Before they were Big Star
Christopher Bell joined his first band in 1964, when he was a Student at Memphis University School. The band was called the Jynx, Bell played guitar, Bill Cunningham played bass. The band were all Anglophiles so the set list was heavy on Beatles, Stones, Them, The Zombies and The Kinks. Hoping to get an appearance on George Klein's Talent Party TV show, the band recorded a 4 song demo at Roland Janes’ studio. The songs were all covers, 2 songs from the Moody Blues first album (one was a James Brown cover), a Them song, and one American song, "Just Like Me" by Paul Revere & The Raiders.
The Jynx had broken up by early '66. Bill Cunningham joined a band called the Jokers but left them to join a new band that had been offered a chance to record some songs at Chips Moman's American Studio. The original plan called for Chris Bell to sing in the new band. unfortunately for him, he was not able to make the session. In his place was the singer for Ronnie & The Devilles, a 16-year-old named Alex Chilton was invited to sing on the songs. The band was called the Box Tops. You may have heard of them.
There were more hits but Chilton didn’t like being in a band controlled by producers and managers. In 1969, Chilton left the Box Tops and moved to New York City to start a solo career.
Christopher Bell was not sitting around while Chilton was off being a teenage rock star. He played in various bands and hanging out with Terry Manning at John Fry's Ardent Recording Studio learning how to make records. With Manning, Bell joined Rock City, a band that was led by Thomas Dean Eubanks. Eubanks played bass and sang lead. Jody Stephens was the band's drummer. Eubanks wrote most of the songs but Chris Bell got a few of his songs on the album. Rock City had came together to record an album and even though everyone was happy with the project, the band ended when the album was finished.
Alex Chilton was back in Memphis recording his solo album with Terry Manning at Ardent. Chilton and Bell co-wrote several songs during this time. Rock City recorded one of the songs on it’s album and Bell, Manning and Stephens recorded another as a trio called Icewater. Chilton abandoned his solo LP and joined Icewater. You probably know where the story goes from here.
The Jynx had broken up by early '66. Bill Cunningham joined a band called the Jokers but left them to join a new band that had been offered a chance to record some songs at Chips Moman's American Studio. The original plan called for Chris Bell to sing in the new band. unfortunately for him, he was not able to make the session. In his place was the singer for Ronnie & The Devilles, a 16-year-old named Alex Chilton was invited to sing on the songs. The band was called the Box Tops. You may have heard of them.
There were more hits but Chilton didn’t like being in a band controlled by producers and managers. In 1969, Chilton left the Box Tops and moved to New York City to start a solo career.
Christopher Bell was not sitting around while Chilton was off being a teenage rock star. He played in various bands and hanging out with Terry Manning at John Fry's Ardent Recording Studio learning how to make records. With Manning, Bell joined Rock City, a band that was led by Thomas Dean Eubanks. Eubanks played bass and sang lead. Jody Stephens was the band's drummer. Eubanks wrote most of the songs but Chris Bell got a few of his songs on the album. Rock City had came together to record an album and even though everyone was happy with the project, the band ended when the album was finished.
Alex Chilton was back in Memphis recording his solo album with Terry Manning at Ardent. Chilton and Bell co-wrote several songs during this time. Rock City recorded one of the songs on it’s album and Bell, Manning and Stephens recorded another as a trio called Icewater. Chilton abandoned his solo LP and joined Icewater. You probably know where the story goes from here.
posted by KS at 11/21/2006 04:59:00 PM
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