Beech Tree News Network

I’ll start this week with a “did you know” that blew my mind.  I recently learned on SiriusXM’s 60’s Gold that, besides having a successful solo career in the ‘70’s, Boz Scaggs was an early bandmate of Steve Miller! Their first band together was a trio called The Ardells.  The Ardells was a band from West Palm Beach, Florida that had been together since 1959.  They attended the same high school in Dallas.  Scaggs became vocalist for Steve’s band, The Marksmen. 

Scaggs travelled to the U.S. via India and Nepal.  Linking up with Steve Miller again, he appeared on the Steve Miller Band’s first two albums, Children of the Future and Sailor, in 1968.  He left the band due to different music tastes and a disagreement between himself and Miller at the time.  Here’s another bit of trivia for you: Boz Scaggs’ given name is William Royce Scaggs.  A classmate wanted to give him a weird nickname.  This started out as “Bosley”, then “Boswell” and then “Bosworth”.  The name was shortened to “Boz” in 1959 and he became lead singer of Millers’ band The Marksmen. (www.google.com)

This next fact also came from 60’s Gold.  There have been 1500 recordings of “Unchained Melody” by over 600 artists.  The most famous being by the Righteous Brothers.  The song has been performed by Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Roy Orbison, U2, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, LeAnn Rimes, ‘80’s easy listening group Air Supply among others. 

This last one comes from Good Morning America.  They had Gloria Gaynor on one morning and we learned this little nugget: “I Will Survive” is in the National Recording Registry.  On the first time Gaynor heard the song: “I was in the studio where I was supposed to be recording another song.  When I asked the producers what was going to be the b side, they didn’t know.  They heard my choices of what I wanted.  They finally said “we believe you’re the one to record this song we wrote two years ago”.  That song was “I Will Survive”.  The song might’ve been a b-side but didn’t stay there very long!

It was 1978.  Gloria Gaynor wasn’t having a good year.  Her first hit “Never Can Say Goodbye” never translated into staying power in the disco scene.  Her recording contract at Polydor wasn’t being renewed.  She’d been hospitalized for spinal surgery and her mother had died. 

She got a call.  Polydor had hired a new president from England-where Gaynor was extremely popular.  He invited her back to the studio to record the song “Substitute”.  Gaynor recorded the song and all that was left was to pick out the B-side.  The producers asked her what kind of songs she’d like to record.  “I said I like songs that are meaningful, strong, touch people’s hearts and have good melodies.  That’s when they offered her “I Will Survive”. (www.wnyc.org)   I’d say it worked out well. 

Below are the links to my podcast, Blendertainment

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61yTPt9wXdz37DZTbPUs16?si=w5jHghPVRmaTaP5ZEI-wzQ

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blendertainment/id1541097172