Diamond D-123
Artist: Ten Broken Hearts
A Side Title:
Ten Lonely Guys
Writer: Feldman-Goldstein-Gettehrer-Diamond-Elgin-Rogers-Edwards-Weiss-Adams-Farrell
Publisher: Roosevelt Music Co., Inc. (BMI)
Producer: Prod. By B. Ramal & M. Wilson
Label Time: None listed
Matrix #: D-123A
Other Label Notes:
B Side Title: Shining Star
Writer: Joe Simmons
Publisher: Tobi-Ann Music Pub. Corp. (BMI)
Producer: Prod. By B. Ramal & M. Wilson
Label Time: None Listed
Matrix #: D-123B
Other Label Notes:
Additional Background Information: Here's what Larry Weiss had to say about this record: Okay..here's the story..all the writers involved were working under roof of a publishing company called Roosevelt Music Inc. The late Stanley Kahn suggested one night, that as a morale booster, we all write a song. Since there were 10 of us around and a bottle of Jack, it inspired the idea of the song to be called TEN LONELY GUYS..'who all had their hearts broken by the same woman'. We even used our own first names in the song. The voices on the Diamond Label single release were all of us. The publisher of the song, Roosevelt Music, went behind our backs and got the Pat Boone recording. There was actually a plan to launch a TEN LONELY GUYS act on the Diamond label, but the Pat Boone record ended that idea..and that is the whole story..period.
The song was originally done as a demo, with Neil Diamond singing on the lead. This version was later put out by Bob Feldman on his album "Roots of S.O.B. Volume 2" in 1984, and was the original intended version to be released as the single, but the publishing company passed the song on to Pat Boone who ended up having the hit with it. Diamond Records had the songwriters re-cut the tune with a new lead singer but it still never charted.
Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer, Neil Diamond, Bob Elgin, Kay Rogers, Lockie Edwards, Jr, Laurence Weiss, Cliff Adams and Wes Farrell are the 10 names credited as writing the song on this 45. Kay Rogers was actually Eddie Snyder, and Bob Elgin was actually Stanley Kahan. When Pat Boone covered the song, Neil Diamond's name on the label also changed, to Mark Lewis. Pat's version peaked at 10/20/62 on both Billboard and Cash Box, peaking at 45 and 58 respectively.
Here is what Bob Feldman said in his Roots Of S.O.B. Vol. 2 album about this song: "This was a demo that was cut in 1961 or 1962. I was a staff writer for Roosevelt Music at the time and was making $50.00 a week for writing songs. We were having our weekly Friday Staff Meeting and all the writers were hanging around waiting to discuss what we were doing at that particular time. The President of the company was locked up in a meeting that was running quite late and all of us were getting antsy. Six of us were together in one room, two in another and two more were in a third room. The six of us started fooling around musically and pretty soon we started writing. I grabbed a crayon and started writing the lyrics on the wall while I was standing on top of the piano. Although six of us actually wrote the song, we included the first names of all ten people waiting around the office and all ten of us were listed as writers.
The demo was cut in Allegro Studios in the basement of 1650 Broadway (the home of many a hit songwriter). All ten of us recorded the demo. The lead singer was one of the writers and anybody who is into music will recognize his voice. Today he is one of the true superstars of contemporary music. Our demo was supposed to be released as a master recording but our publishers gave the song to Pat Boone instead. Two of the writers' names were changed on the Pat Boone record and in protest none of us turned in a song for almost a month. My share of the royalties brought me 12 handkerchiefs at a men's store on Broadway."
And finally, here's what Neil Diamond had to say about the song, when he re-recorded a version for his cd Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building: "By 1964, after a series of moves from one publisher to another, I had worked my advances up from fifty dollars a song to a peak of two hundred dollars (for a song called 'Measles' -- I guess it wasn't contagious). I wasn't doing bad, but never once in those six years did I come up with a hit -- unless you count Pat Boone's 1962 recording of "Ten Lonely Guys," which I wrote with nine collaborators.
On the original demo, I sang lead along with the other nine lonely guys, my pals and fellow dreamers: Bob Feldman, Richard Gottehrer and Jerry Goldstein ('My Boyfriend's Back'), Stanley Kahan and Eddie
Snyder ('A Hundred Pounds of Clay,' with Luther Dixon; Eddie Snyder also wrote the lyric, with my buddy Charlie Singleton, for 'Strangers in the Night' and 'Spanish Eyes'), Lockie Edwards, Jr. ('Mr. Wishing Well' -- which he co-wrote with the next lonely guy), Larry Weiss ('Rhinestone Cowboy'; 'Bend Me, Shape Me' with Scott English), Wes Farrell ('Hang on Sloopy' with Bert Berns -- who would soon be president of Bang Records, the label that gave me my first big hits) and Cliff Adams. For various reasons, some of us used pseudonyms, mine being 'Mark Lewis.' I guess I must have been signed to another company at the time."
This version, while it most likely sold a bunch of copies around New York, failed to chart. It has been reported that Gary Criss sang the lead on this record, but after hearing a few of his other solo records released for Diamond, that just is not true. So, WHO is the lead singer? I don't know. However judging by their comments, it appears as though both Bob Feldman and Neil Diamond never knew that Ten Lonely Guys had been re-cut and released on Diamond Records. And perhaps Larry Weiss thought that the demo version actually got released? Who knows...If you can help solve this mess, please feel free to send me an email.
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