Boyd Bennett

Boyd Byron Bennett (December 7, 1924 – June 2, 2002) as well as No. 16 on the UK Singles Chart.; and "My Boy, Flat Top" (U.S. No. 39). He later became a disc jockey in Kentucky. He also worked with Francis Craig and Moon Mullican.

Life and career Bennett was born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States, but attended high school in Tennessee and formed his first band there. He grew up in North Davidson, Tennessee, just outside Nashville. His family was musically oriented and talented. His grandfather taught members of churches within the community how to read music. He also taught Boyd by the age of four years how to read the notes in music, before Boyd could actually read song lyrics. Growing up during the Great Depression, Bennett did anything he could to make money. He sang in quartets and played guitar and sang outside of bars for extra funds. At the age of 16, however, his career was interrupted by World War II in which he served for four years;

It reached the Billboard chart on July 9, 1955, and went to the number five by September. Boyd and the Rockets traveled across the nation. There were also several cover versions recorded that extended the release of the song. These included fellow chart efforts by The Fontane Sisters, Rusty Draper, and Ella Mae Morse. The Boyd Bennett disc of "Seventeen" "changed record-producing/buying and marketing forever," wrote musicologist Robert Reynolds: "As Boyd Bennett had predicted, teenagers bought 'Seventeen' in droves and other record companies soon began producing songs aimed specifically at the teen market. The record hung around the Top Ten for five weeks. When all was said and done, [Bennett's] 'Seventeen' had sold three million copies."

In 1959, Bennett left King Records and commenced a subsequent brief recording career with Mercury. Shortly before his death he was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.