The Rockabilly Legends package

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Jerry Naylor the Rockabilly Legend

Jerry Naylor, a native of Texas, is a fifty-six year veteran of the entertainment industry. Jerry began his successful career as a singer with his own country/Rockabilly group in 1954, at age 15. In 1956, Jerry became the lead singer of the San Angelo, Texas based rock group, The Cavaliers, who are remembered for their 1964 national number one hit recording, “Last Kiss,” with J. Frank Wilson, who replaced Naylor as lead singer when he joined The Crickets.
Jerry Naylor also launched a duel career in broadcasting in 1954, working as a teenage radio disc jockey on the popular San Angelo, Texas, KPEP country music radio station. KPEP was co-owned by Joe Treadway and Dave Stone (Pinkstone) who also owned the, now legendary, KDAV radio station in Lubbock, Texas, which is featured in the worldwide British hit stage production on the life and times of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, “Buddy.” The KPEP and KDAV radio station owners regularly promoted major country music concerts in San Angelo and Lubbock featuring the top stars of country music from the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride, such as Johnny Horton, Sonny James, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, Billy Walker, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, Kitty Wells, Elvis Presley, Bob Luman, Gene Vincent, Roy Orbison, among many others. Jerry Naylor, as a young singer managed by Joe Treadway, performed on many of these shows. Buddy Holly and his “country music blue-grass group” performed on KDAV Radio and also on these shows at this time in Lubbock. Little could anyone have imagined, in these early years that Jerry Naylor would become the lead singer of the Crickets after the tragic 1959 death of Buddy Holly.
Naylor states that his entertainment career was truly launched on Wednesday night, January 5, 1955, when Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, booked on the bottom of the bill for a Louisiana Hayride Show featuring Billy Walker and Jimmy and Johnny, took to the stage of the San Angelo, Texas Municipal Auditorium. If the decision was already deeply embedded within him by this time, this single electrifying experience solidified Jerry Naylor’s future to become an entertainer “for life”! Working as a Disc Jockey and on-air singer/performer at KPEP Radio Station, which promoted the show, Jerry put up the billboard posters for the event around San Angelo and the surrounding Tom Green County area, played Elvis’ new Rockabilly Sun recordings on the air to promote the show, sang these songs in the local dance halls with his band nightly, took the tickets for the patrons who came to the old auditorium for the show, and then ran back stage to join his little trio of musicians who opened this legendary show singing three numbers. Elvis, Scotty and Bill followed and the earth shook as Jerry Naylor’s world changed!
Naylor played many more of the Louisiana hayride shows working with his mentors, KPEP Radio co-owner/ manager, Joe Treadway and Tillman Franks, slap bass player/ personal manager of Johnny Horton and other acts, and most important, talent coordinator for the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana. The die had been cast! Yes, as ascribed to “Caesar at the Rubicon,” the irrevocable decision has been made, and Jerry Naylor’s entertainment career journey was well on its way. His first local recording of the self-penned, “Hillbilly Bop” b/w the R&B classic, “Money Honey,” coupled with his KPEP radio show and various personal appearances with his lead guitarist singing partner, Toby Yeager, made Jerry Naylor a local hero during his following two-years of high school education. Too young to legally enter them, this young teenage Rockabilly singer achieved a post-graduate degree in West Texas “Honky Tonks.”
