Rashkow brought Cymbal to ABC and Terry Cashman, who was then the Professional Manager of the music publishing division, put him on staff at ABC. Within a few months Cymbal and Rashkow had written "Mary In The Morning", which was a BMI Million Performance Award Winner, selling 10m copies when recorded by Al Martino and was covered by other artists including Glen Campbell, Eddy Arnold and Elvis Presley. After the follow-up, "Julie On My Mind", was turned down by Martino, Cymbal forged a production partnership with George Tobin at Musicor, while remaining on staff at ABC. With Tobin, Johnny recorded in 1968 under the name "Milk" for Buddha Records, once again without success. But early in their partnership Johnny co-wrote, co-produced, and was lead vocalist on "Cinnamon", released on Bert Bern's BANG label under the alias "Derek" - the name of his younger brother. "Cinnamon" reached #11 on the U.S charts, and the follow-up "Back Door Man" was also a hit. During this time Austin Roberts who later wrote "I.O.U. " for Lee Greenwood among other hits, was also writing at ABC, and they began a long writing and singing partnership.

File:Rashkow, Greenwich, Cymbal.jpg

L to R: Mike Rashkow, Ellie Greenwich, Johnny Cymbal - 1966 photo by Mikie Harris

Cymbal continued to record for many years, often under other names and sometimes using his brother's name - Derek. He also wrote and produced records for a number of artists, including Gene Pitney (who had a UK hit with "Somewhere In The Country") and Terri Gibbs (who had a country crossover hit with "Somebody's Knockin’"). In early 1969 Cymbal and Tobin moved their base to California, followed shortly after by Austin Roberts. With Tobin running the business and Johnny and Austin Roberts creating the music, they were making what Roberts described as "the record of the day" heading into the studio to record it that night—with either Cymbal and/or Roberts voicing it. The next day, according to Roberts, "Tobin would go sell it to three different labels".

In 1969 John ended his partnership with George Tobin, met Catherine (Peggy) Clinger, and became active with the Wes Farrell Organization and their label, Chelsea Records. Cymbal and Clinger wrote and recorded together as well as becoming romantically involved. In 1973 he released "Boulder, Colorado", and both on his own and with Clinger as co-writer had songs recorded by Wes Farrell-produced artists, including the cartoon show The Cattanooga Cats and The Partridge Family, whose lead singer, David Cassidy had a U.K #1 with the Clinger/Cymbal song "Rock Me Baby", while John Farnham reached the Top 5 in Australia with the same song.

In 1972 Farrell produced Cymbal and Clinger on an eponymous LP of their own material using LA studio musicians including Hal Blaine, Tom Scott, Larry Carlton, Michael Omartian and Joe Osborn; but though John and Peggy toured to support the release, including opening for Sly and The Family Stone at the Hollywood Bowl, it was largely ignored. Subsequently Peggy Clinger died at her home in Boulder, Colorado, which, although they had separated some time before, seriously affected Cymbal. Eventually, with the assistance of his former wife, Carol, he entered rehabilitation, rediscovered his Christianity, and over the next few years was able to overcome his addictions and make a complete recovery.

By 1978, Cymbal had returned to Cleveland and was working outside the music industry. Seeking a path back into music, Cymbal hooked up with former writing partner Mike Rashkow, and they recorded some demos in New York, although Mercury Records turned these down.

1980 - 1993

Within a few months Johnny moved to Nashville. Over the next few years, He was first signed as a staff writer at Famous Music and later BMG Music. During the Nashville years, he had many songs recorded by artists such as David Frizzell, Frankie Ford, Tompall and The Glasers, Aaron Tippen, The Shoppe with ("Doesn't Anybody Get High On Love Anymore?") and in 1982 The Flying Burrito Brothers had a US and Canadian hit with his "I'm Drinking Canada Dry".

In the early 1980s John and writing partner Austin Roberts formed "The Cymbal Roberts Band", and signed to Barry Beckett's MSSS Productions with Capitol Records, although the recordings were never released as Beckett's deal with Capitol fell apart. Over the next decade, the Cymbal/Roberts writing partnership provided hits for the country music charts as well as the movie soundtracks of Tender Mercies (1983), starring Robert Duvall, and Tough Enough (1983), starring Dennis Quaid.

Johnny Cymbal was married three times, and twice divorced. He had two children with his first wife Carol (known as "Cubby") whom he married in his late teens: Kimberly and John Jr. He was alone when he died in his sleep of a heart attack on March 16, 1993 at the age of 48. His ashes were spread at Lake Radnor in Nashville.

In 2008, a two CD set compilation of previously unreleased material written by, and mainly performed by, by Johnny was released by Darn Good Records.

External links

• Video of Johnny Cymbal, in 1993, singing "Mr. Bass Man"
• Video of Johnny Cymbal, in 1993, singing "Cinnamon"
• Video of Johnny Cymbal, in 1993, singing "I'm Drinking Canada Dry"
• Video of Johnny Cymbal, in 1993, singing "Mary in the Morning"
• Allmusic

Category:American songwriters Category:American singers Category:Vee-Jay Records artists Category:1945 births Category:1993 deaths