Joey Welz | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph W. Welzant |
| Born | March 17, 1940 Baltimore, Maryland U.S. |
| Origin | Baltimore, Maryland U.S. |
| Genres | Rockabilly |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1950s–present |
| Website | JoeyWelz.com |
Joseph W. Welz [1] (born Welzant, March 17, 1940) is an American musician best known for his tenure as pianist with Bill Haley & His Comets.
Welz was born in Baltimore to Melba Welzant, a teacher and concert pianist, and Joseph Welzant, a Baltimore city police officer. [1] [2]
Welz started his music career with his group the Jay Rockers in the 1950s. Welz was amongst the first group of rock and roll pianists to start using the boogie-woogie style with his left hand. He attributes this to the lack of a bassist in his band, forcing him to play basslines using his left hand. In interviews he has stated that it also came in handy when he joined the Comets because the notes coming from the upright bass were often inaudible due to the limits of amplification at that time. [3]
He attracted the attention of Bill Haley when The Jay Rockers opened for the Comets. While serving as a recording engineer for the Armed Forces Network in Berlin, Welz recorded and co-produced a live session for Bill Haley & His Comets for AFN Frankfurt. This was the first occasion that Welz played on a Bill Haley & His Comets record, providing backing vocals on "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and playing on "Honky Tonk".[ citation needed ] This session was released years later on Hydra Records. Upon exiting the military in 1963, Welz joined the Comets as pianist following the departure of Johnny Grande. It was also during this time that Welz signed a record deal with Canadian-American Records and released the single "Hey Little Moonbeam" which he co-wrote with Steve Lawrence. He would continue to play with The Comets until 1966. [4]
In 1969, Welz recorded an album entitled "Listen To The Voices" with Link Wray which was released on Music City Records. Welz also recorded an album called "Revival Fires" with Roy Buchanan in the late 1960s. [2] After Haley's death in 1981 Welz organized a Comets reunion which was performed on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder on NBC. This was followed by a tour of America and a single penned by Welz, Al Rappa and Franny Beecher entitled "Bring Back the Music" in 1982.
Welz spent a majority of the 1980s in the studio with the Great Train Robbery, recording heavier rock and roll, including "In My Car", "Rockin' In America", and a heavy metal version of "Rock Around The Clock" which Welz co-wrote with the original writer James E. Myers. [2] [4] [5]
He is the owner and CEO of Canadian-American Records and Caprice International Records. [6] In the 1990s Welz began writing and recording country music in Nashville with the Nashville Now Band and placed several singles on the Cashbox chart including a country version of "Rock Around the Clock", "One Way Ticket", "Rockabilly", "Back to a Better Time" and the "Nashville Now Boogie". [7]
In 1992, Welz signed with Caprice International/BMG.
Since the early 2000s Welz has annually toured in France with the Captain Joe Combo. [4]
Welz continues to write and produce new albums up to the present day. [8]
Welz currently resides in Lititz, Pennsylvania, where he has converted his home into a museum known as The Rock Around The Clock Hall of Fame.
William John Clifton Haley was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-selling hits such as "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later, Alligator", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Rocket 88", "Skinny Minnie", and "Razzle Dazzle". Haley has sold over 60 million records worldwide. In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1954 for American Decca. It was a number one single for two months and did well on the United Kingdom charts; the recording also reentered the UK Singles Chart in the 1960s and 1970s.
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continuing until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group recorded nine Top 20 singles, one of which was number one and three that were Top Ten. The single "Rock Around the Clock" was the best-selling rock single in the history of the genre and maintained that position for several years.
The Treniers were an American R&B and jump blues musical group led by identical twins Cliff and Claude Trenier. They were originally billed as the Trenier Twins, who performed alongside the Gene Gilbeaux Quartet, but shortened their name to the Treniers when Gilbeaux and other musicians became integral members of the group. Besides the Trenier brothers, group members included Don Hill on saxophone, Shifty Henry and later James (Jimmy) Johnson on bass, Henry (Tucker) Green on drums and Gene Gilbeaux on piano. Later, additional Trenier brothers Milt and Buddy, and nephew Skip, joined the group on vocals, and there were many other musician and line-up changes over the years including Herman Washington and Mickey Baker on guitar.
