Archie Bleyer

Archie Bleyer had a long career in the music business as a bandleader, recording artist, producer, and label owner. He will be principally remembered as the founder of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence+Records%22">Cadence Records</a>, which had hits in the 1950s and early '60s with <a href="spotify:artist:4sj6D0zlMOl25nprDJBiU9">Andy Williams</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:62GnBjssWSXBlKvQohT2Bk">the Chordettes</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:36msvw9B10rxW90NSQ2794">Johnny Tillotson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4i9IEoaY6Q1v3Puqz3PwC1">Lenny Welch</a>, and Bleyer himself. He'll be most remembered, though, as the man who produced <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">the Everly Brothers</a> in the late '50s, when the duo had most of their biggest and most famous hit singles.

Bleyer's roots were in the big-band era. He was leading his own dance band by 1934, which recorded for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Brunswick%22">Brunswick</a> in the '30s, and featured <a href="spotify:artist:5cBHm2CXrbncYIDzrxF4Vi">Johnny Mercer</a>, who went on to become an important label entrepreneur himself (at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Capitol+Records%22">Capitol Records</a>). He worked in radio and television in the '40s and '50s, leading the orchestra on <a href="spotify:artist:2qh0WzH1j0QXhPrYriCNPU">Arthur Godfrey</a>'s TV programs. At the end of 1952, he started <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence+Records%22">Cadence Records</a>, primarily to record one of the <a href="spotify:artist:2qh0WzH1j0QXhPrYriCNPU">Godfrey</a> television stars, singer <a href="spotify:artist:1yhv5zp6IYFYpboAm7Fdlm">Julius LaRosa</a>. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> recorded other regulars from the <a href="spotify:artist:2qh0WzH1j0QXhPrYriCNPU">Godfrey</a> series, and also put out records by Bleyer himself. One of those, the tango "Hernando's Hideaway" (from the musical Pajama Game), made number two in 1954, and Bleyer also had a small hit in 1956 with the <a href="spotify:artist:0e8WTsKHdhxtwPgT8gdQ1a">Steve Allen</a> song "The Rockin' Ghost."

With <a href="spotify:artist:4sj6D0zlMOl25nprDJBiU9">Andy Williams</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:62GnBjssWSXBlKvQohT2Bk">the Chordettes</a>, Bleyer edged toward a more contemporary sound that, while not quite rock & roll, at least used material that was rock-influenced (or covers of songs by more genuine rock artists). In 1956, Bleyer had rejected a demo tape for <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">the Everly Brothers</a>, who had already recorded unsuccessfully for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Columbia%22">Columbia</a>. A few months later, however, he signed them to a contract after a recommendation from heavyweight music publisher Wesley Rose. From the <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">Everlys</a>' first hit ("Bye Bye Love") to the end of the '50s, Bleyer was their producer, overseeing a classic body of work both on the hit singles and their B-sides and albums. Credit is due to many other people besides <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">the Everlys</a> and Bleyer for this music, including songwriters <a href="spotify:artist:6WfucvCCmMfS1oYn0DtWFJ">Boudleaux & Felice Bryant</a>, and session musicians like <a href="spotify:artist:4dZrt8Ong5t7YYpvbfp0RU">Chet Atkins</a>. Bleyer deserves kudos, though, for producing end results that emphasized the <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">Everlys</a>' innovations, without trying to add too much to what was already there; their sound was clean and uncluttered.

In 1960, the <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">Everlys</a>' contract with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> expired, and they decided to move to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Bros%22">Warner Bros</a>. Some critics feel that they never regained the purity of their <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> material, and after a strong start at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Bros%22">Warner Bros</a> with hit singles like "Cathy's Clown," they stopped visiting the Top Ten after 1962. Although it is true that by 1962 the <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">Everlys</a>' material and recordings were more erratic than they had ever been at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a>, it's also true that their best <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Bros%22">Warner Bros</a> songs were outstanding, sometimes boasting a fullness (as on "Cathy's Clown" and "Walk Right Back") that the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> sessions didn't match. Bleyer was unable to keep <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">the Everly Brothers</a> primarily because, as a small label, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> was unable to match the packages offered to one of the hottest pop recording acts of the era by bigger concerns like <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warners%22">Warners</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">The Everlys</a> were also tiring of being caught in the middle of differences between Bleyer and Wesley Rose, particularly in regards to the material selected for their discs.

<a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">The Everlys</a> themselves have offered mixed appraisal of the Bleyer era. <a href="spotify:artist:5MqHV0u9A2p063l74XqwBi">Don Everly</a> has criticized Bleyer's musical taste as being out of date with where <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">the Everlys</a> were headed. <a href="spotify:artist:0oOmVBBL9JieZXycYfjZXT">Phil Everly</a> and others involved with the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> sessions, however, note that Bleyer had an excellent ear for what was commercial. <a href="spotify:artist:0oOmVBBL9JieZXycYfjZXT">Phil Everly</a> also married Bleyer's stepdaughter, Jackie Ertel (daughter of <a href="spotify:artist:62GnBjssWSXBlKvQohT2Bk">Chordettes</a> singer Janet Ertel Bleyer), in 1963, which must have made for some interesting awkwardness at family get-togethers.

<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> continued to have some hits in the early '60s with teen idols such as <a href="spotify:artist:36msvw9B10rxW90NSQ2794">Johnny Tillotson</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3JJYPOCM13Id9iZHtkwkI5">Eddie Hodges</a>, as well as the massive pop ballad "Since I Fell for You" by <a href="spotify:artist:4i9IEoaY6Q1v3Puqz3PwC1">Lenny Welch</a> in 1963 (which Bleyer produced) and the huge selling President Kennedy satire by comedian <a href="spotify:artist:7puHOOkBptjZdOow1mRA4P">Vaughn Meader</a>, The First Family. Bleyer lost several of his biggest acts besides <a href="spotify:artist:4ACplpEqD6JIVgKrafauzs">the Everly Brothers</a> to bigger labels, though, and shut down <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cadence%22">Cadence</a> in 1964, selling the masters to <a href="spotify:artist:4sj6D0zlMOl25nprDJBiU9">Andy Williams</a>. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi