Janis Martin
Encyclopedia
Janis Darlene Martin was an American
rockabilly
and country music
singer. She was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock and roll music field during the 1950s and one of country music's early female innovators. Martin was nicknamed the Female Elvis for her dance moves on stage, similar to those of Elvis Presley
.
, east of Danville
. Her mother was a stage mother, and her father and uncle were both musicians. Before she was six, Martin was already singing and playing the guitar, inspired by Eddy Arnold
and Hank Williams. She was soon a fixture in talent shows and other contests, and won many. She started appearing on Old Dominion Barn Dance
on WRVA at age of 11. When she was in her mid-teens, she was appearing with country singers including Arnold, Hank Snow
, The Browns
and Jim Reeves
. She soon claimed she was tired of country music, and began a rock and roll career.
, which invited her to a recording session. At age 15, Martin was signed with RCA only two months after Elvis Presley signed with the label. In 1956, Martin released her debut record under RCA, "Will You Willyum", backed by her own composition, "Drugstore Rock'n Roll". The song became the biggest hit of her career, selling 750,000 records and hitting the country and pop charts. Soon Martin was performing on American Bandstand
, The Today Show and the Tonight Show
. She also appeared on Jubilee USA
, and the Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville, Tennessee
, becoming one of the younger performers to ever appear. Billboard
named her Most Promising Female Vocalist that year.
Presley and RCA were so impressed with her stage presence, they dubbed her the Female Elvis. Presley sent a dozen red roses to Martin when she appeared at the RCA Records convention in Miami, Florida
. She was chosen by RCA to tour as a member of the Jim Reeves show and continued recording rock and roll and country material that ended up being successful on both charts, including "My Boy Elvis", "Let's Elope Baby", her cover of Roy Orbison's song "Oooby Dooby", and "Love Me to Pieces
".
Martin had secretly married her boyfriend in 1956, and became pregnant while visiting him while he was stationed overseas with the US military. Her teenage pregnancy caused RCA to drop her in 1958. Although King Records
and Decca Records
were interested, she signed with a Belgian label, Palette
, in 1960.
Police Department when Edd Bayes coaxed her to appear locally and tell her story in Goldmine magazine. Martin toured through Europe as part of the rockabilly revival there, and in 1979 Bayes convinced RCA to release four Martin songs in their vault. They were released on Dog Gone Records in 1977. Edd Bayes took one of the songs that had been recorded twice ("Love Me Love") at different tempos and added the 'cha cha' to the title. In the 1980s, the Bear Family label gathered Martin's complete record history with the compilation album The Female Elvis. In 1995, Martin appeared on Rosie Flores
's Rockabilly Filly album for HighTone Records. Flores recorded an unreleased album with Martin six months before her death.
. Her only son, Kevin Parton, died that January.
named Martin one of the 2010 Virginia Women in History
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer. She was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock and roll music field during the 1950s and one of country music's early female innovators. Martin was nicknamed the Female Elvis for her dance moves on stage, similar to those of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
Early life and rise to fame
Martin was born in Sutherlin, VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, east of Danville
Danville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
. Her mother was a stage mother, and her father and uncle were both musicians. Before she was six, Martin was already singing and playing the guitar, inspired by Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
and Hank Williams. She was soon a fixture in talent shows and other contests, and won many. She started appearing on Old Dominion Barn Dance
Old Dominion Barn Dance
Old Dominion Barn Dance was an American country music radio show broadcast over WRVA-AM, Richmond, Virginia each Saturday night. "Sunshine Sue" was the host , followed by Carlton Haney . After 1957, the show was called New Dominion Barn Dance.- Performers :-References:* *...
on WRVA at age of 11. When she was in her mid-teens, she was appearing with country singers including Arnold, Hank Snow
Hank Snow
Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
, The Browns
The Browns
The Browns were an American country and folk music vocal trio best known for their 1959 Grammy-nominated hit, "The Three Bells". The group, composed of Jim Ed Brown and his sisters Maxine and Bonnie Brown, had a close, smooth harmony characteristic of the Nashville sound, though their music also...
and Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
. She soon claimed she was tired of country music, and began a rock and roll career.
