Chanteur US né Franklin Delano Gulledge, le 21 Octobre 1932 à Combs (Arkansas). Andy Starr fit ses débuts en 1954 sur le label Lin Records. Excellent guitariste, il joua avec David Ray Smith et les "Strikes" et enregistra de la Country Music sous le nom de "Frank Starr And The Rock-A-Way Boys". Il grava également en 1956 du Rockabilly chez MGM et enregistra aussi chez Decca, Kapp, et Holiday Inn Records. Andy Starr est décédé le 12 Septembre 2003 à Fayeyyeville (Arkansas).

Andy Starr was never much than one of rock 'n' roll's footnotes, in terms of his commercial impact or success, but what a footnote! Never a star in his own region, he wasn't widely known outside of the south. But back in 1956 and 1957, Andy Starr was rumored to be the next Elvis Presley, and a couple of times he got records out that were good enough to make the case convincingly. Needless to say, that eventuality was never realized, but he did make enough noise as a performer to record throughout the second half of the 1950's, and intermittently, into the 1990's. Born Franklin Delano Gulledge near Combs, Arkansas, in 1932, he grew up in dire poverty, and was never far from the edge of delinquency, going over the edge, according to scholar Wayne Russell, when he pulled a pistol on a teacher — by 14, in 1947, he had left school and was riding the rails and living life as a hobo. According to those who knew him, Starr had one talent in those days beyond a knack for survival, and that was playing guitar, something he'd picked up in his abbreviated time at home and never forgotten. He was 17 when the Korean War exploded and he signed up; luckily for him, someone noticed his musical ability and he was assigned to special services rather than to a combat unit, where his fate might have been very different. He formed the Arkansas Plowboys from the ranks of fellow southerners and survived his two years in South Asia, coming out a little bit straighter in life than he'd gone in — he still drank, sometimes to excess, but he tried regular work in a factory in Kansas before moving to California. There, he and his brothers Bob and Clark formed a new group, also christened the Arkansas Plowboys. Billing himself as Frank Starr, he played lead guitar in the band and soon so outstripped his siblings in skill and seriousness that he left them behind, musically and literally. He packed up for Texas, and in the early 1950's was scratching out a living around Denison for two dollars a night, working some of the worst roadhouses and shanty-town clubs in the state, catering to military personnel and anyone else brave enough to enter — by some accounts, nights without barfights and flying beer bottles and chairs were rarer than those with. But he hung on and built a reputation for doing an exciting show and generating a hot rockabilly sound, and in 1955 he parlayed a spot on local radio into an audition for Joe M. Leonard Jr., of Lin and Kliff Records. Leonard was impressed enough to cut four sides with Starr, two of which, "Dig Them Squeaky Shoes" and "The Dirty Bird Song (You Can't Hardly Get Them No More)", become his debut single. Although neither his first nor his second singles were hits, Starr managed to get work on the same bills with the likes of Porter Wagoner and Grandpa Jones. He also occasionally wrote songs, including "Rockin' Reelin' Country Style." Then, in 1956, he was forced to change his name — he and Leonard got word of a performer using the name Frank Starr working out of California, which led to the Arkansas-born singer changing his name to Andy Starr. Joe M. Leonard Jr. was unfazed by the momentary pause, and was prepared to continue recording his most promising rock & roll act. He got Andy Starr placed with MGM Records, which opened his national recording career with the best record of his whole life, "Rockin' Rollin' Stone", co-written by Starr, who also played lead guitar on top of singing — in the former department, he was no Cliff Gallup, but he had a distinctive style and a very raw, visceral sound. The B-side was the almost equally fine "I Wanna Go South." There was talk of Starr being the next Elvis Presley, based on this record, but MGM wasn't able to put him across to the public the way RCA had done with Elvis. He also pushed hard with "Give Me a Woman," but never charted a record nationally, and his departure for Alaska for five years stalled whatever career momentum he might've had, except in the 49th state. He worked as Frank Starr up there, and tried some more records with Leonard, right up through 1963. He was back in the lower 48 by the mid-1960's, but none of the sides that he recorded made it out to the public. It was around that time that he took a break from music, and from the drinking and drug problems that he'd developed over the years — instead, Starr spent the late 1960's and the early 1970's as a sawmill worker, living in Kingston, Idaho. He tried cutting some country music sides for his own Starr Records label, but these never attracted large audiences. Starr also continued to perform locally and write songs, which he published through his old producer, Joe Leonard. None of this activity, which also later encompassed gospel-themed material — coinciding with Starr's turning toward God and even becoming a preacher for a time — registered much beyond where he lived. By the 1970's, he'd developed other interests, including politics, running unsuccessfully for the Idaho legislature in 1974, and then for President of the United States, twice, in 1976 and 1992 — he never got near the Oval Office, but, conversely, based on his Lin and Kliff sides, he was also a far greater musical talent than his fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton. Starr died in September of 2003 at age 70, of complications from pneumonia. He had lived long enough to see his complete 1955-63 sides cut with Joe Leonard issued on CD by Bear Family Records, and Wild Oats Records was reportedly planning a release of some of his later recordings for sometime in 2004.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Starr

Talents : Vocals, Guitar

Style musical : Rockabilly, Rock 'n' Roll

DIG THEM SQUEAKY SHOES (1955) (Frank Starr & The Rock-A-Way Boys) ROCKIN' ROLLIN' STONE (1956) SHE'S A GOING JESSIE (1956) ROUND AND ROUND (1956) GIVE ME A WOMAN (1956)

Years in activity :

