Rockabilly pioneer Janis Martin dies
Janis Martin was a unique figure in the history of rockabilly -- there were other women working in that male-dominated field , but Janis Martin was the one dubbed 'The Female Elvis Presley' by RCA, reportedly with the approval of Col. Tom Parker. She had too many strikes against her for a lasting career, but she was good and she left behind the records to prove it.
Janis Martin was born in Sutherlin, Virginia March 27 1940. With a stage mother on one side and a father and uncle who were amateur musicians on the other, Martin was practically predestined for a performing career. She was playing and singing before age five. By six, she'd mastered chords on her junior-sized guitar and was singing in a style influenced by Eddy Arnold and Hank Williams. Martin became a fixture in local talent contests and won all of them. Martin was playing and singing on the WDVA Barndance out of Virginia by age 11. By her mid-teens, she'd appeared alongside the likes of Ernest Tubb, the Carter Family, Sonny James, and Jean Shepard.
From the Barndance, she traveled with Glen Thompson's band for two years and then went on the road with Jim Eanes, a former Starday recording artist. In 1953, she appeared at a Tobacco Festival with Ernest Tubb and Sunshine Sue. As a result of this appearance, Janis was invited to become a regular member of the Old Dominion Barndance in Richmond, Virginia third largest in the nation, ranking only behind the Grand Old Opry and the Wheeling, West Virginia Barndance.
Her amazing amount of experience for one so young helped push her into rock & roll. It turned out that Martin had tired of country music by her mid-teens, especially the slow ballads, having been doing them for a decade. The timing was perfect, for she discovered rhythm & blues in the mid-1950s, and was soon bringing that material into her own song lists.
Two staff announcers at WRVA (the station that carried the Barndance over the CBS network) were successful songwriters penning the hit 'Little Things Mean A Lot'.When the fifties exploded with rock or rockabilly music, they wrote 'Will You, Willyum'. Asking Janis to sing it on the Barndance for audience reaction, and they cut a demo tape to send to their publisher in New York. When the demo tape arrived at Tannen Music in New York, the publisher not only accepted the song but rushed over to Steve Sholes of RCA Victor. Sholes contacted Janis contacted and invited her to Nashville to record the song on Victor Records. At the age of fifteen, she became a recording artist. This record was her biggest hit and on the flip side of the record was a song called 'Drugstore Rock And Roll' that Janis wrote herself. This record sold about 750.000 copies and she became in constant demand for appearances all over the US.
This was at the time that Elvis Presley was the biggest rock singer in the country and also recorded for RCA Victor. Presley and RCA were so impressed with Janis' delivery of a song, that Janis was given permission to use the title of 'the Female Elvis Presley.'
Janis went on to appear on the Tonight Show, American Bandstand, and Ozark Jubilee with Red Foley which featured Brenda Lee before Brenda began her recording career. Janis traveled all over the nation, making appearances on TV, radio and stage. She did her first road tour with Hank Snow and went on other tours with Faron Young, Porter Waggoner, Jim Edward Maxine and Bonnie Brown, Johnny Cash, Del Wood and Carl Perkins. She was chosen by RCA to become a regular member of the Jim Reeves show and traveled with him exclusively.
Janis was voted the 'Most Promising Female Artist of 1956' at the annual disc jockey convention and received the Billboard Magazine award on plaque. With much success behind her, she formed her own band called the 'Marteens' and began her travels in the U.S. and Canada, playing clubs and fairs. She made a screen test for MGM.
In 1957, this package show went overseas to entertain the armed forces in Europe. On returning to the States, Janis appearred on the Today Show with Dave Garroway to tell of their experiences and to sing her latest record, 'My Boy Elvis'. After this show, she was invited to appear at the Grand Old Opry.
Martin might have finessed it all, but for a personal situation that came up in 1958. She'd been secretly married since 1956, and her husband was stationed overseas in the army; she went on a European tour and got to see him in 1958. The result was that the 17-year-old rockabilly star became pregnant, and was dropped by the label in short order.
When her son was two years old, Martin tried to keep a music career going and was courted by both King Records and Decca Records before signing with a Belgian owned label called Palette, for which she cut four sides in 1960. She was on her second marriage by then, and husband No. 2 (whom she later divorced) didn't take well to her career. She withdrew from music except for appearances near her home in Virginia, and then in the 1970s, on her own again, formed her own band, the Variations, and toured Europe, where she encountered strikingly enthusiastic audiences, ready to embrace her as though it were still 1958.
For all of her early success, Martin was never able to sustain a rock & roll career, mostly because of her gender and the changing times. Her stage moves and lusty delivery appeared unseemly (or so people said, especially on the country circuit) in a girl, once the initial furor and enthusiasm for rock & roll quieted down. Additionally, the country shows on which she was booked usually put her on bills and in front of audiences that weren't overly enamored of rock & roll to begin with, and Martinfound herself caught between conflicting currents. Her record company and management wanted her to keep pushing rockabilly in her stage act, while promoters doing the bookings preferred that she do straight country.
