Official P.J. Proby Fan Forum

Reply #30 - 8^th Sep, 2011 at 5:14pm

Barry Offline
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I Love P.J. Proby!
Beith, Ayrshire.

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That is a tragic story Ron. But at least we seem to have sorted the little question about that track.

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Reply #31 - 9^th Sep, 2011 at 12:59pm

Ron Offline
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Actually serious Cricket fans & experts have always credited the vocals to P.J on "Fell In Love With A Face". I guess they will now have to think again now that The Man himself has said it ain't him.
The track is on a Crickets 1991 CD called "Ravin' On:From California To Clovis". It's full of previously un-issued songs & hardly anyone knows who wrote them or even who sang the lead vocals on the majority of them.

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Reply #32 - 9^th Sep, 2011 at 7:26pm

Ron Offline
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The guy who contacted the S.O.T.S. Radio 2 show with the Crickets story & the supposed P.J. connection is, as we know,Ron Gwen.He lives in Bracklesham Bay,West Sussex,a lovely coastal town(from the beach you can see the Isle Of Wight).If anyone on the forum lives near the place perhaps you could possibly try to contact him & invite him to join us.
Ron

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Reply #33 - 10^th Sep, 2011 at 10:59am

Ron Offline
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More facts about Ronnie Smith.In 1956 aged 18 he was a member of the "Poor Boys" a rockabilly group from Odessa,Texas.Before becoming a temporary Cricket in 1959. He also released 2 solo singles:"My babe/I've got a love" in '58 & "Lookie,lookie,lookie/A tiny kiss" in early 1959. Both, I believe, produced by Norman Petty at his Clovis studios.Ronnie was also in a group called The Jitters with former Poor Boy Carl Bunch.
Another singer who could possibly have done the vocals on "Fell In Love with A Face" is Derrell Felts who Petty believed could eventually be a Buddy Holly replacement.
I wonder if P.J. has ever come across some of the names I've mentioned?
Ron
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Reply #34 - 10^th Sep, 2011 at 5:09pm

Ron Offline
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P.J. is the best vocalist
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The guys in the pic are Texan rockabilly group The Poor Boys.Taken in 1956 the line up was:back row: left, Richard Porter with Eddie Williams. front row from l. to r. Bob Hardwick,RONNIE SMITH & Carl Bunch.
By the way I've found out contact details for Ron Gwen.I'll be in touch with him soon.
Ron

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Reply #35 - 14^th Sep, 2011 at 9:14pm

ron gwen Ex Member

Ron Tennant wrote me a nice letter bringing the Fell In Love With A Face discussion to my attention. Unfortunately Brian Matthew didn't read out my explanation of where I got the info. It was a letter written to Now Dig This (rock n roll magazine) by Crickets expert John Ingman. This is what he wrote:

"By the end of 1961, Sonny Curtis was in the US Army and Joe B Mauldin had temporarily retired from music. On February 2nd 1962, J I Allison and Tommy Allsup auditioned potential new vocalists for The Crickets - and one was P J Proby who sang the Elvis-styled 'Fell In Love With A Face.' Cliff Crofford contributed 'There's No Better Way To Die', 'Never Ever Told Me' and 'Bottom Of The Sea', whilst Jerry Naylor got the job by taking care of 'I'm Not A Bad Guy'. Aural evidence suggests Glen Campbell provided harmony vocals on the titles. The five songs remained unissued until Rockstar's 1991 package 'The Crickets - Ravin' On From California To Clovis' for which I did the booklet notes. At the time the vocalists on the first four titles were a mystery but J I later resolved the matter for 'Crickets File' magazine."

Jerry Allison says it was P J. P J says it wasn't. I have no idea who is correct.

