Wayne Handy (born May 14, 1935) is a

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

singer.

Biography

Early life

Wayne Jackson Handy was born on May 14, 1935 in what is now Eden, North Carolina. He grew up in neighboring

Reidsville, North Carolina Reidsville is a city in Rockingham County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 14,580. Reidsville is included in the Greensboro–High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area of the Piedmont T ...

, a once thriving tobacco town and home to the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

. Wayne's father was a farmer and letter carrier, and his mother a housewife. The last of five children, Wayne enjoyed singing popular church songs with his sister, Frances. In 1956 he joined a Reidsville swing dance band called The Blue Flames, for which he provided the vocals.

Music career

In 1957 he was scouted by a local man to come down to

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

and sing on the local television show ''Saturday Night Country Style'' with Jim Thornton. Watching the performance that night was Howard Rambeau, the owner of a small Durham label called Renown Records. Howard called the TV station that night before Wayne left to ask if he wanted to record for Renown. Wayne signed with Renown and released his first single "Say Yeah" in 1957. Authored by Handy, "Say Yeah" was later recorded by rockabilly artist Sammy Salvo, The Southerners, and Ollie Shephard.Bill Millar (2000). "Wayne Handy". In That'll Flat Git It Vol. 9 (pp. 11-12)

D booklet D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...

Hambergen, Germany: Bear Family Records Wayne recorded with some moderately well-known musicians at the time such as The

Melody Master The Melody Masters were a series of first-rate big band musical film shorts produced by Warner Brothers, under the supervision of Samuel Sax at their Vitaphone studio in New York between 1931 and 1939, and in Burbank, California with producer Gordo ...

s, the King Sisters from Danville, Virginia, and the saxophonist

Boots Randolph Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III (June 3, 1927 – July 3, 2007) was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit "Yakety Sax" (which became Benny Hill's signature tune). Randolph was a major part of the "Nashville sound" for most o ...

. In 1957 he was asked to appear in Philadelphia on the television show ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...

'' with

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 198 ...

. After his performance, he was driven back to the airport by a representative from the show who informed Handy that if he wanted ''Bandstand'' to keep playing his songs, he or Renown Records would have to enter into a "

pay to play Pay-to-play, sometimes pay-for-play or P2P, is a phrase used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities. The common denominator of all forms of pay-to-play is that one mus ...

" (also called " payola") deal with the show. Neither Handy nor Renown Records would cooperate. Disillusioned by the music industry, Handy joined the US Army in 1958 and was stationed in Alaska. After his Army enlistment, he returned to North Carolina to enroll at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

and pursue a degree in Business. Handy continued to record with Howard Rambeau off and on until 1962 when his contract with Renown Records ended. In the 1960s and 1970s he collaborated with a musician friend, Harold Langdon, to entertain with original songs at social events as Handy and Landy. They also released one single on the JCP label of Raleigh, N.C. in the early 1960s. Wayne Handy currently resides in North Carolina and is retired from mortgage banking. His music is still appreciated by fans of vintage rock n' roll and rockabilly.

Style

Wayne Handy was influenced by

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

and Chuck Berry, and was part of the original American

movement. His songs ranged from raucous rockabilly to crooning ballads.

Discography

Wayne Handy recorded six singles with Renown Records, which frequently leased Handy's songs to music distributors and publishers including Trend Records, Parkway Records, and Dial Records. All of his recorded songs, except for "You'll Never Be Mine" and "Conscience Let Me Go", were authored by him. His most well-known song was "Say Yeah". Today his songs can be found on multiple compilations of rockabilly and country rock music from the 1950s. The complete list of his published songs: * "Say Yeah" - 1957, Renown Records * "Could It Be" - 1957, Renown Records * "Betcha' Didn't Know" - 1958, Renown Records/ Trend Records * "Seminole Rock n' Roll" - 1958, Renown Records/ Trend Records * "Don't Be Unfair" - 1958 Renown Records/ Trend Records * "I'll Never Be the Same" - 1959, Renown Records * "I Think You Oughta' Look Again" - 1959, Renown Records/ Trend Records * "Problem Child" - 1959, Renown Records * "So Much to Remember" - 1960, Renown Records/Parkway Records * "You'll Never Be Mine" - 1960, Renown Records/Parkway Records * "Pain Reliever" - 1961, Renown Records/ Dial Records * "Conscience Let Me Go" - 1961, Renown Records/ Dial Records Wayne Handy's name is erroneously printed as "Wayne C. Handy" on some of his singles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handy, Wayne Jackson American rockabilly musicians Singers from North Carolina American rock singers People from Eden, North Carolina 1935 births Living people Country musicians from North Carolina