Thursday, February 16, 2012

We share a bench with a legend

Jewel Akens, in red suit (with matching shoes) and Hurley D. Fabolous Taste
We don't make this stuff up.
One-hit wonder Jewel Akens, 72, sat across from us yesterday while we waited to get in to the Tonight Show. He sat there with his sidekick, both were dressed in what appeared to be zoot suits. Kathleen surreptitiously snapped this photo with her cellphone camera, hence the quality issue. Photography ain't supposed to be allowed on the lot, but Katie's not always the rule follower that her husband is, and she claims she took the photo before the announcement not to do it so the picture is "grandfathered" in, which sounds somewhat ironic.
In 1965 Jewel recorded "(Let Me Tell Ya Bout) The Birds and The Bees (And The Flowers and The Trees And. . .)" . .  . and that was about all she wrote. Remember the tune? Of course you do, it sold a million copies and made No. 3 on Billboard.
His pal, "Hurley D Fabolous Taste" gave Stan his business card and told Stan he was a lead singer for the Drifters ("This Magic Moment," "Up on the Roof," "Don't Go, Please Stay") and did most of the talking for the bodacious pair.
We report. You decide.

Here's what Wikipedia says about Jewel:
He first recorded with Eddie Daniels as Jewel and Eddie on the Silver Records label in 1960. A number of his recordings featured Eddie Cochran on guitar.

He later went solo and recorded "The Birds And The Bees" in 1965, on the Era Records label. The single went to Number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year, and Number 2 on the Cash Box chart. Across the Pond it reached Number 29 in the UK Singles Chart.[2] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[3] But the follow-up, "Georgie Porgie" only reached Number 68.

Akens has toured regularly since 1965 and includes a tribute to his mentor, Sam Cooke, in most of his shows. Akens also recorded what he considered to be his finest recordings, cover versions of Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One" and Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On". He toured with The Monkees and continued to record until the mid 1970s in a variety of styles. In 1973 he co-produced the critically acclaimed Super Taylors, a duet album of Southern soul by Ted Taylor and Little Johnny Taylor. In 1989-91 Akens recorded three singles with a group called The Feathers.[1]

However, lack of further commercial success leaves him labelled as a one-hit wonder, but despite this, he continues to perform to this day.

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Note to Sosie. The Sam Cooke house is just down the street from Randy's place. We shoulda gone there too. Next time.