Born Erastus Michael, "Razzy" Bailey has spent over 50 years in the music business. He made his first country recordings in 1949, at the tender age of 10, but amounted to little more than a novelty child act. After high school he married and had a family, which forced him to work day jobs and only perform sporadically between 1956 and 1966.
In 1966, he submitted a number of demos to Atlantic Records, and one of the house producers, Bill Lowery, agreed to take him under his wing. Bailey’s recordings for Atlantic (which included a house band featuring Freddy Weller from …entire summary
Doug Martin - keyboard
Roy Spordon - rhythm guitar
Mark Ferguson - lead guitar
Dick Manette - drums
Milton Gavender - bass
Horn section - unknown
Born Erastus Michael, "Razzy" Bailey has spent over 50 years in the music business. He made his first country recordings in 1949, at the tender age of 10, but amounted to little more than a novelty child act. After high school he married and had a family, which forced him to work day jobs and only perform sporadically between 1956 and 1966.
In 1966, he submitted a number of demos to Atlantic Records, and one of the house producers, Bill Lowery, agreed to take him under his wing. Bailey’s recordings for Atlantic (which included a house band featuring Freddy Weller from Paul Revere and The Raiders and a then-unknown Billy Joel), failed to garner any significant sales, and two other projects - a pop band called Daily Bread, and another solo venture under the name Razzy - also failed.
By 1976, he had resigned himself to leaving the music industry, when one of his songs, "9,999,999 Tears,” from the ’66 Atlantic sessions, was re-cut by country artist Dickey Lee. Lee took the song to #3, and cut another Bailey original, "Peanut Butter,” which hit the Top 20. The renewed interest in his songs prompted Bailey to reshape his own career as a performer and recording artist. He was signed to RCA, and released the single "What Time Do You Have to Be Back in Heaven" in 1978, the first of five Top 10 country hits that he'd receive up until 1981.
This show was recorded on St. Patrick’s Day in 1982, at New York’s famed Savoy Theater. Originally recorded as a live broadcast on WKHK-FM for the Silver Eagle Cross Country Radio Concert Series, this performance features several original Bailey hits such as "Midnight Hauler,” as well as his covers of pop classics like "Old Time Rock & Roll,” "The Green Green Grass At Home” and Willie Nelson’s "Night Life.”
collapse