Paul Evans

Paul Evans (born March 5, 1938) is an American rock and roll singer and songwriter, who was most prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. As a performer, he had hits with the songs "Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Backseat" (his biggest hit, recorded with The Curls, reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959), "Midnight Special," and "Happy-Go-Lucky Me".

Although known primarily for rock and roll, Evans also composed and performed folk music, especially during the Hootenanny era. In a June 1963 interview in New York City on the Folk Music Worldwide radio show, Evans was introduced as "a popular folk singer and also a popular record star in the non-folk area."

Evans had a sizeable hit in the UK and Australia in 1978–79 with the morbid country song "Hello, This Is Joanie" (as it was titled on the New Zealand pressing released by Polydor Records) or, as it was known on a Spring Records release, "Hello, This is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)". In a 2004 interview Evans revealed that the voice of Joannie was provided by country artist Lea Jane Berinati.

Evans also had minor hits with "After the Hurricane" which hit No.2 on April 8, 1961, on Vancouver's CFUN chart, and "Feelin' No Pain" which hit No.23 on Canadian CHUM charts.

Early life According to Evans, his entire family was musically inclined. "Family legend has my father selling his flute to buy me my first guitar." His mother taught and played the piano professionally. His eldest sister Estelle, who was "into folk music and in demand at hootenannies," taught him how to play it.

While attending Andrew Jackson High School, Evans produced and performed in high school shows. Evans received an engineering scholarship to Columbia University, where he hosted a radio show featuring folk music. He left college to pursue a career in music. While waiting for a hit, he sang at local clubs and spent a year, on and off, on the SS France as the ship's singer. Evans wrote "Live Young" for the 1963 Warner Brothers spring break movie Palm Springs Weekend. Evans' songs have also been recorded by Jackie Wilson, Frankie Lymon, Fabian, the Coasters, and more recently by Reba McEntire. His work has also been used in films and as the theme music for CBS This Morning. US Country

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1958

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1965

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1968

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1969

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1972

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1975

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"Hello, This Is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)" — 57 22 — 2 — 21 14 8 6

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— — — — — — — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.