Randy Starr Presley Style: Lost Elvis Songwriter Demos Vol. 1

Randy Starr, born in 1930, successfully completed his dental studies at Columbia College in 1954. Around the same time, he wrote songs that were recorded by Jackie Wilson, Connie Francis, the Kingston Trio and Kay Starr, among others. In 1957 he appeared on the American Bandstand for the first time with his hit After School, and in 1959 he entered the Billboard charts with The Enchanted Sea as the singer of The Islanders. His greatest successes as a songwriter, however, came with a total of 12 compositions personally selected by Elvis Presley, which became part of the soundtracks of Elvis movies. To give Elvis an accurate picture of the songs, Randy Starr produced highly professional recordings in top studios in NY with hand-picked musicians and often himself as the singer. Bear Family is releasing around 70 of these recordings on two CD albums, 12 of which were recorded by Elvis. This first of two CDs contains 35 songs, 6 can be heard in Elvis' version in feature films: Kissin' Cousins ('Kissin' Cousins'), The Yellow Rose Of Texas ('Viva Las Vegas'), Look Out, Broadway ('Frankie And Johnny'), Datin' ('Paradise, Hawaiian Style'), Adam And Evil ('Spinout'), and The Girl I Never Loved ('Clambake'). Only 1 of these demo recordings has been released, 34 of these songs appear here for the first time.