Teen rock and roll star
She began singing R&B music. A demo of her version of "Will You Willyum" was sent to RCA RecordsRCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
, which invited her to a recording session. At age 15, Martin was signed with RCA only two months after Elvis Presley signed with the label. In 1956, Martin released her debut record under RCA, "Will You Willyum", backed by her own composition, "Drugstore Rock'n Roll". The song became the biggest hit of her career, selling 750,000 records and hitting the country and pop charts. Soon Martin was performing on American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
, The Today Show and the Tonight Show
Tonight Starring Steve Allen
Tonight Starring Steve Allen is a talk show hosted by Steve Allen under The Tonight Show franchise. It was the first version of The Tonight Show but was referred to as Tonight from 1954 to 1957. It originally aired during late-night....
. She also appeared on Jubilee USA
Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee is the first U.S. network television program to feature country music's top stars, and was the centerpiece of a strategy for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as America's country music capital...
, and the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, becoming one of the younger performers to ever appear. Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
named her Most Promising Female Vocalist that year.
Presley and RCA were so impressed with her stage presence, they dubbed her the Female Elvis. Presley sent a dozen red roses to Martin when she appeared at the RCA Records convention in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. She was chosen by RCA to tour as a member of the Jim Reeves show and continued recording rock and roll and country material that ended up being successful on both charts, including "My Boy Elvis", "Let's Elope Baby", her cover of Roy Orbison's song "Oooby Dooby", and "Love Me to Pieces
Love Me to Pieces
"Love Me to Pieces" is a popular and country song. It was written by Melvin Endsley and was published in 1957.The song was recorded by a number of country music singers, including Janis Martin, Kitty Wells and Rusty & Doug...
".
Martin had secretly married her boyfriend in 1956, and became pregnant while visiting him while he was stationed overseas with the US military. Her teenage pregnancy caused RCA to drop her in 1958. Although King Records
King Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
and Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
were interested, she signed with a Belgian label, Palette
Palette Records
Palette Records was a record label, founded in Belgium in 1958 by Jacques Kluger. It was linked to the publishing company World Music, which was taken over by BMG Universal Music in 1989....
, in 1960.
Later career
By 1960, Martin was on her second marriage, and her husband demanded she leave the music business. In the 1970s, she began performing again with her newly-formed band, The Variations. In 1975, she was working for the Danville, VirginiaDanville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
Police Department when Edd Bayes coaxed her to appear locally and tell her story in Goldmine magazine. Martin toured through Europe as part of the rockabilly revival there, and in 1979 Bayes convinced RCA to release four Martin songs in their vault. They were released on Dog Gone Records in 1977. Edd Bayes took one of the songs that had been recorded twice ("Love Me Love") at different tempos and added the 'cha cha' to the title. In the 1980s, the Bear Family label gathered Martin's complete record history with the compilation album The Female Elvis. In 1995, Martin appeared on Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores is a rockabilly and country music artist of Mexican American heritage. Her music blends rockabilly, honky tonk, jazz, and Western swing along with traditional influences from her Tex-Mex heritage...
's Rockabilly Filly album for HighTone Records. Flores recorded an unreleased album with Martin six months before her death.
Death
Martin died from cancer on September 3, 2007, at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North CarolinaDurham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
. Her only son, Kevin Parton, died that January.
Charted singles
| Year | Single | U.S. Pop Singles Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | "Will You Willyum" | 35 | Hits of 1956 |
| "My Boy Elvis" | "My Boy Elvis" |
Honors and awards
The Library of VirginiaLibrary of Virginia
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its archival agency, and the reference library at the seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located at 800 East Broad Street, 2 blocks from the Virginia State...
named Martin one of the 2010 Virginia Women in History
Virginia Women in History
Virginia Women in History is an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honors eight Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation...
.