Who was/is DICK BANKS ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
DICK BANKS was born in a fly-blown outpost of Saline County, Illinois on April 24, 1935. He grew up in a rural area and his ambitions to be a singer were fuelled by listening to C&W. In 1958, Banks was introduced to Jack Bozeman, a songwriter and part-time musician but, as far as we know, no relation to Johnny Bozeman of Sandy Records down in Alabama.
Jack Bozeman told Bill Fry, owner of a grocery store in Eldorado, Illinois that he planned to record his song, Dirty Dog, with the Sports, a vocal group from Tennessee. The story goes that Fry persuaded Bozeman to listen to Banks whose appetite for singing impressed both men. Bozeman rehearsed the young vocalist with the Sports and then headed for Nashville where they recorded four songs with Music City's finest session men.
Dirty Dog, which Bozeman sold to Liberty, was clearly modelled on All Shook Up and it had the same slick pop potential. But it failed to live up to cash register expectations despite Banks' July '58 appearance on 'American Bandstand'.
Banks and Bozeman dissolved their artist management agreement in some acrimony and Banks returned to Illinois where he worked in a coal mine and raised a family of three. A second Liberty single did not emerge until 1962 and four songs cut at a session in Hollywood remain unissued.
Copyright © Bear Family Records
Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.