Ron

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Reply #36 - 15^th Sep, 2011 at 8:24am

DutchBrand Offline
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Hi Ron,
Thanks a lot for the info. All the Proby fans are convinced this is not PJs voice on "Fell In Love With A Face". PJ says so as well. Of course it is very well possible that PJ was present at the Crickets auditioning with his friend Jerry Allison. He loved to sing and would have sung anywhere where there was a possibility to be heard. Maybe PJ is singing one of the other tracks that they recorded? It would be interesting to hear those other songs from this session...
Manja

If you don't try the impossible, you won't reach the impossible

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Reply #37 - 15^th Sep, 2011 at 3:24pm

Barry Offline
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I Love P.J. Proby!
Beith, Ayrshire.

Posts: 247

Ron Gwen. Thanks for taking the time to post to try and solve this little mystery with us. Im one of the many fans that just dont think it sounds like PJ on that track, but its facsinating hearing the story behind it.

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Reply #38 - 15^th Sep, 2011 at 4:26pm

Ron Offline
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Jerry Allison is certain that it was P.J. P.J. is certain that it's not him. If I had to bet money on it then I would go for it not being P.J. but never say never!
We had this same problem a while back...Elvis mafia member Jerry Schilling recounted in his autobiography that P.J. was onstage in 1965 at the Red Velvet Club in Hollywood & Elvis was in the audience with his pals. El was so impressed with P.J. singing "Somewhere" that he sent a note to P.J. onstage asking him to song the song again.P.J. was so shocked he had to sit down onstage. Funnily enough P.J. does not recall this ever happening!

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Reply #39 - 15^th Sep, 2011 at 4:30pm

Ron Offline
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Just taken another look at the pic of the Poor Boys & suddenly realised that Ronnie Smith(front-middle) who was the same age as P.J. actually looked a lot like Jimmy Smith did!
Ron

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Reply #40 - 17^th Sep, 2011 at 2:34pm

Annie Offline
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I Love P.J. Proby!
Staines, England

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Just catching up after being offline for a week. Sounds as though this little gem has now been sorted - it gave us all something to talk about, which is what the forum is for. Well done Ron for finding Ron. (I've been away from the computer because it's apple and plum time - chutney making, jelly making etc. - wish I could get up to Evesham to pick some of PJs).

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Reply #41 - 18^th Sep, 2011 at 4:18pm

Ron Offline
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Reading the sleeve notes of the Crickets CD containing the song "Fell In Love With A Face" it says the vocalist on the song is unknown. If Jerry Allison was so sure of P.J. being the vocalist then why didn't he say so at the time the CD was released (1991) & then the info could have been added to the sleeve notes.This makes me even more convinced it's not P.J. & that Jerry is clutching at straws.
Ron

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Reply #42 - 25^th Sep, 2011 at 11:59pm

ron gwen Ex Member

With P J saying he wasn't the vocalist on Fell In Love With A Face, I went back to John Ingman to ask if he had any further comments and I thought you might be interested in what he said:-
"I can't really add anything. When I did booklet notes to the Rockstar CD I hadn't a clue about the vocalist. Some years later I played the track to JI and he immediately said "that's Jet Powers who you'll know as PJ" and I accepted that. He added that the two of them had worked togeether on a few sessions in early 1960's but they may have been other demos. Once he'd identified the vocalists on the mysterious session I had the info I wanted and I no doubt moved onto other matters. I don't have any tracks crediting PJ Proby on my collection. I did hear the track on Sounds Of Sixties; it's probably 1st time I've heard it since I played it to JI. Of course in Feb 1962 JI was the Crickets."
I'm not expert enough on P J's voice to know whether or not it could be him, so I'm happy to leave it at that as something of a mystery.

Ron

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Reply #43 - 26^th Sep, 2011 at 11:11am

Ron Offline
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It will have to be the mystery that was never fully solved.

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Reply #44 - 1^st Oct, 2011 at 6:36pm

Ron Offline
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One more name has crept into the puzzle of who the vocalist is on "Fell In Love With A Face". It's possibly a guy called Earl Sinks who did lead vocals with The Crickets for a while after Buddy died.
Earl was known as the "man with a thousand voices" so he could imitate anyone.....a bit like a certain person we all know & love!
Ron Wink

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