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" and "hillbilly", the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.
The Jodimars was an American rock 'n' roll band that was formed in the summer of 1955 and remained active until 1958. The band was created by former members of Bill Haley & His Comets who had quit that group in a salary dispute. The name of the group was derived from the first letters of the first names of the founding members: Joey Ambrose (saxophone), Dick Boccelli, and Marshall Lytle. Other members included Chuck Hess (guitar), Jim Buffington (drums), Bob Simpson (Piano), and Max Daffner (drums).
Francis Eugene Beecher was the lead guitarist for Bill Haley & His Comets from 1954 to 1962, and is best remembered for his innovative guitar solos that incorporated elements of jazz. He composed the classics "Blue Comet Blues", "Goofin' Around", "Week End", "The Catwalk", and "Shaky" when he was the lead guitarist for Bill Haley and the Comets. He continued to perform with surviving members of the Comets into 2006. In 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Beecher as a member of the Comets by a special committee, aimed at correcting the previous mistake of not inducting the Comets with Bill Haley.
John Andrew Grande was a member of Bill Haley's backing band, The Comets.
William Famous Williamson was the American steel guitar player for Bill Haley and His Saddlemen, and its successor group Bill Haley & His Comets, from 1949 to 1963.
Don't Knock the Rock is a 1956 American musical film starring Alan Dale and Alan Freed. Directed by Fred F. Sears, the film also features performances by Bill Haley & His Comets, Little Richard, The Treniers, and Dave Appell and the Applejacks.
James Edward Myers was an American songwriter, music publisher, actor, director, producer, and raconteur.
Marshall Edward Lytle was an American rock and roll bassist, best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s. He played upright slap bass on the iconic 1950s rock and roll records "Crazy Man, Crazy", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", and "Rock Around the Clock".
"Crazy Man, Crazy" was the title of an early rock and roll song written by, and first recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in April 1953. It is notable as the first recognized rock and roll recording to appear on the national American musical charts, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Juke Box chart for the week ending June 20, 1953, and #11 for two weeks on the Cash Box chart beginning for the week of June 13.
Donato Joseph "Danny" Cedrone was an American guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954.
"Rock the Joint", also known as "We're Gonna Rock This Joint Tonight", is a 1949 boogie song recorded by various proto-rock and roll singers, notably Jimmy Preston and early rock and roll singers, most notably Bill Haley in 1952. Preston's version has been cited as a contender for being "the first rock and roll record", and Haley's is widely considered the first rockabilly record.
William Gussak (1920–1994) was an American jazz and recording session drummer, best known for being the drummer on the classic 12 April 1954 recording of "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets. Some sources incorrectly spell his name as Guesak.
Bill Haley's New Comets is a rock and roll band founded in 1987 by singer Joe "Bill" Clifton. As only legal successors of the original performers this band keeps Bill Haley's music alive in its original 1950s style with original instrumentation, stage outfits and stage acrobatics.
Bill Haley & His Comets recorded many singles and albums. The following list references only their original release and generally does not include compilation albums or single reissues. This list does not include releases on which the Comets worked as session musicians, and primarily focuses on releases during Haley's lifetime.
"R-O-C-K" is a 1956 rock and roll song recorded and co-written by Bill Haley and released as a Decca single. The song appeared in the 1956 Columbia Pictures movie Rock Around the Clock. The single peaked at #16 on Billboard.
Joseph Frank D'Ambrosio, also known by his stage name Joey Ambrose, was an American saxophonist who was best known for being a member of the rock and roll band Bill Haley & His Comets. He played tenor saxophone on two of their biggest hits, "Rock Around the Clock" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
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