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Biography: Leon Russell Tulsa OK
Leon Russell is BIG when it comes to music. He is a musical genius. Living in Tulsa, he's got tentacles that reaches into Nashville, New York, and Los Angeles. I have never personally met the man myself, but I am sure that I have some CDs around here that have his name on. I will go through some of them and see if he was on any that has him playing a session. My best guess would be The Tractors, ... who are originally from Tulsa, and to my knowledge, their still there. The following are not my words, but you can find them on a fan sight somewhere. We have The Tractors' Christmas CD.

The ultimate rock & roll session man, Leon Russell's long and storied career includes collaborations with a virtual who's who of music icons spanning from Clapton and The Tractors to Taj Mahal and Jerry Lee Lewis to Phil Spector to the Rolling Stones

A similar eclecticism and scope also surfaced in his solo work, which couched his charmingly gravelly voice in a rustic yet rich swamp pop fusion of country, blues and gospel. Born Claude Russell Bridges on April 2, 1942, in Lawton, OK, he began studying classical piano at age three, a decade later adopting the trumpet and forming his first band.

At 14, Russell lied about his age to land a gig at a Tulsa nightclub, playing behind Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks before touring in support of Jerry Lee Lewis. Two years later, he settled in Los Angeles, studying guitar under the legendary James Burton and appearing on sessions with Dorsey Burnette and Glen Campbell. As a member of Spector's renowned studio group, Russell played on many of the finest pop singles of the 1960s, also arranging classics like Ike & Tina Turner's monumental "River Deep, Mountain High"; other hits bearing his input include the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man," Gary Lewis & the Playboys' "This Diamond Ring," and Herb Alpert's "A Taste of Honey."

In 1967, Russell built his own recording studio, teaming with guitarist Marc Benno to record the acclaimed Look Inside the Asylum Choir LP. While touring with Delaney & Bonnie, he scored his first songwriting hit with Joe Cocker's reading of "Delta Lady," and in 1970, upon founding his own Shelter Records imprint, he also organized Cocker's legendary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour.

After the subsequent tour film earned Russell his first real mainstream notoriety, he issued a self-titled solo LP, and in 1971 appeared at George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh following sessions for B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan. After touring with the Rolling Stones, Russell increasingly focused on his solo career, reaching the number two spot with 1972's Carny and scoring his first pop hit with the single "Tight Rope."

While the success of 1973's three-LP set Leon Live further established his reputation as a top concert draw, response to the country inspired studio effort Hank Wilson's Back was considerably more lukewarm, as was the reception afforded to 1974's Stop All That Jazz. 1975's Will O' the Wisp, however, restored his commercial luster, thanks in large part to the lovely single "Lady Blue."

In June of 1975, Russell married singer Mary McCreary; the following year the couple collaborated on The Wedding Album, issued through his newly formed Paradise Records label. Also in 1976, the Russell-penned "This Masquerade" earned a Grammy Award for singer George Benson. He and McCreary reunited for 1977's Make Love to the Music, and upon completing the solo Americana, Russell teamed with Willie Nelson for 1979's Willie & Leon. He then spent the next two years touring with his bluegrass band, the New Grass Revival, issuing a live LP in 1981; although Paradise shut down later that year, the label was reactivated for 1984's Hank Wilson, Vol. II and Solid State.

Russell spent the remainder of the decade largely outside of music and did not resurface until issuing the Bruce Hornsby produced Anything Can Happen in 1992. The album appeared to little fanfare, however, and another long period of relative inactivity followed prior to the 1998 release of Hank Wilson, Vol. 3: Legend in My Time. Face in the Crowd appeared a year later. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

So, is Russell in The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame?


All Leon Russell Albums

Leon Russell

Date of birth (location)
2 April 1942
Lawton, Oklahoma, USA
Trivia
Mentioned in the song "Life Is a Rock But the Radio Rolled Me" by Reunion. (show more)

Tirk Wilder

Tirk shared his creativity and success worldwide when he wrote the theme song for the mega-hit CBS television show, "Walker Texas Ranger", starring Chuck Norris The song was debuted by Tirk and Chuck Norris live on CBS TV from Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth, Texas. For this composition, titled "The Eyes Of The Ranger", Tirk has received the prestigious BMI TV Music Award for three consecutive years.

Tirk Wilder has long been a successful signer / songwriter and entertainer. On the heels of a record contract with RCA Victor, he appeared on stage with such greats' as Jerry Lee Lewis, Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Syndicate of Sound ("Hey, Little Girl"), Willis Allen Ramsey ("Muskrat Love"), Dickie Betts (lead guitar player of the Allman Brothers), Black Oak Arkansas, David Allen Coe, Earl Thomas Conley, and many others. Tirk was featured numerous times as guest artist with CO-host Mary Hart, now of "Entertainment Tonight". In addition to many solo performances, he toured throughout the country as keyboard player for country music sensation, Toby Keith.

