Vintage Rock – September-October 2019

record, his words were, “This record’s gonna

be a monster hit and will last a lifetime. I’m

going to play it on my show!”

This was, of course, a year before the

whole payola scandal broke that ruined

his career. [See page 36 for more]

You know what? Later on, as I got older,

I realised that everyone in the business I

would say was on the take.

Do you remember the very fi rst time you

heard Sleep Walk played on the radio?

Oh, defi nitely. I was leaving the beach at

Coney Island, and as I’m heading towards

the subway, I passed this little kiddie park

with one of those whip rides. As I’m passing

this big speaker, I hear Alan Freed playing

the record. I just stopped cold in my tracks

and said, “Wow! I’m famous!”

What were those legendary Alan Freed

shows at the Brooklyn Fox like?

The shows would begin with a matinee.

Alan would start things off with Sam “The

Man” Taylor and his big band doing a jam,

and they’d also show a movie.

What were the ticket prices? I would

guess around fi ve or six dollars.

If that. I don’t know because I never saw a

ticket! Those shows were like marathons.

We would all do three performances every

day. It was a lot of work, but we were young

and never minded doing it. In fact, I actually

felt like I was living a dream.

Who were some of the acts you and Santo

shared a bill with?

You’d have people like Jackie Wilson,

Sam Cooke, Bo Diddley, The Crests, The

Skyliners, The Isley Brothers, Freddy

Cannon, Etta James, Ben E King...

With so many great performers to

choose from, who would Alan most often

pick to be the headliner?

Jackie would usually be one. What I

remember was all the girls throwing their

panties at him while he was singing, and this

was way before Tom Jones! Jackie was a

great entertainer. He did his job, but he was

also a really nice person. I’d have to say that

all the artists in those days were just regular

people. I don’t think any of the performers

thought of themselves as being superior to

the next person. We were all there for the

same thing. If you were Jackie Wilson, you

were the headliner and you knew it, but you

didn’t come off that way. Sam Cooke was

also a very classy guy. Backstage, we were all

Santo & Johnny were inducted into the

Steel Guitar Hall Of Fame in 2002

GAB

Arc

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Santo & Johnny