The Tennessean du lieu suivant : Nashville, Tennessee • Page 180

tSeavchm' fm me Mind of Clue By DONNY KEES, PAL RAKES and NELSON LARKIN Gm7 Eb Royals 'Search pays off JOE EDWARDS Associated Press Writer EbF Bb Every hour, every minute of every single day, girl, I'm thinking 'bout you, I've Bb Gm7 Cm7 Cm7F Eb told you that I'm sorry over and over, but I'm still not getting through, I've got BbD Eb BbD Cm7 BbD Eb EbF to win you back somehow, if I have to. turn this whole world upside down. I've looked EbBb Bb EbBb Bb EbF high and low, everywhere I know, tryin to find a way back to you, some way to BbBb Bb Cra7 BbD Eb Bb FA Gm Gm7F bring you home, back where you belong, tell me how do I get through to you, I'm Cm7 BbF Cm7F Bb Gm7 Cn7 BbF Cm7F searching for some kind of clue, searching, searching for some kind of clue, Bb Gm7 Cm7 BbF searching, searching for some kind of clue Second verse My letters keep returning, your telephone keeps ringing, my heart's on the line Every day I send you roses, nothing seems to work, I still can't change your mind Don't you think that I've hurt enoughTell me that I haven't lost your sweet love IntenudMal copyright secured. All rights reserve Used by Bh P6 F.hfi siring demos and crafting songs for producerpublisher Nelson Larkin's Famous Music When Larldn became vice president of Atlantic Records new country division in Nashville, he signed Rakes as a singer. Rakes has had songs recorded by Jose Felidano, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn and Janie Fricke.

He has written five of the songs on his debut Atlantic LP, which blends traditional country music with and '60s rock. He can also be heard on jingles for Bud Lite, Coors Lite, Ivory Soap, Kraft and Old Style Beer. Atlantic Record's Nelson Larkin is a native of Huntland, and work for Mercury Records in New York. One of the songs he wrote and demoed during this period was published and gained Rakes a recording contract His first release, Thats When the Lyin' Stops and was followed by Till I Cant Take It Anymore. Due to personnel changes at the label, Rakes became what he refers to as a "vic-began his producing career at a studio he co-owned In Huntsville, Ala He came to Music City in 1972 and started a jingle company with another new producer, Harold Shedd.

He later served as head of Metromedia Records and learned all phases of the record business, while still productng and songwrit-ing. During his four years with the label he signed an unknown band named Wild Country, which later became the supergroup Alabama. After forming Sunbird Records, Larkin launched the career of Earl Thomas Conley with such songs as Silent Treatment and Fire and Smoke. Nowadays Larkin pro-; duces RoyaL Jeff Stevens the J' Bullets, Robin Lee, the Girls Next Door, Pal Rakes and Billy "CrasH" 1 Craddock. icq I r.iuniCAt!!'.

And Staff Reports There's no mystery as to what ever happened to rock n' roller Billy Joe Royal. He's a bona fide country star, and his latest hit song Is Donny Kees, Pal Rakes and Nelson Lar-kin's Searchin' for Some Kind of Que. Royal first splashed across the radio with his smash record Down In the Boondocksta 1965. He also hit with such songs as I Knew You When, Cherry Hill Park and Hush. He kept singing through the 70s and '80s and had recording contracts much of the time.

And now that the 45-year-old is going into his fourth decade behind the mike, he has established a solid career in country music and even recently received his first gold record. "I was stubborn," he says. "I just thought I had something left to say. Plus, I thought there was a place for me in country music." In the past five years, his country hits include Love Has No Right, Burned Like a Rocket, I'll Pin a Note on YourPiliowani It Keeps Right on a Hurttn'. His first gold album, for sales of 500,000, was The Royal Treatment "In my era, in the '60s, if you sold albums that was a big album," Royal said reflectively In his Music Row office.

"This album was a milestone for me." His recent resurgence marks a remarkable comeback after a lean period in the late 70s and early 80s. Although he continued to sing, he was away from the national limelight and at times was reduced to performing in hotel lounges. He sang in enough lounges and clubs to pay his bills at home in Marietta, and periodically visit Nashville looking for a decent recording contract "I used to stay at a motel (outside of town) because it was just $20 a day and I could make my money last longer," Royal said. "I could have picked up the phone and got work, but the level I was He finally signed with Atlantic Donny Kees MM Acuff-Rotc Mole lac, Music Records, the fourth major label of his career, and moved comfortably Into the country music market. "It's not something foreign to me," he said.

"I knew as much about country as anything." One key to his recent success has been four top-rated music videos a part of the music business unheard of in his earlier performing years. "It means a lot to put a face with the music," Royal said. "And people saw that I wasn't 1 12 now, using a walker." These days he's on concert bookings with country kings such as George Strait and Alabama. In the 1960s, he was a member of Dick Clark's Cavalcade of Stars, appearing with acts such as Herman's Hermits and Paul Revere and the Raiders. Nelson Larkin LbSI-4-FUh Squire West, Nashville, TN 17 Ml tmi LmM-FU.

"I felt like a fan on the bus," he said, reminiscing about his first months as a rock 'n' roll star. "It all happened in six weeks' time." In view of his recent success, he says he plans to keep plugging away on stage and on record. Five decades is within reach. "They are going to have to carry me off. As long as somebody shows up, I'll be there." Singing songwriter Donny Kees was born and raised in Chesapeake, W.

Va, where he grew up listening to and playing rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues. He served in Vietnam in the Air Force and performed with the USO in the late 1 960s, and later to sell insurance, but in 1979 he started writing songs again and sent them to Don Cant in Nashville. 2 Pal Rakes titf M-W In 1 984, after scoring cuts with Conway Twitty, Johnny Rodriguez and Eddy Raven, Kees moved here to write. He has since been recorded by Ricky Van Shelton, the Girls Next Door and Charley Pride. He's also been signed as a singer by 16th Avenue Records.

Pal Rakes was born in Tampa, Fla, and raised in Savannah, Ga, and Richmond, before moving to Philadelphia as a teenager. At the encouragment of his father he took guitar lessons at a local music school. That led to songwrit-ing and playing the club circuit Along the way he performed with rocker Daryl Hall of Hall Oates fame and did instrumental session went to Germany where he put together a band and opened shows for such artists as Gladys Knight and the Pips, Peaches and Herb, Lou Rawls and Joe Tex. After his discharge, he moved to Birmingham, Ala, and signed a contract as a singer for ABCDun-hill Records. Two singles later, he went to New York and recorded three LPs for Buddab Records.

In 1 977 he returned to West Virginia tim of circumstances," and began looking for another recording deal Rakes spent the next few years Atlantic Records V. -7, MfWfiMlMf VI 3 n..