As a kid in high school in the mid 60s, I saw Billy J. Kramer on a British invasion tour. A Merseybeat singer, he was managed by Brian Epstein, who also managed the Beatles, and he recorded several original Lennon and McCartney compositions. The next time I saw Kramer was at tribute to Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five at B.B. Kings in 2005. It was a reunion concert with many great acts making a comeback. What I noticed about Kramer at the 2005 concert was the cool jacket he was wearing—one emblazed with beautiful tapestry. Last night, at Iridium, I was waiting on some friends at the Denny Laine show, when I noticed a man wearing that same jacket out of the corner of my eye. The man looked a bit like Billy J. Kramer so I introduced myself. I told him I recognized the jacket and thought it might be him. It was. He had been visiting with his old friend, Denny Laine. He told me he is working on some new material for a CD and will be doing a show soon at the Cutting Room in New York City. I told him I had seen him in high school and would definitely come to see his new show. His story is remarkable. The performing name Kramer was chosen at random from a telephone directory. It was John Lennons suggestion that the J be added to the name to further distinguish him by adding a tougher edge. Kramer soon came to the attention of Brian Epstein, ever on the look-out for new talent to add to his expanding roster of local artists. Kramer turned professional but his then backing group, the Coasters, were less keen, so Epstein sought out the services of a Manchester-based group, the Dakotas, a combo then backing Pete MacLaine. Even then, the Dakotas would not join Kramer without a recording contract of their own. Once in place, the deal was set and both acts signed to Parlophone under George Martin. Collectively, they were named Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas to keep their own identities within the act. Once the Beatles broke through, the way was paved for a tide of Merseybeat and Kramer was offered the chance to cover Do You Want to Know a Secret?, first released by the Beatles on their own debut album, Please Please Me. The track had been turned down by Shane Fenton (later known as Alvin Stardust) who was looking for a career-reviving hit. With record producer George Martin, the song Do You Want to Know a Secret? was a number two UK Singles Chart hit in 1963, and was backed by another tune otherwise unreleased by the Beatles, Ill Be on My Way. After this impressive breakthrough another Lennon–McCartney pairing, Bad to Me c/w I Call Your Name, reached number one. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Ill Keep You Satisfied ended the year with a respectable number four placing. Kramer was given a series of songs specially written for him by John Lennon and Paul McCartney which launched him into stardom. Ill Keep You Satisfied, From a Window, I Call Your Name and Bad to Me earned him appearances on the television programs, Shindig!, Hullabaloo and The Ed Sullivan Show. (Kramer had also been offered Lennon–McCartneys Im In Love, and recorded a version in October 1963. In the end, it was shelved and the song was instead given to the Fourmost. In the 1990s, a Kramer CD compilation album included Kramers version, as well as some recording studio banter on which John Lennons voice could be heard). The Dakotas, meanwhile, enjoyed Top 20 success in 1963 on their own with Mike Maxfields composition The Cruel Sea, an instrumental retitled The Cruel Surf in the U.S., which was subsequently covered by the Ventures. This was followed by a George Martin creation, Magic Carpet, in which an echo-laden piano played the melody alongside Maxfields guitar. But it missed out altogether and it was a year before their next release. All four tracks appeared on an EP later that year. The three hits penned by Lennon and McCartney suggested that Kramer would always remain in the Beatles shadow, unless he tried something different. Despite being advised against it, he turned down the offer of another Lennon–McCartney song, One and One Is Two, and insisted on recording the Stateside chart hit Little Children. It became his second chart topper and biggest hit. In the United States this was followed up with Bad to Me. Little Children b/w Bad To Me is the only debut single of an act on the Hot 100, each of whose sides separately reached that charts top 10 (No. 7 and No. 9, respectively). Despite this success Kramer went backwards with his second and last UK single of 1964, the Lennon–McCartney composition From a Window, which only just became a Top Ten hit. The year 1965 saw the end for the beat music boom, and the next Kramer single was Its Gotta Last Forever, which harked back to a ballad approach. In a year where mod-related music from the likes of the Who prevailed, the single missed completely. Kramers cover version of Bacharach and Davids Trains and Boats and Planes saw off Anita Harris version in the UK, reaching a respectable number 12, but was trounced by that of Dionne Warwick in the U.S., and turned out to be the groups swansong, as all subsequent releases failed to chart. The Dakotas ranks were then strengthened by the inclusion of Mick Green, formerly a guitarist with the London band the Pirates who backed Johnny Kidd. This line-up cut a few tracks which were at odds with the balladeers usual fare. These included a take on When You Walk in the Room and Sneakin Around. The Dakotas final outing whilst with Kramer was the blues-driven Oyeh!, but this also flopped. After releasing Were Doing Fine, which also missed the charts, the singer and group parted company. Kramer, then living in Rugby, Warwickshire, had a solo career over the next ten to fifteen years or so working in cabaret and television with his new band, again from the Manchester area, consisting of Pete Heaton (bass), John Miller (drums) and Tim Randles (guitar), after which he eventually went to live in the United States. Cramer is finishing a new CD and will perform soon at the Cutting Room in New York City. Here is Kramer performing “Bad to Me,” a John Lennon composition, in 1965.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 05:04:38 +0000
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