Jerry joined the iconic drummer and Buddy Holly’s songwriter/partner and co-founder of the Crickets, Jerry Allison, plus lead guitarist, Sonny Curtis, and pianist, Glen D. Hardin, to re-form the Crickets in the fall of 1960. Jerry was the lead singer of the post-Buddy Holly Crickets on almost all of the Liberty/EMI Records recordings and all of the Crickets’ concert dates until the group broke up in late 1965. The Crickets, with Jerry Naylor as lead singer, had several top charted hit records in Great Britain, including Carol King’s penned, “Please Don’t Ever Change”, the Sonny Curtis written, “My Little Girl,” plus, “Teardrops Fall Like Rain,” “Don’t Try to Change Me,” and “La Bamba,” among others. They also had a number one global hit album with pop singer, Bobby Vee, entitled “Bobby Vee Meets the Crickets” in 1962. This legendary album is still in release around the world, on CDs, through EMI/Liberty Records. The Crickets are credited with influencing the careers of many of the legendary British rock acts, including Elton John and the Beatles (by their own admission). The Beatles publicly state that they named themselves after the Crickets because of their admiration for Buddy Holly and the group, and their version of the Crickets’ recording of “Please Don’t Ever Change” was the Beatles early career live performance on BBC Television and a recording of this broadcast performance is included in their Anthology collection as a tribute to the Crickets. Since 1991, EMI Liberty Records, Inc. and the EMI Records Group, Ltd. have released, or licensed to third party labels for release, more than twelve CD’s of the “Liberty Years” masters on which Jerry Naylor was the lead singer. Jerry also wrote or co-wrote some of the early EMI/Liberty Records recordings for the Crickets, such as “Thoughtless,” (written by Jerry Naylor and Mike Curb) and “Break It Easy” (written by Jerry Naylor). Jerry and the Crickets appeared with the Beach Boys and Leslie Gore in the 1964 Paramount Pictures beach movie classic, “Girls on the Beach,” and the Crickets, with Jerry Naylor as lead singer, were featured singing their hits, “My Little Girl” and “Teardrops Fall Like Rain,” in the 1962 Columbia Pictures British classic rock music movie, “Just For Fun.”
After the Crickets break up in 1965, Jerry Naylor signed a multiple-performance contract with the popular ABC-Television Network music variety show, “Shindig.” Jerry was also selected by the Beatles founding PR guru, Derek Taylor, to be his first client in Taylor’s new Hollywood, California, PR firm. With Derek Taylor’s direction, Jerry and his new lead guitar/ singing partner, Keith Allison, were booked to join the Byrds and Paul Revere & the Raiders as an opening act for the Rolling Stones Sunday, May 16, 1965, premier concert in Long Beach, California. Jerry also repeatedly performed on the legendary “Dick Bionti KRLA Road Shows” and the Bob Eubanks/Mickey Brown “Cinnamon Cinder Teen Clubs” in North Hollywood and San Diego, California, with an all-star list of performers, such as, Peter Asher, Gordon Waller (Peter and Gordon), Dave Clark Five, The Standells, Jan and Dean, Dick and DeeDee, Leslie Gore, Chad and Jeremy, the Beau Brummels, Mark Lindsay, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, the Beach Boys, Righteous Brothers, and Chubby Checker.
Also in 1965, after the Crickets, Jerry Naylor signed a record production contract with newcomer/ record producer and Crickets’ fan, Mike Curb. This close friendship and professional association would last for seventeen-years as Jerry continued as a single performer recording for numerous major record labels through Mike Curb Productions. Jerry had his first solo pop hit, “But For Love” (#5 Billboard Easy Listening Chart) for CBS/Sony Records and Mike Curb Productions in 1970. This recording garnered Jerry Grammy nominations and Cashbox Magazine acclaimed Jerry Naylor as one of the “Top Forty Male Vocalist of 1970.” Jerry moved to country music in the early 1970’s and his Nashville recordings produced a string of eight nationally charted records, including his 1974 signature hit, “Is This All There Is To a Honky Tonk.” During this time, Jerry’s records were released through Mike Curb Productions on MGM/ Polygram Records, Warner Brothers/Curb Records and Motown/ Melodyland Records.
Jerry Naylor also continued his television broadcast career as the host of the Desilu Productions/Show Biz, Inc. nationally syndicated music variety show, “Music City, USA,” in 1967. Ray Stevens and Bob Luman were Naylor’s featured partners on “Music City, USA,” with major guest star performers each week. Jerry also made many guest appearances on top-rated national television variety shows throughout the United States, England, Canada and Europe from 1965 to 1982.
