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He was a singer-songwriter born Dorsey Burnett (the
extra "e" came later) in Memphis, Tennessee, to a family where his brother
was the singer Johnny Burnett.
They were both given guitars by their father when they were young
and he encouraged them to play.
They lived in the housing project
that would also become the home of Elvis
Presley
and his parents from 1948. He was known to have quite a temper as a child and
regularly didn't attend school where he got known for being violent and a
truant. It has even been said
that he had to stay in a reform school for a while in Nashville, Tennessee. He was good at sports though
and he and his brother became amateur boxers and winners of the Golden
Gloves locally. It was
while he was boxing that he met Paul Burlison and before too long the
Burnette brothers and Paul together to start singing and songwriting in the
evenings. He became a
professional boxer when he left school and continued to perform at night
along with working at various other jobs during the daytime. He went on and became an apprentice
electrician and after Paul Burlison had served his time in the army in the
early '50s, Dorsey, Johnny and Paul became a trio called The Rhythm
Rangers. In 1956 they went to
New York where they won the competition three times on an Amateur Hour and
this gained them a contract with Coral Records and led them to change their
name to The Rock and Roll Trio.
They made appearances n several TV shows and toured with Gene
Vincent and Carl Perkins but their singles did not make the charts. They went on the road and after
several disagreements he left the trio a week before they were set to
appear in the film Rock, Rock, Rock. He went back to Tennessee and put together his own
ensemble and named them Dorsey Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio but they
disbanded after finding little success. He recorded a demo at Sun Records late in 1956 and this
led to him recording two singles in California. He was given a choice to go to Louisiana, but opted to
stay in California and started song-writing and working as an electrician
to help his income. He moved
his family there and was joined by his brother Johnny in the autumn of
1957. After an unsuccessful
attempt to get the Rock and Roll Trio and together they began songwriting
together and were invited by the songwriter John Marascolo to assist him in
the studio. Dorsey sang lead
with Johnny on backing vocals and the resultant single "Bertha Lou/Keep a
Knockin'" went out, but due to contractual difficulties with Coral Records
it was withdrawn. It was
re-released later in 1965 and again in 1966. The brothers eventually achieved their first real
success when they parked themselves outside the home of Rick Nelson and
this resulted in him later recording several of their songs such as "Waitin'
in School" and "It's Late".
This led to others in the same label as Rick Nelson recordings their
songs such as Roy Brown and Donnie Brooks, and the brothers ended up with
Imperial Records giving them a recording contract at the label
themselves. They released an
unsuccessful single in 1958 as the Burnette Brothers and as a solo artist
Dorsey released the solo singles "You Came As a Miracle" and "Lonely Train"
in 1959. He signed to Era
Records and recorded his first chart song, "The Tall Oak Tree", which had
been refused by Rick Nelson, and peaked at #23 in the Top 100 in January
1960. This resulted in Coral
re-releasing "Blues Stay away From Me" by The Rock and Roll Trio using
Dorsey's name. Later in 1960,
Era Records released
" Hey
Little One/Big Rock Candy Mountain" which went to No. 48 on the Hot 100. After two later unsuccessful
singles his contract was sold to Dot Records and he released three singles
during his 6-month contract with them in 1961/2. Also in
1961 there were two further instrumental singles released by he and
his brother under the name The Texans with smaller record labels in
1961. 1962 saw them releasing yet another instrumental as The
Shamrocks with Liberty Records and he had signed a solo contract
with Reprise which was owned by Frank
Sinatra
. Over the next year and a half or so he released several
singles at that label but none entered the chart so he took the plunge and moved
to the Motown subsidiary Mel-O-Dy in mid-1963. He released his first single
with them, "Little Acorn", but just three months into his contract his
brother Johnny was drowned in a tragic boating accident, which devastated
him. Paul Burlison immediately
joined him to provide some comfort after hearing the news but he sank into
depression and became dependent on drugs and alcohol. Mel-O-Dy finished up in 1965 and
all the singles he had recorded with them failed to reach the charts. Vee-Jay Records re-released The
Texans' "Green Grass of Texas" in 1965 but once again with no success. He moved between labels from then
until 1970 releasing several more singles but without any success. During the 1970s his life changed
when he went back to singing and writing country songs and re-found his
faith as a born-again Christian.
He released several songs on various labels with 15 of them at
giving him country chart success, although never reaching the Top 20. Even though he had been in the
music business for more than 15 years he was voted "The Most Promising
Newcomer" by the Academy of Country Music in 1973 and in 1974 he took his
first foray into writing songs for the movies. His songs have since been heard in the films Bootleggers,
The Beatles Anthology, Dixie Dynamite, Kingdom of the Spiders, Pulp Fiction
and Runaway Jury and he sang and co-wrote the theme for My
Boys Are Good Boys. He
changed labels again 1979 to Elektra/Asylum and released a single that same
year and appeared at a benefit concert before suffering a fatal heart
attack at home in California.
He was just 46 years old leaving behind a widow and his son Billy,
who is now also a singer-songwriter.
A benefit concert was put
together by his friend Delaney Bramlett and included many artists
such as Glen
Campbell, Duane Eddy, Maureen
McGovern
, Roger Miller and Tanya Tucker. He is since been entered into the Rockabilly Hall of
Fame.
Dorsey Burnette recordings
Here I Go
Again (Dorsey Burnette/Johnny
Cunningham
)
Elektra/Asylum E-46513-A
What
Would It Profit Me (Dorsey Burnett/Bob
Millsap
)
Elektra/Asylum E-46513-B
Sources:
1.
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/DorseyBurnette1.html
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsey_Burnette
3.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:apfrxqt5ldje~T1
4.
http://burnettebrothers.user.fr/
5.
http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/classic_rock_n_roll/support/Burnette2.htm
6.
http://akas.imdb.com/name/nm0122453/
7.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:apfrxqt5ldje~T4
8.
http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/b/burn3400.htm
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