More than fifty years ago on September 30, 1958, Buddy Holly produced a record in New York for an unknown singer named Lou Giordano, according to Larry Lehmer’s book The Day the Music Died (p. 41). The B-side of the record was a song written by Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers called “Don’t Cha Know.”
According to Roger White’s book on the Everly Brothers, Walk Right Back, during the recording, Everly and Holly sang backup. But they sang falsetto because they could not afford female singers. Also, because the two singers were under contract with another record company, they did not want anyone to recognize their voices.
Give it a listen. Can you recognize the voices of Buddy Holly and Phil Everly?
The A-side of the Giordano record was a song written by Holly called “Stay Close to Me.” Holly never recorded the song himself, and below is Giordano’s version on YouTube.
Also here is an interesting cover of “Stay Close to Me” by a guy named Ritchie Mars, who plays it a little like Holly might have. Check it out.
Lou Giordano (Lou Jordan)
Giordano had a modest hit with the Holly-produced single, but it did not launch a successful singing career for him. A few websites confuse Giordano with a younger music producer with the same name. The Lou Giordano that Buddy Holly produced changed his performing name to “Lou Jordan” after Holly died.
Giordano had a wonderful voice and the songs he recorded lead one to wonder why he did not become more popular than he did. In 1961, Giordano (as “Lou Jordan”) recorded the record “Paradise for Two / Close Your Eyes” backed by the doo wop group The Chaperones. In 1963, he released another single “Just to Look at You” with the B-side “My Baby.”[See comment below from Giordano’s nephew noting that Giordano passed away in December 1969.]
Giordano’s daughter noted in an article that Holly changed the singer’s life. Another website notes a mystery about the location of Beltone Studios, where the record was made.
Still, Giordano’s small body of recorded music gives us a little insight into another question. It tells us something about the work that Holly might have done as a producer of other artists were he still around today.
What do you think of Holly’s falsetto? Leave your two cents in the comments.
