Dick Lory Cool It Baby

Dick Glasser was tough to pigeonhole. The young singer first turned up in 1953 on the Triple A label out of Cleveland (Glasser was born in Canton, Ohio) with the self-penned Angels In The Sky, which just missed the Top Ten in late ’55 for The Crew Cuts. Dick fronted Pee Wee King’s country crew on King’s 1956 RCA Victor rockabilly forays, Catty Town and Ballroom Baby. As Dick Lory, he cut Everything But You and Cool It Baby for Dot that same year, then made three 1957-58 45s for Chess’ Argo imprint, two as Dick Glasser and the other as Dickie and The Gee’s. 

The Lory moniker returned for Dick’s two ’58 singles on United Artists, but when he settled in at Columbia in 1959 (his first release was a remade Angels In The Sky), he was back to being Dick Glasser. He co-wrote the swaggering rocker Jeannie’s Bikini with Nick Boldi and cut it in Nashville on April 22, 1960, Columbia pressing it up in time to accompany summer fun. Then Dick moved over to Liberty, cutting a string of singles that stretched into 1964 (he also headed their Metric Music publishing company). Glasser was hired as Warner Brothers’ A&R head in 1965, producing The Everly Brothers and Freddy Cannon.