You can send flowers to:
Janis Martin and Wayne Whitt
2217 Mount View Rd.
Danville, VA 24540
Interview with Janis Martin
By Greg Milewski
Talk about people I have most wanted to capture for posterity in CAT Tales, the fabulous Janis Martin was finally tracked down for an in -depth interview. I first met Janis in 1990 at a Billy Poore show and it's taken nearly three years to get her on the phone long enough to actually speak with us. Janis works pretty hard and is frequently not home, but I got the scoop by perserverence! SO lets chat with the Boppin' Queen of RCA Victor Records...
CT: Where did you grow up, Janis?
JM: Here in Virginia, I was born in Southerland which is about eleven miles east of Danville where I live now. The first eight years of my life (I spent) in Akron, Ohio. We moved back to Virginia in 1948, so I consider I've lived in Virginia all my life.
CT: How did You become interested in singing and playing guitar?
JM: Well, Greg can't really remember a time that I didn't. My uncle on my mother's side lived with us and played guitar and sung, in fact, he sounded a lot, like Marty Robbins. After we had dinner we'd sit around and play guitar and sing. My mother tells me I first tried playing when I was about four years old and by the time I was six I could play one.
CT: Who influenced you musically?
JM: Actually, I started out doin' the first shows just on an amatuer basis when I was eight years old. There was Eddy Arnold and Patty Page was doin' some things, but I liked Hank Williams 'Lovesick Blues'. I always liked the up-tempo songs. Later on, after I started working in Richmond on a regular basis on Saturday nights I heard Ruth Brown and I just found my kind of music. I think she was my biggest inspiration and I've got a big picture hangin' in my basement of her. I just loved her music, her and La Vern Baker, but Ruth Brown moreso than anybody.
CT: Where were you playing before RCA picked you up.
JM: My mother started me out when I was a seven or eight years old enterin' me in local talent contests. That built up until I was in statewide contests and had over 200 contestants and I won that. Then they asked me to play on the same bill as cowboy Copas and Sunshine Sue from Richmond, Virginia where they had the old barndance. I did that show With them and she invited me to become a member of the Old Dominion Barndance which came out of Richmond every Saturday Night on CBS network. one of the station people there, Carl Stutz who wrote 'Little Things Mean A Lot' was the station announcer there at WRVA. He wrote a song called 'Will You Willyum'. He asked me to sing it live on stage that Saturday night and get the audience reaction so he could make a demo tape to send to his publisher in New York. So I did and about the middle of the next week Carl called me and said that RCA was interested in recording 'Will You Willyum' and they wanted me to do it. He said the publisher took it over to Steve Sholes at RCA and said, 'Do you have an artist that could cut it?' Steve said, ' well, who's the girl doin' the demo?' They had to call back to Richmond and find out. They called me and I recorded it on March 8, 1956. it just kinds fell in my lap!
CT: Even though 'Will You Willyum' was the chart sideI always felt that 'Drugstore Rock In Roll' was the tune that had hit potential.
JM: Well, it's real suprising, Greg, because on my shows that I do in Europe, I always open with 'Drugstore Rock 'n Roll' because, even though it was a B-side, that's the side that took off as far as the kids in Europe. They discovered Rockabilly music in Europe. I don't hardly get any requests for 'Will You Willyum', but you have to do 'Drugstore Rock 'n Roll'. I think they might have pushed the 'Will You Willyum' side because of the friendship between Nat Tannen, who was the publisher, and Steve Sholes. The only reason I wrote 'Drugstore Rock 'n Roll' is because they were just beginning to realize that artists would have more success if they could write their own songs. When I did my first session we cut three songs and they said, 'Do you do any writing?' and I said, 'Yes.' my mother had told me, 'You have a contract now, you better start writing.' I wrote 'Drugstore Rock 'n Roll' in about ten minutes. Everything in that song is actually the scene that was happening for us as teenagers. The drugstore was the only place we had to go and hang out after school. They had the jukebox and soda fountain and we'd just go and dance and have a soda, maybe order a hamburger and that was our social life.
CT: You couldn't go to bars!
JM: NO! Things were tame in the 50's!
CT: Now did the 'Female Elvis' tag get attached to you?
