Chart entered : 28 May 1964
Chart peak : 3
Number of hits : 12
I was hoping this guy qualified because there are few livelier stories to tell and at one point he was living not that far away from me.
P.J. was born James Smith in Houston, Texas in 1938 and educated at three military academies. After graduating he moved to California to take acting and singing lessons. He found agents who christened him Jett Powers. He's supposed to have had some small film roles but so far they've escaped imdb's attention.
In 1958 he made his first single "Go Girl Go" on the local Design label which sounds like an Elvis impersonator recording with a skiffle group in a garden shed. It's a rough song and inexpertly recorded ( that's putting it mildly ) but there is something there especially when the guitarist cuts loose towards the end. The following year he tried again with "Loud Perfume" on Beta records which is Blue Suede Shoes with different lyrics. It's credited to a "Maybelle Jackson" which may have been a pseudonym to throw Carl Perkins off the scent.
James/ Jett then became friendly with the bereaved Sharon Sheeley who got him an audition at Liberty and re-christened him with the name of an old schoolfriend whose thoughts on the matter have gone unrecorded. His first single for them in September 1961 was "Try To Forget Her" written by his producer Dick Glasser. It's much closer to the chest-beating melodrama of Roy Orbison or Gene Pitney than Elvis with PJ's fruity delivery trying to compensate for a basic melodic deficiency in the tune. "The Other Side Of Town" in October 1962 was written by Sheeley and Jackie DeShannon and features a stellar cast of musicians including Glen Campbell and David Gates . Unfortunately they sound like they're backing a deluded pub singer who can't stay in key for more than one line at a time and it ends up sounding ridiculous. His third single the following year "I Can't Take It Like You Can" is a well executed Jim Reeves impersonation and therefore deadly dull. At the same time as he was recording these singles he was demo-ing material for the likes of Elvis and Bobby Vee.
The girls then introduced him to Jack Good who brought him over here and got him signed up with Decca. "Hold Me" was his first single recorded with former Wild Cat Big Jim Sullivan on lead guitar and a young Jimmy Page on rhythm. According to the latter it was a fun session as PJ enjoyed the musicians' company and that comes across on the record. It starts out as a big ballad with PJ perilously wobbling on the edge of the tune then erupts into a raucous rocker powered by Bobby Graham's crashing drums. PJ's semi-hysterical vocal makes much more sense here and points the way towards any number of longer-haired successors. It turned out to be PJ's only Top 5 hit here. In the States it did nothing and he remains a one hit wonder in his home country with a song that stiffed over here. "Hold Me" returned to the UK charts in 1981 as a dire duet between BA Robertson and Maggie Bell and got to number 11.
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