Jody Reynolds

Ralph Joseph "Jody" Reynolds (December 3, 1932 – November 7, 2008) was an American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose song "Endless Sleep" was a major U.S. top-ten hit in the summer of 1958. His follow-up single, "Fire of Love", peaked at just No. 66 on the Billboard chart, but the song went on to become a blues-punk proto punk-garage rock classic after being covered by the MC5 and the Gun Club : the song “The Fire of Love” appears on the MC5’s “Live in Saginaw” album and was recorded by punk blues-punk rock band The Gun Club for their Miami (The Gun Club album), released in 1982 on Animal Records.

Reynolds was a regular on the "oldies" circuit and a successful businessman in the U.S. Southwest. Beginning in the 1980s several compilations of his music were issued in the U.S. and Europe, and he enjoyed modest acclaim as a pioneer of rockabilly music.

In 1999, Reynolds was honored with both a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, California, and induction into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Life and career Ralph Joseph Reynolds was born in Denver, Colorado, United States, and was raised in the small town of Shady Grove, Oklahoma. Inspired by Western Swing and artists such as Bob Wills, Hank Thompson, and Eddy Arnold, who he heard on the radio, Reynolds took up guitar at age 14. He began playing rockabilly in Texas in the mid-1950s after hearing performers such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison. Reynolds performed on American Bandstand and other TV shows, and was featured on concert tours organized by the disc jockey/promoter Alan Freed. "Endless Sleep" would later be covered by the Judds, John Fogerty, Nick Lowe and Billy Idol; Marty Wilde had a major hit with it in the UK, and the Gun Club, but only reached No. 66 on the Billboard chart when released in August 1958, and was his last song to reach the Billboard Hot 100. two songs written by Marty Cooper and Lee Hazlewood,

Recordings Demon Records 1507 "Endless Sleep" / "Tight Capris" – March 1958 1509 "Fire of Love" / "Daisy Mae" – July 1958 1511 "Closin' In" / "Elope With Me" – November 1958 1515 "Golden Idol" / "Beaulah Lee" – March 1959 1519 "The Storm" / "Please Remember Me" – August 1959 1523 "The Whipping Post" / "I Wanna Be With You Tonight" – April 1960 1524 "Stone Cold" / "(The Girl With The) Raven Hair" – June 1960 Sundown Records 114 "Thunder" / "Tarantula" – January 1959 Indigo Records 127 "Thunder" / "Tarantula" – August 1961 Emmy Records 1011 "Dusty Skies" / "Brandy" 1962 Smash Records 1810 "Don't Jump" / "Stormy" – February 1963 Brent Records 7042 "The Girl From King Marie" / "Raggedy Ann" – April 1963 Titan Records 1734 "A Tear For Jesse" / "Devil Girl" – 1965 1736 "Stranger in the Mirror" / "Requiem For Love" (with Bobbie Gentry) – 1965 Pulsar Records 2419 "Endless Sleep" / "My Baby's Eyes" – 1969 Gusto Records 0026 "Endless Sleep" / [unknown] 1976 Tru Gems Records LP 1002 Endless Sleep 1978 Gee Dee Music 270106 Endless Sleep (CD) (Germany, 1994) 270142 Endless Sleep (CD) (Germany, 1998) Ace Records LTD CDCHD 1474 - The Complete Demon & Titan Masters (England, 2016)