Frank Sinatra's Capitol Records comeback in the 1950s had a profound effect on a generation of male nightclub singers. Many of them identified with Sinatra's solitary cool, his ring-a-ding swing and his middle-age male push-back against Elvis Presley and the rise of rock 'n' roll. The launch of the 12-inch pop album mid-decade also offered many of these vocalists recording opportunities and the hope that they'd become the next singing sensation. When Sinatra started Reprise Records in 1960, a number of these male singers saw an opening as Capitol began shopping around for Sinatra's successor at the label.
One of these vocalists was Peter Brady. Born in Toronto and raised in Indiana and North Carolina, Brady studied to be a medical doctor at Indiana University and sang his way through school at Chicago clubs. One thing led to the next and he recorded his first album—How the West Was Swung—for RCA in 1962. The album was arranged and conducted by Bob Florence and featured members of the Tonight Show and Woody Herman bands.
In 1963, Brady brought a polished band-backed tape of himself singing 11 songs to Capitol. He had self-produced the spec tape for $10,000 ($80,000 in today's dollars). Capitol executives liked what they heard. The label not only refunded Brady the cost of the album but also paid him $5,000 to re-record his vocals at Studio A in Hollywood with fresh arrangements.
Here's where the story gets interesting. The label assigned the album to Bill Miller (above), a seasoned Capitol producer (not the same Bill Miller who was Sinatra's piano player). Miller hired Shorty Rogers and Marty Paich to arrange and conduct. They brought in top band musicians, including Al Porcino and Conte Candoli on trumpets, Urbie Green on trombone, Jimmy Rowles on piano and Joe Mondragon on bass.
When the album was completed, it was released in 1965 as Peter Brady: An Exciting New Voice on the Move. As Brady told Philip Booth of the St. Petersburg Times in 2002, Capitol provided strong marketing support that ensured the single released from the album—The Masquerade Is Over—would receive heavy radio rotation in key markets. They also placed Brady on TV's Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show. Then Brady hit the nightclub circuit.
But Capitol's interest in Sinatra-like stylists faded fast after the album's release in '65. The label focused instead on the Beatles and the Beach Boys among a growing stable of other successful rock artists aimed at the expanding teen market. This would be Brady's sole Capitol release.
In 1970, Brady was appearing in the lounge at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas when he played in a celebrity tennis tournament. During a doubles match, Brady's partner went for a backhand shot and accidentally hit him in the throat with his aluminum racket. The blow, Brady told Booth damaged his larynx, and the injury hampered his vocal range and prevented him from singing for decades.
As you might imagine, Capitol's An Exciting New Voice on the Move is superb. Brady's voice has a swinging casual warmth and plenty of power, akin to Dick Haymes and David Allyn. I suspect that Marty Paich (above) handled the string charts while Shorty Rogers took on the brassy numbers. The orchestral ballads include Who Are We (new at the time from Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster), Here I'll Stay, For All We Know, Young and Foolish and Mam'selle.
The band numbers include Something Happens to Me, Things Are Swinging, Funny, Secret Love and Lillette. The Masquerade Is Over is a mid-tempo swinger with brass and strings. The fact that Paich and Rogers arranged and conducted makes this unknown album significant. Add Porcino, Rowles and the rest of the musicians on the date and it's an album that deserves to be preserved in the digital age. [Photo above of Shorty Rogers and the Monkees' Michael Nesmith in 1967]
Yesterday I must have listened to the album a dozen times and I'm still not tired of it. The song choices, arrangements and Brady's phrasing all make this album a winner. A shame Capitol didn't record several more albums with Brady. But by 1965, the definition of a pop hit was changing fast.
As far as I can tell, Peter Brady lives in Florida today.
JazzWax tracks: Peter Brady: An Exciting New Voice on the Move (Capitol) is available only on original vinyl and is begging to be re-issued digitally. You'll find it on LP at Amazon and eBay.
JazzWax clips: Here's Funny...
Here's Something Happens to Me (dig Al Porcino's high notes on trumpet)...
And here's Things Are Swingin'....
To read my multipart interview with trumpeter Al Porcino, go here.
A special thanks to Todd Selbert, Doug Paterson and Dennis Galloway.
