Gary S. Paxton

Gary Sanford Paxton (born Larry Wayne Stevens; May 18, 1939 – July 17, 2016) was an American record producer, recording artist, and Grammy and Dove Award winning songwriter. Paxton was a member of Skip & Flip and the Hollywood Argyles and was the producer of two number one Billboard Hot 100 singles, "Alley Oop" for the Hollywood Argyles in 1960 and "Monster Mash" for Bobby "Boris" Pickett in 1962. His family moved to Arizona when he was 12, and he started his first band by 14, playing country and rock 'n' roll. He spent his middle teenage years touring the American Southwest with this and other forgotten bands.

Early stardom came as "Flip" in the pop duo Skip & Flip (with Clyde "Skip" Battin), courtesy of a million-selling 1959 smash the two cut in Phoenix, Arizona, "It Was I". According to Paxton, he was picking cherries on an Oregon farm when he heard the song on a transistor radio and realized it had become a hit. He played a major role in the making of two novelty hits in the early 1960s and worked with artists including the Association, Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Four Freshmen, and Tommy Roe. which he seemed to open and close on a constant basis, making regular use of the five studios he owned.

Over the years, Paxton built a reputation as an eccentric figure in the recording industry. Brian Wilson was known to admire his talents, and Phil Spector to fear him.

His creativity and knack for promotion were legendary, but could also run to excess: once, after a local radio station dismissed one of his records ("Elephant Game (Part One)" by Renfro & Jackson) as "too black", he assembled a protest parade down Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, consisting of 15 cheerleaders and a live elephant pulling a Volkswagen convertible. He was arrested after the elephant got scared and began to defecate in the street. He moved on to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1970, and in 1971, following his partner's suicide and his own long struggles with drugs and alcohol, he converted to Christianity. Paxton left Nashville in 1999 and lived in Branson, Missouri, with his fourth wife, Vicki Sue Roberts. He suffered from hepatitis C and almost died from the disease in 1990. In the 2000s, Paxton became associated with a number of performers working in Branson, Missouri, including former members of Bill Haley and His Comets who, as The Comets, recorded a single produced by Paxton, who was credited as "Grandpa Rock"; the single was entitled "When I Die, Just Bury Me at Wal-Mart (So My Wife Will Come and Visit Me)".

Paxton died at his home in Branson on July 17, 2016, at the age of 77 from complications of heart surgery and liver disease.

Recordings Beyond his early work as part of Skip & Flip, Paxton is best known for his involvement in two novelty hits: the 1960 No. 1 smash "Alley Oop" — written by Dallas Frazier and cut quickly with a group thrown together by Paxton's roommate Kim Fowley, the Hollywood Argyles — and a 1962 No. 1 hit inspired by the Mashed Potato dance craze, "Monster Mash", which Paxton produced and recorded with its author Bobby "Boris" Pickett and another assembled group billed as the Cryptkickers.

In 1965, he produced "Sweet Pea", a hit for Tommy Roe, and engineered "Along Comes Mary", a hit for the Association, winning a Grammy nomination in engineering for his efforts. The following year, he engineered another hit for the Association, "Cherish", and another for Roe, "Hooray for Hazel". As Paxton moved toward the Bakersfield sound in the late 1960s, he scored his first country hit in 1967 with "Hangin' On" by the Gosdin Brothers.

In the wake of his conversion to Christianity, Paxton focused his efforts on gospel music. He still kept one foot in the world of secular country during the early 1970s — writing and producing "Woman (Sensuous Woman)" for Don Gibson (a Grammy nominee and a million-plus seller in three different versions ) along with two other country-chart hits, and at one point signing with RCA Records as a solo country artist — but gospel was now his chief priority. Appearing on his gospel album covers in a halo of facial hair and a tall-top cowboy hat, Paxton infused his religious work with the same eccentricity, individuality, and hippie humor that had characterized his 60s material in Los Angeles: acting the role of the Jesus freak, likening himself to "an armpit in the body of Christ", and crafting song titles like "When the Meat Wagon Comes for You", "Will There Be Hippies in Heaven?", "I'm a Fool for Christ (Whose Fool Are You?)", and "Jesus Is My Lawyer in Heaven".

Paxton's gospel work was released through NewPax Records, another in his long series of labels, founded in 1975 as an outlet for his new ideas in songwriting and engineering. The label also released recordings by other Christian acts, including the Christian alternative rock band Daniel Amos, who released their albums ¡Alarma! and Doppelgänger through the label in the early 1980s. NewPax was closely linked with Paragon Associates, with which it eventually merged. Paxton was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999 on the basis of his innovation and accomplishments in the field and his production and writing for numerous noted artists in the industry.

Discography

Studio albums

1975 - The Astonishing, Outrageous, Amazing, Incredible, Unbelievable, Different World of Gary S. Paxton 1977 - More from the Astonishing, Outrageous, Amazing, Incredible, Unbelievable Gary S. Paxton 1978 - Terminally Weird/But Godly Right 1979 - Gary Sanford Paxton 1979 - The Gospel According to Gary S.

Compilations

1980 - (Some Of) The Best Of Gary S. Paxton (So Far) 2006 - Hollywood Maverick: the Gary S. Paxton Story 2009 - "Grandpa Rock, Volume 1" - 50 years of Gary S. Paxton hits. 2011 - "Vote 'Em Out Boogie" - LuPax CDs. Duet with Jim Lusk. 2014 - "AARP Blues" - LuPax CD's. Duet with Jim Lusk.