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Trio Rock
'n' Roll US formé en 1958 à Los Angeles (Californie), composé de Carol
Connors, Marshall Leib, Phil Spector;
Long
before Phil Spector was single-handedly constructing his "Wall of Sound" with
stacked-up, single-track-mono teen symphonies, he too was a struggling vocalist
and musician looking for a break. That break came in 1958 as songwriter,
guitarist, and backup singer for the short-lived L.A-based trio, the Teddy Bears,
who landed a left-field number one hit with Spector's first recorded
composition, the elegiac and sepulchral ballad "To Know Him Is to Love Him," a
tribute to his deceased father (who had committed suicide in 1949, during
Spector's childhood).
As a teenager, Spector was a loner. With little to interest him while taking
classes at Fairfax High School, he was drawn to studying music, and soon
excelled on the guitar, piano, drums, bass, and French horn. He also began
writing and recording original songs in the R&B genre. He may have been only 17
years old, but he was already becoming a magnetic presence on the L.A. music
scene and had already attracted his own disciples, including future Warner Bros.
Honcho Russ Titelman and future Mother of Invention/Magic Band member Elliot
Ingber.
Spector soon joined a group of would-be-musicians/producers/baloney throwers
hanging around recording studios to learn as much as they could. Like Kim Fowley,
Gary Paxton, Herb Alpert, Lou Adler, and others, he learned how to make records
by visiting places like Gold Star studios, a recording studio on Vine Street and
Santa Monica Blvd., which had opened in 1950. Owners/recording engineers Stan
Ross and Dave Gold taught Spector how to record drums, how to arrange, how to
mix records — virtually everything they knew. At one of these studios, he met
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two songwriters that were already beginning to
have much success producing singles for the
Robins. Stoller had also been a student at Fairfax High and Leiber worked as
a packing clerk at Norty's Record Shop on Fairfax Avenue, in the heart of L.A.'s
Jewish district, just down the street from the high school campus.
After graduating in the Spring of 1958, Spector booked his first session at the
Gold Star. Studio time cost 15 dollars an hour, plus an additional six bucks for
a reel of blank tape, and Spector figured that 40 dollars out to cover the
expenses. He borrowed the money from his mother, Bertha, an ardent supporter of
her son's endeavors. Next, Spector turned to Marshall Leib, then a 19-year-old
student at Los Angeles City College, majoring in business and law. Leib had some
experience in the music business, having previously formed the Moondogs with
some of his classmates. Another student at LACC, Harvey Goldstein, contributed
ten dollars after being promised he could sing bass. Annette Kleinbard, who was
then a 16-year-old student at Fairfax High, donated the final ten dollars. A
native of new Brunswick, NJ, Kleinbard had a strong emotive soprano voice (she
had sang in the glee club). She quickly agreed to help pay for the session if
she too could be included in the group. Spector agreed and he finally had his 40
dollars.
The first two-hour session at Gold Star was devoted to the recording of
Spector's "Don't You Worry My Little Pet." Spector played all the instruments on
the single and acted as his own producer. After the mix-down, with his group's
demo in hand, Spector approached his neighbor Lew Bedell, co-owner of Era
Records (with Herb Newsome). The two had just started Dore Records, with the
intention of recording rock & roll. They liked what they heard and offered
Spector a four-record deal with royalties of a cent and one-half per sold copy.
In the office they came up with the name the Teddy Bears, after the hit song by
Elvis Presley.
At the third recording session, with Goldstein absent, a drummer was added to
help with the instrumental backing. The replacement drummer was
Sandy Nelson, who would go on to
have his own successful career. Near the end of the session, Spector coaxed
Kleinbard and Leib to try another song he'd written, called "To Know Him Is to
Love Him," a plaintive, repetitive ballad song ("to know, know, know him, is to
love, love, love him") which Spector had written after he'd taken a trip back to
the Bronx and visited his father's graveside. The title came from an epitaph on
his father's gravestone, in fact.
Dore mailed 500 copies of the single to radio stations in early August 1958.
With no initial reaction forthcoming, Goldstein and Leib returned to college. In
September, a DJ in Fargo, ND, flipped the single over and played "To Know Him Is
to Love Him" and soon an order came into Dore offices from a distributor in
Minneapolis requesting 18,000 copies. Within a week, the song was on the
national music charts. The Teddy Bears were invited to appear on American
Bandstand on October 29. There was a slight problem as there was no invitation
for Harvey Goldstein, who had been dropped from the group at Spector's
insistence because he couldn't sing the song's bass part. (Goldstein later sued
Dore and the Teddy Bears, eventually settling out-of-court for a share of the
royalties the group would earn over the next ten years).
