The “Golden Hits Of The 60s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After7
BRUCE CHANNEL
“HEY! BABY”
(BRUCE CHANNELL, Margaret Cobb)
Smash 1731
No. 1 March 10, 1962
.
.
.
Deep into the late ’60s, Bruce managed to tour here and abroad on the strength of “Hey! Baby.” Flashing a
healthy sense of humor, Channel would often open for the Beach Boys or other big-time acts with the wise
crack, “And now, I’d like to do a medley of my hit.”
.
Channel was born in Jacksonville, Texas, on November 28, 1940. Most of his youth was spent in nearby
Grapevine, where his parents worked in a tomato-packing warehouse. Bruce’s brothers played guitar; his
father played the harmonica. A cousin showed him how to form a few guitar chords, and by his 15th year,
Channel had his own country band. They played youth centers, local bars, and, barns, even working the leg
endary “Louisiana Hayride’s” radio show for six months.
.
“I wrote ‘Hey! Baby’ about 1959, with a good friend, Margaret Cobb,” Channel recalled to Frank McNutty in
We Wanna Boogie. “I had played the song in the clubs, although at the time [of the recording] I put more of
an R & B feel to it. Somehow over the years, the song evolved.” Originally taped in Fort Worth as a demo for
producer/promoter Major Bill Smith, “Hey! Baby” featured DELBERT McCLINTON on harmonica. Delbert’s
wailing accompaniment came from his band’s local back-up work behind blues artists like Jimmy Reed.
.
Several more Channel singles charted–“Number One Man” (#52, 1962), “Come on Baby” (#98, 1962),
“Going Back to Louisiana” (#89, 1964), and “Mr. Bus Driver” (#90, 1967)–and Bruce did manage to make a
good living with his music for a few years. A non-charting stateside number, “Keep on,” returned Bruce to
Britain’s Top 20 in 1968. But he never could locate that next big clicker.
.
Channel did, however, indirectly influence the next generation of rock’n’rollers when he toured England late
in 1962 with McClinton. While Bruce was handling an interview, his harmonica man was backstage at the
Castle in New Brighton, near Liverpool. McClinton got to talking with John Lennon, one-quarter of the open
ing act, the then-little-known Beatles. John was impressed with Delbert’s harmonica style, and asked him if
he’d show him how he did that “Hey! Baby” solo. A year later, John would play a similar harmonica break
on the Fab Four’s “Love Me Do.”
.
For a spell, Bruce Channel was off the road. In the late ’70s, he worked in Nashville as a staff songwriter
with a music publisher. Sporadic recordings continued into the mid-’80s.
.
“It amazes me,” Channel remarked to Goldmine. “People still come up to me and say ‘I was in Pango Pango
or wherever and heard “Hey! Baby.” And it amazes me that people would hear that record after so long. It’s
like the song never really died. It just keeps coming back.”