Lonely Moon by The Kingtones. Original 1959 recording by the song composers @alanchristian7

alanchristian7 The Kingtones were:

Alan Christian: guitar and vocals
Norman Anderson: lead guitar
Andy Solomini: drums

The Johnny Wells rendition of Lonely Moon was, in fact, the original released in 1959, but theres a story behind the names Christian/Zellers that you see on the record label. My name is Alan Christian, and my friend Joe Zellers and I were 18 that year. In 1958, Joe wrote a set of lyrics and asked if I could make a song of it. I did, using only sad minor chords and a rock beat. Lonely Moon was born in the spring of 1959, and my band and I played it to crowds of teenagers who loved it. I had written a song called If We Had Never Met, and we decided to cut our first record. After we graduated high school in June, we went to Audiosonic Recording studios in the Brill Building on Broadway in New York. We cut our demo, with two guitars and a drum, and were really thrilled to hear it for the first time with echo. These were the days that Rock & Roll was growing like crazy and the Brill Building was loaded with small publishing companies and we went from office to office trying to find someone to make us the next superstar. Sol Parker of Astor Records listened to our demo and promised to do that. He asked us to leave a copy of the demo with him so his A&R (we didnt know that it meant arranging and recording) could hear it and said that we would get a contract in the mail. We did, but my father was advised by a lawyer friend that it was no good and he should not sign it. Through the summer we went back and forth between Astor Records and our parents and in August received a summons that Astor Records was suing Alan Christian and his father, and Joe Zellers and his father for breach of contract, although nothing had been signed. The suit was for $100,000. In September we went to court and Sol Parker said he would postpone the suit if we came to his office in Lodi, New Jersey to see what he had done with our record. We did. At the office, we saw stacks of 45rpm records in envelopes addressed to disk jockeys all over the country, but the hitch was that the record was not our Lonely Moon any more. A 30 year old guy named Johnny Wells was singing it instead of me with different lyrics, and a chorus singing our words accompanied by a large orchestra, backed up a pop song that was not the ballad that we composed and recorded. Parker made the point that I was going to college and couldnt make personal appearances and that since this was our first attempt at recording we could make a lot of money. He said we would get half the royalties. This sold our fathers and they asked for $1000 each, up front. Parker showed them payola checks that he had written, and said if he paid us what we asked for he wouldnt be able to pay off the DJs. He offered us $100 to each up front and 50% of the royalties. Our fathers signed, and thats how the original Lonely Moon came to market. We never got a dime in royalties, but Parker gave us each a box of 45s with our names on them, and we felt pretty good then to hear our song on radio and TV even if it was Johnny Wells singing it. After all, it was ours.

updated 16 years ago

Lonely Moon by The Kingtones. *Original* 1959 recording by the song composers

alanchristian7 2009-12-22 | The Kingtones were:

Alan Christian: guitar and vocals
Norman Anderson: lead guitar
Andy Solomini: drums