"To Know Him Is to Love Him" went on to become the number one pop song in the
nation, selling more than a million copies before Christmas of 1958. They
appeared on The Perry Como Show on January 3, 1959. By mid-January, the group
was leaving Dore after a dispute about royalties and signed to Lew Chudd's
Imperial Records, who released the group's next single that month. However,
Spector soon discovered that Chudd would no longer let him be in charge of
record production, nor was he allowed to use Gold Star Studios or allowed to "stack"
Vocals. The Teddy Bears recorded only two more singles and the remaining filler
for one album, The Teddy Bears Sing, before they left Imperial. They then moved
over to Trey Records, owned by Lee
Hazlewood and Lester Sill. Sill had already formed Spark Records with co-owners
Leiber & Stoller. Unfortunately, because of legalities, the group couldn't use
the Teddy Bears name, so the two Trey singles were issued as The Spectors Three.
Unfortunately, neither sold and Spector dismissed the other two and disbanded
the group.
Kleinbard was involved in an auto accident in September of 1959, but recovered
and attempted a solo singing career. She had a number of recording contracts,
but enjoyed success as a songwriter. She was a co-writer of "The Nights the
Lights Went out in Georgia," which earned a gold record for Vicki Lawrence in
1973 and a country hit for Reba McEntire
in 1992. She also co-wrote "Hey Little Cobra" for the Ripchords and "Gonna Fly
Now," the theme from the first Rocky motion picture starring Sylvester
Stallone. She helped write theme songs for Sophie's Choice and Mr. Mom
and over the years she has been nominated for two Academy Awards and four Emmys.
Leib, meanwhile, became one of the
Hollywood Argyles (on tour only) and played guitar on a couple of
Duane Eddy sessions. He also was musical
supervisor for a few low budget films in the '70s. He and Kleinbard worked
together on the score for the film Tulips.
After the Teddy Bears broke up, Phil Spector moved back to New York, where he
worked with Leiber and Stoller in 1960. With Leiber, he co-wrote "Spanish
Harlem," a massive hit for ex-Drifter Ben
E. King. Spector also played guitar on the Drifters' "On Broadway." Spector
quickly became a staff producer for Dune Records and produced
Ray Peterson's "Corinna, Corinna,"
another Top Ten hit. He then became a freelance producer and A&R for Atlantic,
produced hits for Gene Pitney and in
late 1961, co-founded the Philles label with partner Sill, and was immediately
successful, producing and writing hits for
the Crystals, the Ronettes, Bob B.
Soxx and the Blue Jeans, the Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner, John
Lennon, George Harrison, and dozens more. Spector was inducted into the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame as a "non-performer" in 1989. He is truly one of the legends
of modern pop music.
Style musical : Rock 'n' Roll, Doo Wop, Pop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCnUsInBQws
TO
KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM
(1958)
Don't You Worry
My Little Pet (1958)
You Said Goodbye
(1959)
Till
You'll Be
Mine (1959)
Seven Lonely Days
(1959)
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Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 |
DISCOGRAPHY
Singles & EP
| 09/1958 | SP DORE 503 (US) | . |
To Know Him Is To
Love Him
/
Don't You Worry
My Little Pet
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| 01/1959 | SP IMPERIAL X5562 (US) | . | Oh Why / I Don't Need You Anymore | ||
| 03/1959 | SP IMPERIAL X5581 (US) | . |
If You Only Knew (The Love I Have For You) /
You Said Goodbye
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| 05/1959 | SP DORE 520 (US) | . | Wonderful Loveable You /
Till You'll Be
Mine
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| 1959 | SP IMPERIAL X5594 (US) | . | Don't Go Away /
Seven Lonely Days
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| 1959 | EP POLYDOR 27 705 (F) |
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| 02/1959 | SP LONDON LED-108 (JAP) |
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| 1959 | EP POLYDOR 27 726 (F) |
 |
Long Ago And Far Away / If I Give My Heart To You / My Foolish Heart / Unchained Melody | ||
| 1968 | SP Era Golden Era Series HTE-5009 (US) | . | |||
