I can remember exactly where I was the first time I ever heard Robin Luke's "Susie Darlin'." I was in Margaret Stubbs' classy '54 Pontiac. Margaret was driving East on Titus Street in Mexia, Texas, and we were just about at Little's Sewing Machine place. When the song came on, I made everybody be quiet so I could listen. As soon as I could, I bought the single. You can listen to it here. I don't know why I liked it so much, but I can still listen to it any time and enjoy it.I thought Luke might to on to be a big star, but it didn't happen. Still, I enjoyed some of his other singles, including "Bad Boy," a cover of a big hit in England by, I believe, Marty Wilde. My favorite of his follow-up recordings, however, was what I thought should've been a two-sided smash, "Everlovin'" and "Well Oh, Well Oh." The former did become a smash, all right, but not by Luke. It was covered by Ricky Nelson, and that did the trick. His final recording was "Foggin' up the Windows." His partner on that one was Roberta Shore. (Remember her? Here's a update.)
Luke didn't have a long recording career, but he was okay with that. He's one of the few singers of that era who was academically inclined, and he went on to become a college professor and head of the Department Marketing at a Missouri university.
3 comments:
I'll have to show this to Jackie for the Roberta Shore update.
Jeff
I did know that the song was named for Luke's little sister.
Jeff
I remember the single, mostly for the chorus. Little echoes of Buddy Holly. There was a lot of that going on about that time.
It was a time when breaking into the music business was attainable. When I was a teenager, a friend's father brought home a single that a co-worker at Pure Oil Company had pressed for his son. The song was a cover of Alley Oop.
In what seemed just a few weeks, the Atlanta kid was signed by Atlanta music publisher Bill Lowery and had a record deal with Paramount. Tommy Roe was his name and he had several hits including "Sheila". It was stories like that which sparked thousands of local bands.
But then the Beatles and Stones came and sparked even more local wannabes.
I loved the Roberta Shore update. I remember lusting after her in "The Shaggy Dog." Now I would want to watch it again but this time to see Strother Martin, who I failed to pay much attention to in 1959.
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