The Johnny Wells rendition of Lonely Moon was, in fact, the original released in 1959, but theres a story behind the names Christian/Zellers that you see on the record label. My name is Alan Christian, and my friend Joe Zellers and I were 18 that year. In 1958, Joe wrote a set of lyrics and asked if I could make a song of it. I did, using only sad minor chords and a rock beat. Lonely Moon was born in the spring of 1959, and my band and I played it to crowds of teenagers who loved it. I had written a song called If We Had Never Met, and we decided to cut our first record. After we graduated high school in June, we went to Audiosonic Recording studios in the Brill Building on Broadway in New York. We cut our demo, with two guitars and a drum, and were really thrilled to hear it for the first time with echo. These were the days that Rock & Roll was growing like crazy and the Brill Building was loaded with small publishing companies and we went from office to office trying to find someone to make us the next superstar. Sol Parker of Astor Records listened to our demo and promised to do that. He asked us to leave a copy of the demo with him so his A&R (we didnt know that it meant arranging and recording) could hear it and said that we would get a contract in the mail. We did, but my father was advised by a lawyer friend that it was no good and he should not sign it. Through the summer we went back and forth between Astor Records and our parents and in August received a summons that Astor Records was suing Alan Christian and his father, and Joe Zellers and his father for breach of contract, although nothing had been signed. The suit was for $100,000. In September we went to court and Sol Parker said he would postpone the suit if we came to his office in Lodi, New Jersey to see what he had done with our record. We did. At the office, we saw stacks of 45rpm records in envelopes addressed to disk jockeys all over the country, but the hitch was that the record was not our Lonely Moon any more. A 30 year old guy named Johnny Wells was singing it instead of me with different lyrics, and a chorus singing our words accompanied by a large orchestra, backed up a pop song that was not the ballad that we composed and recorded. Parker made the point that I was going to college and couldnt make personal appearances and that since this was our first attempt at recording we could make a lot of money. He said we would get half the royalties. This sold our fathers and they asked for $1000 each, up front. Parker showed them payola checks that he had written, and said if he paid us what we asked for he wouldnt be able to pay off the DJs. He offered us $100 to each up front and 50% of the royalties. Our fathers signed, and thats how the original Lonely Moon came to market. We never got a dime in royalties, but Parker gave us each a box of 45s with our names on them, and we felt pretty good then to hear our song on radio and TV even if it was Johnny Wells singing it. After all, it was ours.

If We Had Never Met by the Kingtones. June, 1959

alanchristian7 2009-12-22 | The Kingtones were

Alan Christian: guitar, vocals
Norman Anderson: lead guitar
Andy Solomini: drums

This is the B side of "Lonely Moon" recorded in June, 1959, at Audiosonic Studios in the Brill Building, Broadway, New York City.

Lonely Moon original recording by composer

alanchristian7 2009-12-22 | The Johnny Wells rendition of Lonely Moon was, in fact, the original released in 1959, but theres a story behind the names Christian/Zellers that you see on the record label. My name is Alan Christian, and my friend Joe Zellers and I were 18 that year. In 1958, Joe wrote a set of lyrics and asked if I could make a song of it. I did, using only sad minor chords and a rock beat. Lonely Moon was born in the spring of 1959, and my band and I played it to crowds of teenagers who loved it. I had written a song called If We Had Never Met, and we decided to cut our first record. After we graduated high school in June, we went to Audiosonic Recording studios in the Brill Building on Broadway in New York. We cut our demo, with two guitars and a drum, and were really thrilled to hear it for the first time with echo. These were the days that Rock & Roll was growing like crazy and the Brill Building was loaded with small publishing companies and we went from office to office trying to find someone to make us the next superstar. Sol Parker of Astor Records listened to our demo and promised to do that. He asked us to leave a copy of the demo with him so his A&R (we didnt know that it meant arranging and recording) could hear it and said that we would get a contract in the mail. We did, but my father was advised by a lawyer friend that it was no good and he should not sign it. Through the summer we went back and forth between Astor Records and our parents and in August received a summons that Astor Records was suing Alan Christian and his father, and Joe Zellers and his father for breach of contract, although nothing had been signed. The suit was for $100,000. In September we went to court and Sol Parker said he would postpone the suit if we came to his office in Lodi, New Jersey to see what he had done with our record. We did. At the office, we saw stacks of 45rpm records in envelopes addressed to disk jockeys all over the country, but the hitch was that the record was not our Lonely Moon any more. A 30 year old guy named Johnny Wells was singing it instead of me with different lyrics, and a chorus singing our words accompanied by a large orchestra, backed up a pop song that was not the ballad that we composed and recorded. Parker made the point that I was going to college and couldnt make personal appearances and that since this was our first attempt at recording we could make a lot of money. He said we would get half the royalties. This sold our fathers and they asked for $1000 each, up front. Parker showed them payola checks that he had written, and said if he paid us what we asked for he wouldnt be able to pay off the DJs. He offered us $100 to each up front and 50% of the royalties. Our fathers signed, and thats how the original Lonely Moon came to market. We never got a dime in royalties, but Parker gave us each a box of 45s with our names on them, and we felt pretty good then to hear our song on radio and TV even if it was Johnny Wells singing it. After all, it was ours.