Jody Reynolds; pioneered music of teenage heartbreak
LOS ANGELES - Jody Reynolds, the 1950s rockabilly singer and songwriter whose only Top 10 hit, "Endless Sleep," was the first of a wave of melodramatic teen tragedy tales, died Nov. 7 in Palm Desert, Calif. He was 75.
He had been in failing health in recent years, according to Alan Clark, a musician who had performed numerous shows with Mr. Reynolds since 1983. The cause of death was not immediately available.
"Endless Sleep," which peaked at number five on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart in 1958, opened the door for a string of similar pop hits, including Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel," Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her," Johnny Preston's "Running Bear," the Everly Brothers' "Ebony Eyes," Dickey Lee's "Patches," and the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack."
Ralph Joseph Reynolds was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1999.
He was born in Denver, but his family moved to Oklahoma when he was a child, and he grew up listening to country music and Western swing acts such as Bob Wills, Hank Thompson, and Eddy Arnold. He started playing guitar in his early teens and formed a band, the Storms, in the early '50s after he had moved to Arizona.
When radio stations started playing the raw, energetic music of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and other rising rockabilly acts, Mr. Reynolds liked what he heard and started emulating it. He told the Phoenix New Times in 2001 that he wrote "Endless Sleep" in 1956, right after listening to Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" five times through on a jukebox.
The ballad unfurled with swooping electric guitar chords and Mr. Reynolds' voice double-tracked and soaked with echo, all contributing to the foreboding atmosphere. His voice fell somewhere between Presley's sad-sexy drawl and Ricky Nelson's boy-next-door conversational style.
The song as written was rejected by several pop record labels as too depressing. He sent a demo version to Los Angeles-based Demon Records, which liked it. Still, executives persuaded Mr. Reynolds to tack on a happy ending in which the guilt-ridden boy spots his girl in the waves, lifts her in his arms, and carries her back safely to shore.
Mr. Reynolds was not happy with the change, but the single went on to sell more than 1 million copies. The follow-up single, "Fire of Love," made it to number 66, and Mr. Reynolds never charted another hit.
"Endless Sleep," though, became a genre classic. It was subsequently recorded by British musician Marty Wilde and became a hit in England. It since has been covered by numerous artists including the Judds, John Fogerty, Billy Idol, Leo Kottke and Hank Williams Jr.
Country singer Bobbie Gentry was playing in Mr. Reynolds' band in the 1960s when she wrote "Ode to Billie Joe," her Southern Gothic spin on the teen tragedy formula.
Reynolds settled in Southern California and continued to write and record his songs, while supporting himself, his wife, and children for many years running a music store in Palm Springs.
He sold several guitars to Presley, whom he considered a friend, including one Presley played prominently on his celebrated NBC-TV "comeback special" in 1968.
Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, signed Mr. Reynolds to his Boxcar Publishing company, with an eye to funneling some of his songs to Presley. But Presley died in 1977 before recording any of the songs Mr. Reynolds had written for him. Mr. Reynolds included one, "Yesterday and Today," on an album he released in 1978.
He also worked as a real estate agent in La Quinta, Calif., when not playing occasional shows, mostly on the rock oldies circuit. "He did real estate, but he didn't talk too much about that to me," Clark said this week.
"He enjoyed songwriting more than anything else, even more than performing."
Mr. Reynolds leaves his wife of 47 years, Judy; two daughters, Malinda Bustos and Marla; a son, Mark; two sisters, Marguerite Honeycutt and Martha Palladine; one grandchild; and one great-grandchild. 