From 1965 to 1982, Jerry and his backup groups, “The Bosque River Boys” with the “Good Time Chariot Singers,” and the UK hot band, “The Muskrats,” toured 250 to 300 dates per year performing concerts and playing major night clubs and casinos throughout the United States, Canada, England, Europe and Asia. Jerry Naylor and his group, with the direction of Jim Halsey and the Jim Halsey Agency, helped debut country and gospel music as a headline act in the major hotel/casinos of Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he co-starred with some of the top stars of country music from 1970 to 1982. Jerry headlined in the main show-rooms of the Landmark, Sahara, Thunderbird, Golden Nugget and Showboat hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, and at the Harrah’s, Mapes, Holiday, and Sahara hotels and casinos in Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada, plus the Western International Luxury Hotels and Resorts throughout the United States and Canada. Naylor also performed hundreds of concert performances throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, the UK, Japan and Taiwan from 1966 through 1982. Jerry Naylor suffered serious back injuries in an auto accident in August of 1982, which resulted in ten major back surgeries over the following twelve-years, and did not return to his entertainment performing and recording career until 2000, when he began his legacy production of “The Rockabilly Legends: A Tribute to My Friends” multimedia project.
Jerry Naylor wrote, co-wrote, produced and performed many songs for motion picture sound tracks from 1965 to present. Jerry sang the title song, “Vangie’s Theme,” for the award winning Rod Taylor, Jane Russell 1970 suspense movie, “Darker Than Amber,” and the main theme, “Helga,” for the European art-film classic, “Michael and Helga,” plus several beach films, among others. He also performed on camera and as the singer/soloist on many national radio and television commercials for such corporate clients as Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, Wrigley’s Chewing Gum, Frito-Lay, Safeway Stores, Avis Car Rental, Honda Motors, World Football League, Thrifty Drug Stores, among others. Naylor’s singing performance on the successful Gray Advertising Agency national radio and television Honda Motorcycle ad campaign, “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda,” enhanced the young career of the rock musical group, “The Hondells.” In 1965, Jerry Naylor, now the former lead singer of The Crickets, was featured as the lead singer (without label credit) on three of the Hondells early hit singles, including “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda”, produced by Mike Curb and Harley Hatcher for Mike Curb Productions.
Jerry Naylor continued his duel broadcasting and singing/performing careers, and in 1960 and 1961, prior and into the early stages of his new association with the Crickets, Jerry worked for the top rock stations, KRLA and KDAY, in Los Angeles. From 1972 to 1983, when not touring, Jerry was one of the featured radio personalities with the number one country music radio station in America, KLAC Radio, Metromedia Broadcasting, Inc., in Los Angeles. Jerry also hosted the weekly award winning, three-hour, nationally and internationally syndicated country music radio show, Continental Country from 1974 to 1976. This show was selected the “Number One Country Music Syndicated Radio Show” by Billboard Magazine, the Country Music Association, and the Academy of Country Music for each year it was produced, and it was broadcast in more than 150 markets in the United States, Canada and around the world on the American Forces Radio and Television Service.
In 1976, Jerry Naylor founded a public relations company and film and video production company. One of The Naylor Company’s first clients was the former governor of California, Governor Ronald Reagan. Jerry assisted in the 1976 Reagan for President Campaign and became the National Director of Special Events in the successful 1979/1980 Reagan for President Campaign.
The Jerry Naylor Company, Inc. created and produced documentaries, commercials, and eventually created and developed feature motion pictures for Home Box Office and several other film companies. President Ronald Reagan appointed Jerry Naylor to two three-year terms, 1985 through 1991, as a Commissioner of the National Commission for Employment Policy, working directly with the White House Office of the President and advising the Congress and Secretary of Labor on issues of Employment policy.
In 1986, Jerry Naylor merged his company with Newslink Satellite Broadcast Communications Company, Inc. in Washington DC, and Naylor became Co-Chairman/CEO of the partnership with Max Hugel, the co-founder and former CEO of the major multi-national corporation, Brother International, and fellow President Ronald Reagan Presidential Appointee. Through Newslink, Jerry Naylor and Max Hugel furnished early studio and on-camera personnel for Ted Turner’s young CNN Network in the Washington, DC and New York City locations. Newslink Satellite Communications Company, Inc. purchased satellite up-link and video production facilities in Washington, DC and within two-years 51% of the new company was sold to the Washington Times News Group. During this period, Jerry Naylor and Max Hugel also founded a film production company, International Syndication’s, Inc., (ISI) which created, funded and developed several documentaries hosted by national columnist, Jack Anderson, for PBS and the BBC and developed two motion pictures for Home Box Office.
