Produced by Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood in the backroom Ramsey studio in Phoenix, AZ, Duane Eddy was a 19-year-old kid when his first Jamie single, “Moovin’ ‘n Groovin’” came out in early 1958. Lee Hazlewood worked with Duane in the studio while Lester Sill found Jamie Records in Philadelphia to put it out and Dick Clark to be Duane’s manager. The combination was a charm, even if it did not at first appear so. The second release’s A side was originally “Stalkin’,” Lee Hazlewood’s take on the Stroll, a dance that had just begun. Dick Clark failed to find any enthusiasm for it, but found a winner at his local Philadelphia record hop when he played the B side, “Rebel Rouser”-- purportedly only because he had left a box of records home and had to play B sides to keep the kids dancing.
Duane’s life was transformed. His contract with Jamie Records, dated February 14, 1959, was a form contract on which 78 RPM had to be x'd out and Duane signed as "Leader and Representative of Employees" to conform to musician-union categories. His life became a whirlwind of performing, writing and recording for those heady days of early rock ‘n roll. Six singles and two albums a year were the norm to keep the kids interested, while live touring-bus shows like Dick Clark’s Cavalcade of Hits spread the word about this new music and the new culture it was creating from big cities to little towns across the country. Duane Eddy became an international star who beat out Elvis Presley as the top rock star in Britain, as Duane’s music spread around the world on the back of his handsome face and tunes that needed no translation. By the end of his stint at Jamie Records in 1962, he had made history, the most successful instrumentalist in music history and 1994 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