| 10/1972 | SP Era Back To Back Hits Series 008 (US) |
Walk Right In (MOMENTS) /
To Know Him Is To
Love Him
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| 1977 | SP Sinus 120-3134 (B) |
 |
To Know Him, To Love Him (TEDDY BEARS) / Giant Walk (RONNY & The JERRYCANS) |
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| 1978 | SP Janus Records Gold 1jg 748 (US) | . |
To Know Him Is To
Love Him
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| 1978 | SP SURPRISE JTU 791 (B) |
 |
Golden 45's -
25 -
To Know Him Is To
Love Him
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| 1979 | SP Lightning LIG 9015 (UK) (picture disc) |
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To Know Him Is To
Love Him
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| 1979 | SP Old Gold OG 9015 (UK) |
 |
To Know Him Is To
Love Him
(Teddy Bears) /
Endless Sleep
(Jody
Reynolds) |
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| 1986 | SP ERIC 299 (US) | . |
Mission Bell
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| 19?? | SP COLLECTABLES COL 3103 (US) |
Rhythm Of The Rain (CASCADES) /
To Know Him Is To
Love Him
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Album
| 01/1959 | LP 12" IMPERIAL LP-9067 (mono) / LP-12010 (stereo) (US) |
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THE TEDDY BEARS SING ! - Oh Why / Unchained Melody / My Foolish Heart / You Said Goodbye / True Love / Little Things Mean A Lot / I Don't Need You Anymore / Tammy / Long Ago And Far Away / If I Give My Heart To You / Seven Lonely Days | ||
| 1986 | LP 12" Alligator 56.0075 (S) |
 |
Historia Del Rock & Roll – Nº5 - The Teddy Bears – Oh Why - Por Qué?.. - Oh Why / Unchained Melody / My Foolish Heart / Little Things Mean A Lot / I Don't Need You Anymore / Don't Go Away / You Said Goodbye / True Love / Tammy / Long Ago And Far Away / If I Give My Heart To You / Seven Lonely Days / To Know Him Is To Love Him |
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| 1990 | CD Request BGCD 20490 (EUR) |
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My Boyfriend's Back - The Angels - The Teddy Bears - The ANGELS : My Boyfriend's Back / Wow Wow Wee (He's The Boy For Me) / Snowflakes And Teardrops / He's The Kissin' Kind / The Hurdy Gurdy Man / Dream Boy / Has Anyone Seen My Boyfriend / The Guy With The Black Eye / (You Can't Take) My Boyfriend's Woody / Little Beatle Boy / I Want To Hold Your Hand / I Adore Him / Why Don't The Boy Leave Me Alone / World Without Love / Love Me Now / Thank You And Goodnight / The TEDDY BEARS : Oh Why / Unchained Melody / My Foolish Heart / You Said Goodbye / True Love / Little Things Mean A Lot / I Don't Need You Anymore / Tammy / Long Ago And Far Away / Don't Go Away / If I Give My Heart To You / Seven Lonely Days |
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| 2003 | CD Dore 503 (GER) |
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To Know Him Is To Love Him... THE TEDDY BEARS SING! - To Know Him Is To Love Him / Don't Worry My Little Pet / Wonderful, Lovable You / Say You'll Be Mine / Oh Why / I Don't Need You Anymore / If You Only Knew / You Said Goodbye / Don't Go Away / Seven Lonely Days / If I Give My Heart To You / My Foolish Heart / Little Things Mean A Lot / Long Ago And Far Away / Tammy / Unchained Melody / True Love / To Know Him Is To Love Him (live) |
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| 2010 | CD Jasmine JASCD 582 (CZ) |
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Phil Spector & The Teddy Bears - Building The Wall Of Sound - THE TEDDY BEARS : To Know Him Is To Love Him / Don't You Worry My Little Pet / I Don't Need You Anymore / Oh Why / If Only You Knew (The Love I Have For You) / You Said Goodbye / Don't Go Away / Seven Lonely Days / Wonderful Lovable You / Til Your Mine / THE TEDDY BEARS SING ! 1959 : Unchained Melody / My Foolish Heart / True Love / Little Things Mean A Lot / Tammy / Long Ago And Far Away / If I Give My Heart To You / PHIL HARVEY : Bumbershoot / Willy Boy / SPECTOR’S THREE : I Really Do / I Know Why / Mr. Robin / My Heart Stood Still |
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| ???? | LP 12" Trey 20207 (DK) |
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© Rocky Productions 1/06/2019
