Jimmy Sweeney


Jimmy Sweeney was a veteran of the Nashville African-American music scene. He was a singer, songwriter, and self-taught guitarist.
As a pop singer, he was known professionally as Jimmy Sweeney a.k.a. Jimmy Bell.
Jimmy was born, raised, and died in Nashville, Tennessee.
His recordings span country, rhythm and blues, soul, and doo wop.
He was an early influence on Elvis Presley.

Jimmy and Elvis

Jimmy's main claim to fame is as an influence to the young Elvis and that he was the mystery singer on a demo disk played to Elvis by Sam Phillips.
An enduring myth from the fifties is that the young unknown Elvis was daunted by the performance on record of an singer. The story is that Elvis as an undiscovered 18 year old was introduced to a demo record of "Without You" by Sam Phillips on 24 Jun 1954..
Sam had a stack of demos that had been sent into him, one was a disk of an unknown ballad "Without You", by an unknown singer with guitar. The song began: "Always at twilight I wish on a star, I ask the lord "to keep you wherever you are..." Sam had been impressed by it, but was unable to ascertain the name of the singer; nevertheless he toyed with releasing it as a single. Marion, intervened with the idea to get Elvis to sing it as a debut record. Despite a spirited attempt at recording it Elvis felt he could not better the performance on the demo, and went on to work on "That's All Right", released in July 1954.
The Sweeney demo remained privately in Marion's hands, its existence became an urban myth. The singer was not identified, till heard by Christopher Kennedy in early 2017, his suspicions were confirmed by Jimmy's daughter Eugenia, amongst others. The demo disc label identifies it as "Without You", "Audiodisc 3324", recorded at 18 rpm. The writer of the song has never been identified. Earlier to these events in January 1954, Elvis had in the second of two private sessions cut a second acetate at Sun Records of "I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You". The latter a Fred Rose, Jimmy Wakely song. That song and the Sweeney demo have no similarity.
Later in 1960 Jimmy Sweeney made an original recording in 1960 of "She Wears My Ring", a F. Bryant, B. Bryant adaptation of an old Mexican song "La Golondrina". This particular record had been Jimmy's most successful reaching number 5 on the Canadian Billboard, and in July 1962 number 24 on the American chart.
Coincidentally Elvis was to cover it in 1973, on the Good Times album on RCA Records issued in 1974. It was a long time favourite of his, he had also made a home recording of it in November 1960 at 565 Perugia Way in Los Angeles, officially released on "Follow That Dream Records" label, In a Private Moment album. Roy Orbison recorded it for Monument Records in 1964.

Life and career

Early life

Named after his father, who was born in Nashville; he was of West Indian descent. The second child of thirteen. A gifted American football player as a boy, he was a self-taught guitarist. He was born, raised, and based in Nashville, Tennessee all of his life. In 1943 he was drafted as Private into the US Army, at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, and was eventually honourably discharged. He married his wife Elsie in Jan 1941, and made ends meet as a carpenter.

Solo career

He recorded under various names; Jimmy Sweeney, Jimmy Bell and Jimmy Destry.
He was the lead singer of "The Five Bars", who later changed their name to "The Varieteers".
On the 8 Jul 1948 the Varieteers appeared as guests on the "Appointment With Music". The Varieteers, sang "All Dressed Up With A Broken Heart"... The host was Snooky Lanson, with Dorohy Dillard & Beasley Smith and his orchestra.
In Oct 53, the Varieteers were at Ciro's in Hollywood. They performed in the intermissions between sets of Xavier Cugat and Abbe Lane.
He travelled throughout the U.S. and Canada promoting his recordings gathering a legion of fans. However great success was to elude him.
For a time he worked in Western Canada for C.P.Rail
"She Wears My Ring" charted at #5 on CHUM, Toronto, in May 1961.
Then, at the height of it all in 1962, aged 40, he opted out and returned home to Nashville; for a state government job.
A period of inactivity followed, before he started again to write, penning songs for Columbia. Marty Robbins in particular recorded his songs.
Most of his recordings were with the Hickory label.
Associated labels were:
Most of Jimmy's music writing was published by Acuff-Rose Music.

Jimmy and Marty Robbins

He contributed songs regularly for Marty Robbins.
This is an incomplete list, the dates are the years the songs were issued by Marty:
Died in Nashville of cancer at age 69, leaving his wife Elsie and five children.
He is buried in a U.S Veterans gravesite at the Nashville National Cemetery, Madison, Davidson County, Tennessee.

Legacy

An influence on Elvis Presley.
He left behind many collectible recordings which regularly surface on YouTube, under the names: Jimmy Sweeney, Jimmy Bell, Jimmy Destry, The Five Bars, and The Varieteers.

Jimmy Sweeney discography

45 RPM singles
MP3