The La De Das - Hey Baby (1967)

Bruce Channel - Hey Baby (1961)

(Margaret Cobb - Bruce Channel)
 USA
Original version
#1 USA #2 UK #5 Melbourne #6 Brisbane #1 Perth

Single on Fort Worth, Texas, label Le Cam, produced by label owner Major Bill Smith and musical director Marvin Montgomery who is on the piano. Released nationally on Smash, a subsidiary of Mercury. Le Cam would have another national hit with Hey Paula by Jill & Ray (renamed Paul & Paula on Philips), released at the end of 1962.

Texan singer-songwriter Bruce Channel was born in Jacksonville TX (1940, as Bruce McMeans) but grew up in Grapevine, a small city in the area now known as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hey Baby was his only US hit but he also charted in Britain with Keep On (1968, #12 UK, YouTube). He eventually quit touring and had a successful career as a songwriter in Nashville.

The harmonica on Hey Baby is by another Texan, Delbert McClinton, Lubbock-born but Fort Worth raised. McClinton gave John Lennon some harmonica tips during a tour of Britain in mid-1962, before Beatlemania. Legend has it that this influenced Lennon's harmonica style, especially as heard on The Beatles' first hit single, Love Me Do (1962). The story has grown until it has McClinton teaching Lennon harmonica, but McClinton himself has graciously toned down the story, and the truth is more complicated anyway: see this discussion at Wikipedia.

Margaret Cobb, the co-writer on Hey Baby, was from Irving, Texas, about 15 miles from Bruce Channel in Grapevine. She is usually mentioned in passing as a friend of Bruce Channel.

Channel was introduced to Mrs Cobb by her brother because she "knew how to write songs" and the young musician wanted to be a songwriter. The pair ended up writing many Channel-Cobb songs, of which Hey Baby was one of several that would later be recorded by Channel.

Cobb, a singer herself, introduced Channel to country banjo star Marvin “Smokey” Montgomery who was also based in the Fort Worth-Dallas area. This was a fruitful contact which led to Channel's first record in 1959 (produced by Montgomery on Fort Worth label Teen Ager) and to the recording two years later of Hey Baby, with Montgomery co-producing and playing piano.

Margaret Cobb, with Marvin Montgomery, became Channel's joint manager, and she organised his fan club. She was also a music publisher, running Marett Music in Irving with Montgomery. Marett Music was associated with Trojan Records, a local label formed in 1963 by Irving singer Don Martin.

Bruce Channel has estimated that Margaret Cobb was 10-15 years his senior so… born c.1925-1930?

News clipping (above): 'Daily News Texan', Irving TX, 29 September 1963.

References, further reading: 1. Tom Simon's Bruce Channel page,  Richie Unterberger's Bruce Channel biography at All Music, and Bruce Channel at BlackCatRockabilly. 2. Interview with Bruce Channel at ClassicBands.com (NB The reference to "Margaret Montgomery" as Channel's joint manager is clearly a misprint for "Marvin Montgomery"). 3. Diana Finlay Hendricks, Delbert McClinton: One of the Fortunate Few, pp 53-54 [Google Books]. 4. Marvin "Smokey" Montgomery obituary, 'Daily Telegraph', 8 June 2001. 5. Marvin Montgomery tribute at Texas State Historical Society. 6. Contemporary news stories from Irving TX: email me for details. 7. "Delbert McClinton explains the myth and legends, including John Lennon’s harmonica lesson", The Star-Telegram Fort Worth Dallas, September 3, 2015. 7. Discography at Bruce Channel Fan Site. See also this discography which lists Bruce Channel songs recorded by others.