Who was/is Arnie Derksen ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more

Arnie Derksen

Winnipeg, Manitoba has a large Ukrainian and East European minority and in 1958 one of their number, C&W singer ARNIE DERKSEN looked set to capture an audience beyond Midwestern Canada. At ten he traded an old grey mare for a guitar and at 16 he began making local radio appearances. He toured with his own trio during 1948-1953 and joined Vic Siebert's Winnipeg-based Sons Of The Saddle in 1956. Although Derksen became lead guitarist and featured vocalist, the group's records on London and Aragon, were generally credited to Vic and his brothers, Gene and Lenny. In 1957, the Sons Of The Saddle secured a weekly TV show on Winnipeg's CBWT-TV where Derksen had his own spot. That same year he cut a one-off solo record for London.

Derksen's Decca contract was obtained in 1958 following a visit which Lenny Siebert paid to Jim Denny of Cedarwood Publishing. All ten of Derksen's Decca tracks are collected on 'My Dancing Shoes' (Bear Family LP BF 15362). We've selected She Wanna Rock, the very first song written by soul legend Arthur Alexander and his partner, Henry Lee Bennett, a member of Alexander's doo-wop quartet, the Heartstrings. People associate Alexander's songs with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and not Arnie Derksen who reverted to straight C&W with his next release.

As the '60s got underway Derksen played jazz with the Johnny Lewis Trio; the June '59 edition of 'Folk And Country Songs' noted that he'd studied all phases of guitar from classical and jazz to country. He's rumoured to have cut a pop album with a woman called Shaino, possibly the Philippino girl whom he married and took to live in the USA.

Arnie Derksen My Dancin' Shoes
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