Jerry Naylor, as a television documentary film producer has garnered several prestigious awards for documentaries produced for PBS, BBC and for commercial network broadcast and non-broadcast (corporate). Newslink Satellite Communications Company, Inc. and The Jerry Naylor Company, Inc. were instrumental in creating the concept and producing the first “Video News Releases” in America, in cooperation with Medialink, Inc. and major clients, such as American Express and major pharmaceutical companies. This medium for delivery of privately financed news/public relations and marketing stories became a standard for all news programming throughout the major broadcast networks and local news television outlets.
Overlapping multiple careers, from 1986 to 1987, Jerry was also the on-camera announcer/co-host with Pat Boone on Pat’s daily one-hour television talk show, “Pat Boone, USA,” for the Christian Broadcast Cable Network.
Jerry Naylor has just completed eight-years of the initial phase of “The Rockabilly Legends; They Called it Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll” project, which incorporates a 165-minute feature television broadcast documentary for national and international television broadcast networks and cable outlets, plus a one-hour edited special documentary broadcast version for PBS stations through the United States where it began broadcasting in March, 2007. The Rockabilly Legends multi-media project also includes a DVD version of the 165-minute television documentary production plus a “Bonus DVD” featuring 53-minutes of non-broadcast footage of newly produced live performances, four newly-recorded soundtrack CDs featuring Naylor and Stan Perkins, son of Carl Perkins, eight compilation CDs which features 114 digitally refurbished and re-mastered original Rockabilly Legends classic hit recordings, plus a very rare “Live from the Louisiana Hayride” CD which features live performances from Elvis Presley’s first live performance on the Louisiana Hayride in October, 1954, plus live 1950’s performances from Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Bob Luman, Jerry Naylor and Hank Williams Senior. Jerry Naylor and co-writer/editor and friend, Steve Halliday, have co-written a book for this collection, “The Rockabilly Legends; They Called it Rockabilly Long Before They Called it Rock and Roll,” published and distributed globally by the Hal Leonard Publishing Company. The storyline is taken from the original script Naylor created for the documentary with inside stories of this amazing era of American Music history from the legends themselves. This classic Scott Petersen/Jonah Nolde designed hard bound book also features over two-hundred rare, and many never-before-published photos of the Rockabilly Royalty from this memorable musical era, and a beautiful collectable creative design.
This 2 ½ million-dollar multi-media production, “The Rockabilly Legends, a Tribute to My Friends / The Rockabilly Legends: They Called it Rockabilly Long Before They Called it Rock and Roll”, is Trademarked and marketed worldwide exclusively by The Jerry Naylor Company, LLC and J2 Global Limited, with direct response television marketing created, produced and managed by J2 Global Limited. A portion of the revenues from the sales and marketing of this extensive multimedia production project benefits various charities, including, The Rockabilly Legends Foundation, Inc., Christian world missions, as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and The Rockabilly Hall of Fame, Burns, Tennessee. The Tribute to the Rockabilly Legends project will be the centerpiece of a permanent Rockabilly era exhibit housed at the Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
This multi-layered production is a special tribute to the Pioneers of Rockabilly Music with whom Naylor began his professional entertainment career in the 1950s and documents the launch of many of the Fifties Rock and Roll Legends’ careers who pioneered “Rockabilly Music” and the birth of Rock and Roll.
