FREDDY WELLER
When
Freddy Weller was 8 years old he found an old banjo mandolin in
his Dad's closet. At that point, the Atlanta, Georgia boy found
himself headed down the road to his musical destiny.
While still in high school he was a featured performer on the
Georgia Jubilee, a weekly Atlanta showcase that was broadcast on
Atlanta radio that helped launch the careers of other Atlanta
natives Ray Stevens, Billy Joe Royal, Joe South, and Jerry Reed.
While he was honing his skills as a live performer and a
songwriter, the Atlanta recording community recognized Freddy's
talent as a studio guitar player. Some of his unique licks can
be heard on many of the successful recordings that came out of
Atlanta in the early '60's, including Billy Joe Royal's
"Down In The Boondocks".
On tour with Billy Joe Royal, teenaged Freddy was seen by Paul
Revere and the Raiders, a rising superstar group riding the
waves of Beatlemania like The Stones, The Hollies, The Dave
Clark Five, etc. Freddy's very first appearance with "The
Raiders" was a live appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. He
went on to perform major concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe
and was featured on their weekly TV series which ran for 3
years.
Two other major things happened while Freddy was on tour with
the band. He started writing with Atlanta pal Tommy Roe and Paul
Revere and lead singer Mark Lindsay became interested in Freddy
as a country recording artist.
With Roe, Freddy wrote two of Roe's multi-million selling
records, "Dizzy" and "Jam Up and Jelly
Tight". Dizzy was again a #1 record in England for two
weeks in 1991 by Vic Reeves and the Wonder Stuff.
During a Raiders recording session in Los Angeles, Revere
decided Mark Lindsay should produce some country songs on
Freddy. Freddy's Atlanta buddy Joe South was having a pop hit
record on South's song "Games People
Play" but it wasn't being marketed country. So they
cut what was to be a number #1 country record for Columbia
Records. Freddy was on tour with The Raiders in Europe when the
call came in. That same year he was voted "Most Promising
New Male Country Vocalist" by the Academy of Country Music.
While Freddy continued to record and tour with The Raiders, the
rigors of a dual career became too demanding. After almost 6
years with the band, he moved back to Atlanta to pursue his
first love, country music. Freddy went on to have 30 chart
singles and 11 albums for Columbia and one for ABC Dot Records.
A few years ago, Freddy moved to Nashville to be closer to
country music and the songwriting community. Freddy's
songwriting talent attracted some of Nashville's best like
Spooner Oldham, Dickey Lee, Bobby Fischer, Buzz Cason, Bruce
Burch and Layng Martine. Freddy and Spooner wrote "Lonely
Women Make Good Lovers" a huge hit for Bob Luman and again
for Steve Wariner, and a country standard with a BMI Million
Play Award. It was also used in the Tom Cruise/Dustin Hoffman
megahit movie Rainman.
Some of country's biggest names have recorded Freddy's songs,
including George Jones ("Wrong's What I Do Best"),
Reba McEntire ("They Asked About You"), Doug Stone,
Vern Gosdin ("The Garden"), and John Michael
Montgomery ("She Don't Need A Band To Dance"). Freddy
also had the hit "Big Heart" by the Gibson/Miller
Band, and "She Never Cried (When Ol' Yeller Died)" by
Confederate Railroad.
Freddy Weller's Greatest Hits includes re-makes of some of his
hits, "Games People Play",
"Indian Lake", "The Perfect Stranger",
"Promised Land", Lonely Women, and "Roadmaster"
and Freddy Weller...and Then Some has new country
offerings, "Your Memory Walks Through
Walls", "The Little Hand", "Great American
Honky Tonk Queen", and "Rock And Roll Time
Capsule". All selections were produced by Freddy.
Freddy continues to travel and perform at concerts and festivals
in the US and abroad in England, Germany, The Netherlands and
Switzerland.
