Scott Turner

Scott Turner (born Graham Morrison Turnbull; August 23, 1931 – February 9, 2009) was a Canadian composer, producer, musician, and publisher whose career in the music industry spanned over 50 years, composing songs with Buddy Holly, Audie Murphy, Herb Alpert, John Marascalco and many others.

Life and career

Early life Turner was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, to Allison and Evelyn ( Peters) Turnbull. While recuperating from a serious sporting injury, Turner taught himself to play guitar—a skill that would soon change the course of his life.

Life in music In 1957, Turner wrote his first songs for his good friend Hal Goodson, also from Texas Tech. Goodson recorded two songs at Petty Studios in Clovis, NM – "Who's Gonna Be The Next One Honey" and "Later Baby". These were the first songs that J.I. Allison recorded, several months before recording "Peggy Sue" with Buddy Holly.

From 1957 to 1959, Turner was lead guitarist for Tommy Sands and his band The Raiders (a.k.a. The Sharks, which included pre-Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine). From 1960 to 1961, Turner was lead guitarist and musical director for Guy Mitchell, and served in the same capacities for Eddie Fisher from 1961 to 1963. In 1963, Turner joined A&M Records as a writer/producer. In 1968, Liberty Records was bought for $38 million by Transamerica Corporation (an insurance company) and combined with their other label United Artists Records. Following that merger, Turner was transferred to Nashville to take over the country division of the newly merged Liberty/Imperial/United Artists. ), and to making appearances on The Perry Como Show, The Milton Berle Show, The Mike Douglas Show, Entertainment Tonight and A Current Affair.

Turner provided background tracks for a number of films, and three of Turner's songs were featured in the television movie Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe. Herb Alpert's 1964 recording of Turner's song "Mexican Drummer Man" was used in the 1966 Teri Garr short Where's the Bus, "One More River to Cross" (co-written with Freddie Scott) can be heard in the Christopher Walken film The Opportunists, was used in the film Truckers.

Music publishing firms Publishing companies founded by Turner are Buried Treasure Music (ASCAP), Captain Kidd Music (BMI), and Captain Kidd, LLC.

Memorabilia Turner's memorabilia is now housed at the Willie Nelson and Friends General Store & Museum, Nashville, Tennessee.

Biography As of June 2012, Australian biographer Damian Johnstone (author of "The Wild One: The Life and Times of Johnny O'Keefe" and "A Race to Remember: The Peter Norman Story" ) was writing a biography of Scott Turner with the working title "Shutters and Boards – The Scott Turner Story," which is tentatively planned for publication in 2013.