Bobby Jameson

Robert Parker Jameson[1] (April 20, 1945 – May 12, 2015) was an American singer-songwriter who was briefly promoted as a major star in the early 1960s and later attracted a cult following with his 1965 album Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest, issued under the name Chris Lucey.

[3][4] Starting his career in 1963, Jameson was hyped as the next major pop event in an elaborate promotional campaign that ran in the magazines Billboard and Cashbox.

[5] From the mid 1960s to early 1970s, Jameson was active in Los Angeles underground music circles, working with musicians such as Frank Zappa and members of Crazy Horse.

During this period, he participated in the Sunset Strip riots, appeared as a subject in the 1967 documentary Mondo Hollywood, and garnered a reputation as someone who had ruined his chances at success.

He grew increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the music industry, alleging that his managers and employers failed to ensure him financial compensation and royalties, and that some companies had illegally claimed the intellectual property rights to his songs.

In 2002, Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest was reissued without Jameson's knowledge, and in response, he resurfaced in 2007 with a series of autobiographical blog posts and YouTube videos, which he maintained until his death in 2015.

[7] In 1964, while sharing a house in Hollywood with Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot, and Ralph Molina (later of Crazy Horse), Jameson met Tony Alamo, who became his manager and promised to make him a star.

By the 8th week the ad ran in Billboard only and was a 4 page, full color fold out...[9]Jameson recorded a single for Alamo's label, Talamo, "I'm So Lonely" / "I Wanna Love You", both self-penned songs.

The record became a regional hit in the Midwest and Canada, and as a result he opened shows for The Beach Boys and Chubby Checker, and appeared on American Bandstand.

There, he recorded "All I Want Is My Baby", co-written by Oldham and Keith Richards and probably featuring session guitarist Jimmy Page, with a Jagger/Richards B-side, "Each and Every Day of the Year".

Within two weeks, Jameson wrote the songs, and recorded them with producer Marshall Leib (previously a member of The Teddy Bears with his friend Phil Spector).

In 2010, writer Jon Savage described "Vietnam" as "an all-time garage-punk classic – a vehement statement against a war that, by early 1966, was already spiralling out of control.

[17][18] Jameson was featured, along with many others, in the experimental 1967 documentary movie Mondo Hollywood, directed by Robert Carl Cohen, in which he talked about his beliefs and career, and was filmed with his then-girlfriend Gail Sloatman (later the wife of Frank Zappa) and recording "Metropolitan Man".

[20] Both the singles, "Reconsider Baby" and "Gotta Find My Roogalator", were arranged and produced by an uncredited Frank Zappa, who also played guitar, with other musicians including Carol Kaye and Larry Knechtel.

[23][24] In 1968, he recorded his last album, Working!, for the small GRT label, with musicians including James Burton, Jerry Scheff and Red Rhodes.

He also intermittently made unreleased recordings, with Jesse Ed Davis, Ben Benay and others, and in 1972 featured in an article about his life and personal troubles in Rolling Stone magazine.

Verve Records signed Jameson for an album based on his connections with Frank Zappa (pictured in 1973).