JM: In my contract you had to make ten publicity appearances to promote the record. They sent a press man out with me and unbeknownst to me he went back to Steve Sholes and said, 'You know, she's got a stage delivery similar to Elvis!' They had just signed Elvis in January of 1956 and they signed me in March. They said, 'By gosh, this is a good publicity stunt!' They contacted Col. Tom and Elvis and, of course, you know Colonel Tom, after he heard my record he wanted to take over my management. They were pushin' Elvis so hard and he had that collapse in New York after RCA and Colonel Tom got a hold of him. They just booked his night after night. He was just thrown into it. He was Just totally exhausted and collapsed on stage. Steve Sholes had a meeting with my mother and father and told them that Colonel Tom had inquired about managing my career. I was only fifteen and didn't turn sixteen until March 27, it happened that fast. They advised my mother and daddy that they not go into it. I signed with the man who was head of the Old Dominion shows out of Richmond and he did very well for me as a manager.
CT: Did you play guitar on your own records?
JM: I played on only one, 'Bang Bang'. I did play rhythm guitar on that one.
CT: what was a typical session like? Who were some of the musician who backed you?
JM: I had the same musicians as Elvis. Floyd Cramer, Buddy Almond...
CT: Did Elvis use them later, because I know Scotty and Bill and DJ Fontana were on most of his sessions.
JM: I don't know, Greg. When he started with RCA and cut 'Heartbreak Hotel' they used the same musicians behind him that played behind me. I think maybe he used Scotty Moore and Bill Black on the road, but I don't recall him recording with them after he left SUN.
JM: Maybe they used them in compliment to Scotty and Bill.
JM: Maybe they did, but I know the same musicians in the same studio in Nashville.
(Checking the facts, the musicians Janis mentions did indeed back Elvis in his early work, however, Scotty and Bill were INDEED on the Sun sessions with the King -ed.)
CT: How many times did you meet Elvis?
JM: only twice. First time I met him he still had a contract with the man before Colonel Tom and he had to finish his shows that he had booked through him. He was booked here in Danville. I met him that night. The only other time I met him was in New York. He was up there for a publicity session of picture stills and I was there to record. We saw each other for maybe 20 -25 minutes in the lobby and he slept most of the time then. So very few words ever passed between us.
CT: Tell me about the famous 'Janis and Elvis' 10' record that was pulled from the market.
JM: When I left RCA, supposedly I owed them $3,300.00. Back then when you signed the contract they paid for your sessions and expenses. But when the royalties started comin' in, they took everything off the top. I wasn't even aware that this Janis and Elvis record even existed until I was contacted by Edward Bayes from Millersville, Maryland. He had looked me up and invited me to his house to be on the Larry Angelo show, a local show in Baltimore. That was the first time I had seen the disc. I started makin' inquiries and they way I understand it, they released this disc in South Africa to try to recoup the money. It was released on a Friday and by Saturday afternoon, Colonel Tom had somehow gotten word and called RCA and made �em pull it. Because #1: NOBODY performs with Elvis. No. 2: It was called 'Janis and Elvis' and not 'Elvis and Janis'. I met a man in Hamburg, Germany (that) had paid $2,700.00 in American Dollars. It's so rare because it was only on the market Friday and maybe half a day an Saturday (in South Africa only). That's the only ones that exist. RCA has re-released it legitimately in France about four years ago. It was bootlegged here in the states.
CT: How many of your songs did you write yourself?
JM: The only two that I recorded was 'Blues Keep A Callin.' and 'Drugstore Rock A Roll'. After they found Out I could write, they asked me (for) other songs.
I had written songs. I can't write a song unless We something that effects me. I just can't sit down and make up a song. I took some tapes up and they asked me could they keep then and look them over. Several of them were stolen from me, other artists recorded them and I didn't got anything out Of it 'cause I didn't have a Contract on it.
CT: Did you even get your name on the label?
JM: No, somebody else's name was on it, but it was my song.
CT: Tell us the famous tale of why RCA stopped pushing you.
JM: What have you heard, Greg?
CT: I heard you were with child.
JM: I had eloped with a paratrooper on January 7, 1956 and I didn't even tell my mother and father until he was safely shipped overseas in Germany. Daddy tried to have it anulled, 'cause I was 15 years old. we decided then that this RCA thing had happened so fast and swift and there was little rumbles about Jerry Lee Lewis back in those days. We couldn't smoke a cigarette in public, I couldn't do anything. My mother was a typical show business mother so she said, 'Don't you dare let anyone know you're married.' RCA wasn't even aware I was married. Fourteen months later I went to a USO tour with Jim Reeves, Dale Wood, The Browns and Hank Locklin. My husband got a thirty day leave and went on the road with me which the end result was my son who is now 34 years old. Naturally, when my husband joined the tour, the tour manager immediately called RCA and they didn't know a thinq about it. When I came back I was expecting Kevin and it was suggested very strongly, I will not call names, that I have an abortion. I was about 3 1/2 months pregnant. I was shocked and indignant. I guess I had always been more mature than most people my age because I had been in the business professionally from age eleven. No way would I do that. That kind of burst the publicity thing they had goin' about the fresh faced girl from Virginia. All of the sudden I was married and pregnant.
