'Endless sleep' was originally written and recorded by American singer Jody Reynolds in early 1958. He wrote it in a single afternoon in 1956 in Yuma, Arizona. After it reached number 5 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1958, Marty Wilde quickly recorded a version to be released in the UK. This was a common practice at that time, offering a chance for UK artists to score with proven stateside hits.
Marty Wilde's 'Abergavenny' is one of those songs that never fails to get me in a good mood. I love its kitsch appeal and the pure craftmanship of the songwriter. Marty entered the 1968 Knokke festival in Belgium with this song. This single is a Belgian pressing of 'Abergavenny', released on the occasion of that festival. Subsequently Marty had a European hit. Meanwhile, 'Abergavenny' was criminally overlooked in the UK.
I always get a kick out of buying really old singles, and this one is almost 50 years old. Marty Wilde released 'Tomorrow's clown' in October 1961, and reached number 33 in the UK singles charts with it.
I wouldn't be surprised if people in 1960 compared Marty Wilde with Elvis Presley, as he sounds a lot like him on these recordings. 'Little girl' was Marty's eighth hit single in the UK, peaking at number 16 at the end of the year.
Released in October 1962, 'Ever since you said goodbye' would turn out to be Marty Wilde's last chart hit in the UK. It reached number 31 during a 7 week chart run.
Marty Wilde himself wrote 'Bad boy'. Until then, his hits had been covers of American rock 'n' roll songs. It proved to be his last top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at number 7 in early 1960. The song was also a top 50 hit in the USA. Shortly after its release, it was covered by Robin Luke, in 1964 by Françoise Hardy and later by Nirvana and Robert Gordon.
Marty Wilde's career took off after he released his fourth single, 'Endless sleep', which reached number 4 in the UK singles chart. But if you think it was smooth sailing from then on, you're badly mistaken: his next two singles failed to hit the charts just like his first three did.
'Sea of love' was written by John Philip Baptiste and George Khoury. Baptiste, who was working as a bellboy in Lake Charles, Louisiana (USA), wrote the song for a love interest. He was introduced to local record producer George Khoury, who brought Baptiste into his studio to record the song. At Khoury's request, Baptiste took the stage name of Phil Phillips. It was his only chart hit in the USA; subsequent singles failed to chart.
In June 1959, Marty Wilde released the single that he would forever be associated with, the immortal 'A teenager in love'. It reached number 2 in the UK singles chart during a 17 week chart run. Although his career as a teenage idol was short (and cut short partly because he got married six months later), his hits gave him an appeal that lives on even to this day. Having been at two live concerts, I have seen with my own eyes how his fans of those days are still enraptured by his stage presence whenever he performs in the UK.
After his daughter Kim had some success with her first two albums, father Marty decided to get back into the game as well. He signed with Kaleidoscope Records, a small subsidiary of Epic Records, and released this cover of the Roy Orbison track 'In dreams'.
When his daughter Kim made it big in 1981, partially thanks to his own songwriting, Marty Wilde decided to try and record another disc himself, too. This single was one of the results. Released on the small Kaleidoscope label, it featured a modern-sounding (for that time) production.
As a fan of Kim Wilde, I was rather late in discovering the music of Marty Wilde. As 'Abergavenny' had been a hit in the Netherlands, I knew that song, but his earlier work eluded me until the Nineties. After I'd discovered great songs like 'Jezebel' and 'Teenager in love', I started hunting for these singles - but they are incredibly hard to come by.
On the occasion of his daughter Roxanne's wedding today, I thought it might be nice to get out a real classic today: Marty Wilde's 'Abergavenny'. While all of the UK knows him for his hits beween 1958 and 1962, the European continent was more impressed with this song from 1968. Marty performed it at the Knokke festival, and subsequently had a great European hit on his hands: in the Netherlands the song peaked at number 5. The song also became a top 50 hit in America under Marty's pseudonym Shannon. 'Abergavenny' also appears on Marty's 1969 album 'Diversions', a collection of truly great songs including 'Jesamine', the 1968 hitsong he wrote for the Casuals.