The Jerry Naylor produced soundtrack CDs include original compositions and unique “Roots of Rockabilly” revivals; an anthology of the music, African Spirituals, Southern Gospel, Delta Blues, Hillbilly Country, and Bluegrass music, which form the foundation of Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll music. These unique four soundtrack CDs feature Jerry Naylor and his long time friend, Carl Stanley Perkins, singing many of the classic 50’s songs made famous by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Charlie Rich, Gene Vincent, Buddy Knox, Bob Luman, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rock and Roll Trio (Johnny Burnette, Dorsey Burnett and Paul Burleson), Buddy Holly/ Crickets, Muddy Waters, Hank Williams, Sr., and Ernest Tubb, plus original material written for this project by Jerry Naylor and Stan Perkins. The CDs include two unique never-before-heard Carl Perkins performances from the documentary production featuring Carl with just his acoustic gut string guitar singing “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Mr. Bill.” “Mr. Bill” is Carl Perkins’ special tribute his close friend and “idol,” the legendary Bluegrass founder, Bill Monroe. The four CD set also includes Jerry and Stan Perkins singing duets of legendary Carl Perkins classics as a personal tribute to Carl Perkins; “To Carl; Let it Viberate,” a direct quote taken from Uncle John Westbrook, an aging African American sharecropper who mentored six-year old Carl Perkins with his music in the cotton fields on the Tennessee Delta. Naylor’s solo performances include never-before-recorded original rockabilly songs, “Yesterday’s Teardrops,” co-written by Jerry Naylor and Glen Campbell in 1959 for Elvis Presley, a bluesy “B. B. King” type Southern Gospel song, “Without Warning”, co-written by Jerry Naylor and Rick Miller specifically for this project, “She’s Gone,” a 1960’s hit for West Texas legendary “Party Doll” rocker, Buddy Knox, co-written by Jerry Naylor and Buddy Knox. One of the major highlights of this CD soundtrack production is a unique acoustic Roots of Rockabilly tribute to one of the world’s most influential guitarists, Django Reinhardt, with the song, “Don’t Say Nothin’ That Won’t Improve the Silence,” co-written by Rockabilly pioneer, singer-songwriter, Larry Collins (Larry & Laurie Collins, “The Collins Kids”) and Jerry Naylor, with a musical track masterfully emulating the 1930’s and ‘40s classic Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli Quintet of the Hot Club, Paris, France, musical magic. This unique Gypsy Jazz guitar style heavily influenced Rockabilly guitarists such as Scotty Moore.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, legendary radio and television personality and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Red Robinson, co-hosts the three-hour television documentary with Jerry Naylor. Naylor’s long time friend and renowned television game-show host, Wink Martindale, serves as the voiceover storyteller of the classic Tribute to the Rockabilly Legends television production.
Jerry Naylor is also collaborating with best-selling author/screenplay writer from London, England, Peter Palliser, in writing a non-fiction biography book based on the life and experiences of Jerry’s multifaceted more than fifty-year journey through various careers in entertainment, radio and television broadcasting, politics, international government relations and business, with the working title, “God, Rock ‘n Roll, Politics....and me!”
Jerry has recently written or co-written with Rick Miller over twenty contemporary Christian songs for a new CD recording project.
Jerry Naylor is a member of the Academy of Country Music, The Country Music Association, and The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Jerry is listed in, or has creative works in, The Country Music Hall of Fame (“The Legend of Johnny Brown Country Opera” Capitol/ Tower Records album, created and produced by the award winning songwriter/producer, Eddie Miller, on which Jerry Naylor sings the lead role of Johnny Brown), The Who’s Who of Country Music, The Who’s Who of Rock and Roll, The Encyclopedia of Country Music, The Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll and his creative works are registered in the United States Library of Congress. Jerry is a member of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, Zeta Phi Chapter. In 1991, Jerry Naylor was inducted into the Marquis’ Who’s Who in the West; in 1993 he was honored in the Marquis’ Who’s Who in Finance and Industry for his contributions to international business consultation; and in 1994, Jerry was inducted into the Marquis’ Who’s Who in Entertainment and Marquis’ Who’s Who in America. In 1998, Jerry Naylor was inducted into the West Texas Music Hall of Fame, and in February, 2001, Jerry was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
In 2007, The Jerry Naylor Company’s production, The Rockabilly Legends, was honored with the “2007 Millennium Award” for overall creative broadcast production quality for its Direct Response Television Marketing (DRTV) 28-Minute television infomercial hosted by Kris Kristofferson and Jerry Naylor and produced by Kent Hofmiester, Scott Petersen and Jerry Naylor.
Jerry Naylor was born on a small farm in the rural community of Chalk Mountain, Erath County, Texas, on March 6, 1939. Jerry married Pamela Ann Robinson in 1966, and they have three grown children, Geoffrey Kendrick Naylor, Gregory Kent Naylor and Dr. Kelli Ann Naylor Dobrzynski, plus six grandchildren.
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