Tirk's brand new CD contains the original and uncut version of "The Eyes Of The Ranger", along with ten other songs, including the widely acclaimed "Mississippi Delta Queen", "Zihuatanejo", and "Darker Shade of Blue".

Born in Syracuse, New York, raised in Columbus, Indiana, Tirk has lived and performed in such diverse places as New Orleans, Los Angeles, (podunk) Oklahoma City, OK, and Taipei, Taiwan. He now resides in Nashville, Tennessee where he is an active Pro Member of the Nashville Songwriters' Association International and the Songwriter's Guild. Tirk Continues to share his talent and expertise through independent projects, his song critique service, and songwriting seminars


Tirk Wilder composed the theme song for Walker Texas Ranger "The Eyes Of The Ranger" winning three consecutive BMI awards. Read all about the story and how Tirk Wilder came to write the theme song for this successful TV series.

“When I started out, I was absolutely awful, I had no voice, I didn’t have a lot of stage presence and most of the [interpretive] intensity that I brought to the experience was actually terror.”—Jimmy Webb (Jimmywebb.com)

This is one of the greatest songs ever written. I have tried memorizing it, but just don't sing it enough to memorize. Go to his page and then click on his biography. It is long. Read the quote above. Now read it again. What happens to Jimmy when he gets on the stage? Anybody? Anybody?

What that means is that Jimmy has a HUGE problem with "stage fright," and he still has it today. A few years ago, I was watching the Today Show, when Jimmy was on. He had a new song he wanted to sing and introduce on the Today Show, to the world. Well, ... half way through, he stopped and said, "I can't remember the words."

He was devastated. Glen Cambell has sung a lot of his songs and has made him a millionaire, but Jimmy simple can't get up in front of a group and perform. Do you have stage frieght? I used to have it, and it was no fun.

You will find that Jimmy has over 120 songs he has produced. I plead with you to go visit his webpage and leave a message. What are some of his songs?

I am a Lineman for the COUNTY.
The cake song.
Galveston.
(See if you can find out some of the other songs titles that he has written.) He is an excellent piano player. I'll bet that what frieghtens him, is that he knows he isn't a professional musician. A professional would be one that graduated from Oklahoma City University, or like our daughter, Holli, who graduated from Cameron University with a degree in Piano Performance.

Go to Jimmy's Web - jimmywebb.com and read all about him.

Mike Settle was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 20, 1941. His first step into the musical waters came when he was in 7th or 8th grade and bought that magical four stringed instrument popularized in Hawaii, an eight dollar and some odd change ukulele. The songwriter/singer told AMG "that was a lot of money to a kid at the time", funds that Settle had earned caddying for his dad and the senior Mr. Settle's golfing buddies.

Michael learned how to play the instrument out of a book, but had been singing in front of relatives and people at school when he was in first and second grade. He honed his craft in the late fifties during three or four years with The Tulsa Boys Singers choir of Tulsa, Oklahoma, an organization which still exists today. It's also where Mike learned to sight read watching the notes as he sang with the choir. With positive feedback from his teachers in the 8th grade he continued his musical efforts, the pivotal moment coming when his high school choral director, Tom Hayden of Muskogee High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma, encouraged the aspiring musician.

His next big influence happened when he met a fellow musical student at Oklahoma City University, Mason Williams, a future comedy writer for The Smothers Brothers and composer/performer of the big 1968 hit "Classical Gas". Williams formed a folk trio in college and this introduced Mike Settle to the coffee house scene. He dropped out of college to tour with John Stewart's group, The Cumberland Three, and though Settle is not on any of their albums, he did one or two singles with the group. When John Stewart joined The Kingston Trio Mike formed a duo with Mason Williams until Williams was drafted into the Navy. Bob Gibson got him a job as an opening act at The Bitter End in New York City and Mike drove to the big apple to perfect his craft there.

As a folk singer he stayed in New York five to six years and played the club on and off, managed for a time by The Bitter End's owner Fred Weintraub. He tried to put a band together in New York, which didn't gel, but was told by his publisher, The Richmond Organization, about an opening in California with The New Christy Minstrels. After meeting people from The Richmond Organization with John Stewart Mike remembered how nice those folks were to a 19 year old kid in New York City. They treated him like they were people from Oklahoma, so when Mason Williams and he wrote a few songs together, and Mike had a couple of his own, they mailed them to The Richmond Organization and got a publishing deal. As that company got "But You Know I Love You" they still have a relationship with the composer to this day.