CT: They just stopped pushing you?
JM: The last session I cut in New York, I was eight months pregnant and I cut 'All Right Baby' and 'Billy Boy'. If you listen to 'Billy Boy' you can hear me panting. I was huge with the baby. I did 'Crackerjack' on that session if my memory serves me right. Steve Sholes was standing in the control room and tears was rolling down his cheeks. The guy had really gone all out with the publicity for me. To be truthful, Greg, it fell in my lap. I missed being a typical child. I never lead a normal life. I kinda resented the fact I was tied up in this. I think if I had contributed as much time to tryin' to be a success as I did tryin' to aggrivate everybody and pull away from it that maybe the story would have turned out different. I fought it all the way. I just wanted to settle down and be normal, 'cause I had not been since I was eight years old.
CT: It's funny because most kids would want to be a Rock 'n Roll singer.
JM: I'm writing a book and my manager has talked to several publishers and they are interested. It's called 'So You Want To Be A Star' and it really tells the inside things that happen. Everybody wants to be a star, but it's a rough life. I couldn't play with other kids 'cause I might hurt my hands and couldn't play guitar. I was ready, willing to give up the career, so it didn't bother me that much. It really didn't hit me again �til I was about 26 years old. That need came back in me that I guess had been there all along. I had supressed it and fought against it. After I had stopped recording for Pallette in 1960 I had divorced my first husband and married my second. He just said, 'You're married to your career.' So I gave it up again. I really didn't miss it until I was 26. We formed a band and I played around, then when I became 33 he gave me the ultimatum again because the band was becoming too popular. I said, 'Oh, no, honey! I will not give up music for you or anyone!' So we parted ways when I was 33. I kept the band together until 1982. Then I started goin' to Europe, had a real interesting life, Greg.
CT: There were probably rumors going around in the 70s as to where you were.
JM: Ed Bayes said that somewhere in an interview years ago he found out that I was workin' for the Sheriff's department in Virginia somewhere. He started callin' all the various police departments in this area. I was sittin' there and the phone rang and he says, 'I'm trying to locate Janis Martin.' and I said, 'This is Janis.' and he hung up. He called back a few minutes later and Just couldn't beli:ve I took it so matter-of-factly. I never had a big head about it, it was just part of my life. He started askin' me to come up and be on that Larry Angelo show. He asked my permission to kind of handle my affairs. I said, 'You go right ahead,' never thinkin' anything would come from it. That wag in 1975 and it all stemmed from that one phone call. The popularity that I'm real proud of in Europe. I've seen it here in the states, too. It's really nice to be appreciated after all these years, it really is.
CT: Do you play mostly in Europe today?
JM: I played Severna Park Maryland (1990). I did one at a club called Kahoots in Richmond. Other than that I haven't done anything in the states. My job is pretty time consuming. It's really just a kick for me to go to Europe a few times a year an5d be 'a star' again. Although, I do hope and pray that beca use of people like you and Billy Poore and other people that I've met, I hope before I pass on that I will see Rockabilly appreciated in the states as much as it is in Europe.
CT: We're workin' on it.
JM: I know you are, you really are. I can tell from the tapes (of the TV show) that you really dig it.
CT: I understand you have a new CD coming out.
JM: Yes, I played Hamburg, Germany, Italy and Austria. The third show I did was recorded. I did about five songs, I did Ruth Brown's 'Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean', I did an Elvis Medley and they -just tore the place down. This Klaus Ketner, he has Hydra Records, he says it's turned out great.
CT: In closing, Janis, I want to thank you for sharing your story with the CAT Tales readers, I know they'll dig it.
JM: Well, It's a kick for me. I'm glad to know there are young people out there and you are young. I didn't realize you were that young. You were so knowledgeable about our type of music I just assumed you had to'be older. But you're one heck of a good lookin' guy and you know you look like Elvis?
CT: I usually hate that comment, but coming from you, it's a compliment!!
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Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD
Never before have we seen an Elvis Presley concert from the 1950's with sound. Until Now! The DVD Contains recently discovered unreleased film of Elvis performing 6 songs, including Heartbreak Hotel and Don't Be Cruel, live in Tupelo Mississippi 1956. Included we see a live performance of the elusive Long Tall Sally seen here for the first time ever. + Plus Bonus DVD Audio.
This is an excellent release no fan should be without it.
The 'parade' footage is good to see as it puts you in the right context with color and b&w footage. The interviews of Elvis' Parents are well worth hearing too. The afternoon show footage is wonderful and electrifying : Here is Elvis in his prime rocking and rolling in front of 11.000 people. Highly recommended.
Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD Video with Sound.
