Rickie Page was born June Evelyn Kuykendall in Lindsay, Oklahoma on 7 November 1929, and she began singing as soon as she could talk, singing along to the radio, accompanied by her father. The whole family would often get together for hoe downs, where it seemed everyone could either sing, play some instrument, or both. The family moved to Fresno while June was growing up, and she had dreams of becoming a songwriter, which led her to leave home for Hollywood in search of fame and fortune, with nothing in her pocket but ten dollars cash. She took a job waiting tables at a Jewish deli that was popular with folk in the music business at the time, and it was there in 1956 that she served a milkshake to a guy who gave her a five dollar tip and then asked the hostess about her. He was George Motola, and after hearing about June's aspirations as a songwriter, he invited her up to his office for an interview. She eventually went with a friend to accompany her, and she was surprised to find that he worked in the same office as Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who were writing material for the Coasters and Elvis Presley. She played Motola some of her compositions, but he wasn't very interested in them, and instead he liked her voice enough to offer her the chance of becoming a singer, and it was at this point that she decided to pick a stage name that sounded youthful, and came up with Rickie Page. In the end Motola relented, and he and Page starting writing songs together, coming up with over 100 between them.
One of the many songs they wrote together was 'Johnny Johnny Johnny' for the G Notes in 1958, with all vocals being done by Page, and with Eddie Cochran sitting in and playing guitar on the session. He loved the song and asked permission to record it, which he did, changing the name to 'Jeannie Jeannie Jeannie' and it was almost a top 30 hit in the UK. Page's singing career took off in the late 50's, with releases on Liberty, Dot, Zephyr, and Rendezvous, sometimes recording with her sister Sonya, and sometimes with some combination of her three daughters. She also released records under a number of aliases on the Con, Landa, Decca, Epic, Era, Fleet, Hit, Landa, Spar, United Artists, and VIP labels, using a huge variety of names, including The Georgettes, The Bermudas, Joanne And The Triangles, The Majorettes, Beverly And The Motorscooters, Becky And The Lollipops, June And Joy, and The Page Sisters. Even her own records appeared under a variety of name, with solo releases as Rickie Page, Ricky Page, and even Ricki Page. She worked with many other artists and producers over the years, including Darlene Love and Phil Spector, The Blossoms, The Righteous Brothers, and Sonny And Cher, and throughout 1963 Page and Motola also ran their own record label, Troy Records. In September 1965 the pair moved to Nashville, and in 1968 she did a budget cover of Jeannie C Riley's 'Harper Valley PTA' on Spar Records, which managed to get a lot of local airplay in Seattle and Vancouver. This spurred her on to a later career in country music, and she became a member of The Nashville Edition, singing with the Jordanaires, and appearing regularly on the Hee-Haw television show. This collection of her music concentrates on her solo career under the various spellings of Rickie Page, her pseudonyms Bridget, Cinders, Sheila North, and Rick And Al, as well as an early recording by The Page Sisters, and a duet with Bill Carey.
Track listing
01 Sweet Sweetheart (single by The Page Sisters 1957)
02 Wee Willie (single 1957)
03 I'm Old Enough Now (b-side of 'Wee Willie')
04 Never Like This (b-side of 'Toy Telephone' 1958)
05 (It's No) Sin (single 1958)
06 I Promise (single as Bill Carey & Ricky Page 1958)
07 Forever (single 1959)
08 Yes I'm Lonesome Tonight (single 1960)
09 Standing On A Mountain Top (b-side of 'Yes I'm Lonesome Tonight')
10 I Understand (Just How You Feel) (b-side of 'Every Time (You're Mine)' 1961)
11 Why Did You Lie (b-side of 'Je Vous Aime' 1961)
12 Little Boy (single as Bridget 1962)
13 All I Do Is Dream Of You (single as Rick And Al 1963)
14 My Boyfriend (single 1963)
15 I Won't Play Second Fiddle (single as Sheila North 1964)
16 Golly Gee (b-side of 'I Won't Play Second Fiddle')
17 I'll Follow You (single as Cinders 1964)
18 I Cry Inside (single 1965)
19 I'm His Girl (No One Knows Him But Me) (b-side of 'I Cry Inside')
No comments:
Post a Comment