Brought to the West Coast by George Greif and Sid Garris of Greif/Garris Management, he was made musical director of The New Christy Minstrels. They then asked him to audition Kenny Rogers, an audition held over the telephone. Mike kept asking the future country superstar to sing louder into the phone- to Rogers' embarrassment - he was in a hotel lobby! Settle heard a "great range and a great sound" in Kenny's voice. "I was rubber stamping what George & Sid decided to do" Mike told AMG October 28, 2002 during an interview for this bio.

Mike, Kenny, Thelma Camacho and Terry Williams left The New Christy Minstrels to form The First Edition and they hit on Reprise with the psychedelic classic "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In". Managed by Ken Kragen and Ken Fritz the group appeared on all sorts of television programs, Ruth Lyons show in Cincinnati, The Mike Douglas Show, The Smothers Brothers (also managed by Kragen & Fritz), The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Upon the release of the single "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" the band name became Kenny Rogers & The First Edition. Settle left the group to be with his family before the band got their own TV show. But of his experience in The First Edition he says "It was a great time; the economics of making a record were not nearly what they are today".

He remembers being on FM radio in Denver and perhaps a half a dozen other cities when FM was a baby, and the d.j. would play their full album on the air along with interviewing the group. He cut a solo album for Uni Records entitled Mike Settlein 1971 and wrote three songs for the film soundtrack Vanishing Pointthat same year. Settle performed on TV for a folk music special with Alex Hassilev, and Dave Guard in 1974 - the trio doing a few club gigs after that program. He joined Glenn Yarborough and The Limelighters towards the end of the late seventies/early eighties becoming musical director for them as well.

The official BMI site has 127 original Mike Settle tunes posted, including the BMI Award Winning Song "But You Know I Love You" which has been recorded by The First Edition, Kenny Rogers solo, Dolly Parton, with a new version released in 2002 by Alison Krause. His songs have been covered by Glen Campbell, Judy Collins, Bobby Goldsboro, Barbara Lewis, The Springfields featuring Dusty Springfield, Wayne Newton and many many others. The producer/songwriter/journalist lives in Nashville penning new songs as well as writing a plethora of reviews of current recordings for Jeff Craig's radio program. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide

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Notice that I did not put my name on that, but put the writer's name down. That is called "Professionalism." You should never put your name down on something copied from the Internet. You are free to copy stuff on the Internet, as long as you are not going to make money on it. The Copyright Law, in the US, says, that you can use copyrighted material for educational purposes, and that is what we are doing here.

The first time I ever heard Kenny Rogers was "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" which was with the First Edition. It would do you well if you looked up everyone of the mentioned names in the paragraph, 2 paragraphs above. It is incredible. Once you have written a great song, and other people sing it, you get royalties off of it.

Mike now lives near Nashville, and writes songs for a living. I'm betting he is living a pretty plush live, wouldn't you think.

But the song that blew me away, was "But You Know I Love You," which is about a singer that has to be on the road all the time and misses his wife. Here the song is. The chording is not easy. It is easy until you get to the 'bridge/chorus,' then you have to memorize all the changes.

BUT YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU
Kenny Rogers & The First Edition

When the morning sun
Streaks across my room
And I've waken up
From another dream of you
BR
Yes I'm on the road
BR
Once again it seems
BR
All I've left behind
BR
Is a chain of broken dreams
BR
REFRAIN

But you know I love you
BR
Yes I love you
BR
Oh I love you

The BRIDGE-Hard Chording
How I wish that love
(??-line unclear)
What a life we'd live
Cause I've got so much to give
And it seems so wrong
Deep inside my heart
That the dollar sign
Should be keeping us apart

REFRAIN Difficult Chording.

And if I could only find my way back to the time
When the problems of this life of mine didn't cross our minds
All the answers were found in children's nursery rhymes
I'd come running back to you
I'd come running back to you
And you know we can't
Live on dreams alone
Just to pay the rent
I must leave you all alone
But you know I made my choice
Many years ago
Now this traveling life
Is the only one I know
BR
REFRAIN (four times)
BR
REFRAIN (three times while fading)
BR

Can you imagine someone writing this song, who was, at the time, a newbie to the music industry. See if you can find a page where it has the chords on it. I can play it, but I have to have the music with me.

Got some bad news today. I will not be entering my song in the Woody Guthrie Festival, this year. You have to submit songs between, January 3rd and April. So this year's winners have all been anounced. Now I can get mad and have a temper tantrum. Wrong. I have nearly a half a year to learn Garageband 3, and I can put my song on it and work on it. Then I can burn it to a CD and sending it in sometime in January.

With Mikes song, he now has a house near Nashville and lives comfortably of his royalties. Is that cool or what? I am interested in writing songs as well, as you well know. Now, I will intruduce you to another Oklahoma Genius.