DISCOGRAPHY

78 t., Singles & EP

02/1955	78 t. LIN 1009 (US)	.	Frank STARR & The ROCK-A-WAY BOYS - Dig Them Squeaky Shoes / The Dirty Bird Song (You Can't Hardly Get Them No More)
02/1955	SP LIN 45-1009 (US)	.	Frank STARR & The ROCK-A-WAY BOYS - Dig Them Squeaky Shoes / The Dirty Bird Song (You Can't Hardly Get Them No More)
07/1955	78 t. LIN 1013 (US)	.	Frank STARR & The ROCK-A-WAY BOYS - Tell Me Why / For The Want Of Your Love
07/1955	SP LIN 45-1013 (US)	.	Frank STARR & The ROCK-A-WAY BOYS - Tell Me Why / For The Want Of Your Love
05/1956	SP MGM K12263 (US)	.	Andy STARR - Rockin' Rollin' Stone / I Wanna Go South
08/1956	SP MGM K12315 (US)	.	Andy STARR - She's A Going Jessie / Old Deacon Jones
11/1956	SP MGM K12364 (US)	.	Andy STARR - Round And Round / Give Me A Woman
02/1957	SP MGM K12421 (US)	.	One More Time / No Room For Your Kind
08/1957	SP KAPP K-190X (US)	.	Do It Right Now / I Waited For You To Remember
08/1961	SP HOLIDAY INN 104 (US)	.	Frank STARR - Evil Eye / Knees Shakin'
04/1962	SP HOLIDAY INN 108 (US)	.	Frank STARR - Little Bitty Feeling / Lost In A Dream
1963	SP LIN 5033-45 (US)	.	Frank STARR - Me And The Fool / Pledge Of Love
1975 ?	EP ROLLIN' ROCK EP-45-041 (US)		Andy STARR : Rockin' And Reelin' Country Style / Dig Those Squeaky Shoes /  Do It Right / Steve WRIGHT : Wild Wild Woman (Steve WRIGHT)
1975	SP RM ‎RMA 1000 (UK)		Frank (Andy) STARR - Dig Them Squeaky Shoes / Rockin' And Reelin' Country Style
????	EP STARR SRC-1350 (US)	.	Andy STARR - Tragedy At The Sunshine Mine / We Gotta Stand Together / I'm So Lonesome Tonight
2012	SP SLEAZY SR45 (S)		Andy STARR - Rockin' Rollin' Stone   / Round And Round
11/2013	2 EP SUNDAZED S2-278 (US)		Rockin' Rollin' Stone - Andy STARR : DISC 1 : Rockin' Rollin' Stone / I Wanna Go South / She's A Going Jessie / Old Deacon Jones DISC 2 ; Round And Round / Give Me A Woman / One More Time / No Room For Your Kind

Unissued Tracks

Albums

1981	LP 12" POLYDOR 2489 180 (F)		U.S. ROCKABILLY - Conway TWITTY : Long Black Train / I Vibrate / Just Because / Sentimental Journey / Marvin RAINWATER : Love Me Baby / Dance Me Daddy / Hot' n' Cold / Mr Blues / Andy STARR : Rockin' Rollin' Stone / She's a Going Jessie / Round And Round / One More Time
1989	LP 12" Revival REVIVAL 3012 (EUR)		Rockin' Rollin' Stone - Andy STARR - Rockin', Rollin' Stone / I Wanna Go South / She's A Going Jessie / Old Deacon Jones / Give Me A Woman / Round And Round / No Room For Your Kind / One More Time / My Pledge Of Love / Me And The Fool / Dig Them Squeaky Shoes / The Dirty Bird Song (You Can't Hardly Get Them No More) / I Love You Baby / Just A Walkin' / Lonesome Baby Blues / Knee's Shakin' / Evil Eye / Rockin' & Reelin' Country Style / Rockin' / If You Can't Rock Me
1995	CD BEAR FAMILY BCD 15845 (GER)		DIG THEM SQUEAKY SHOES - Andy STARR - She's A Going Jessie / One More Time / Rockin' Rollin' Stone / Old Deacon Jones / No Room For Your Kind / Round And Round / I Wanna Go South / Give Me A Woman / Old Deacon Jones (alt.) / Dig Them Squeaky Shoes / The Dirty Bird Song / Do It Right / Rockin' Reelin' Country Style / Tell Me Why / For The Want Of Your Love / Love Is A Simple Thing / Me And The Fool / Loverman / Knee Shakin' / Evil Eye / Little Bitty Feeling / Lost In A Dream / Pledge Of Love / Do It Right Now / I'm Seeing Things (I Shouldn't See) / Somali Dolly / I Waited For You To Remember
11/2018	CD JASMINE JASCD 1002 (UK)		Rockin’ Rollin’ Stone – Singles As and Bs 1955-1962 ...plus! - Dig Them Squeaky Shoes (Frank STARR & His ROCK-A-WAY BOYS) / The Dirty Bird Song (Frank STARR & His ROCK-A-WAY BOYS) / Tell Me Why (Frank STARR & His ROCK-A-WAY BOYS) / For The Want Of Your Love (Frank STARR & His ROCK-A-WAY BOYS) / Rockin' Rollin' Stone / I Wanna Go South / She's A Going Jessie / Old Deacon Jones / Round And Round / Give Me A Woman / One More Time / No Room For Your Kind / Do It Right Now / I Waited For You To Remember / Knees Shakin' (Frank Starr) / Evil Eye (Frank Starr) / Little Bitty Feeling (Frank Starr) / Lost In A Dream (Frank Starr) / Do It Right (Frank STARR & His ROCK-A-WAY BOYS) / Rockin' Reelin Country Style (Frank STARR & His ROCK-A-WAY BOYS) / I'm Seeing Things (I Shouldn't See) / Somali Dolly

© Rocky Productions 11/05/2019