The Story

Les Vogt - The Story

This is a work in progress... there will be continual additions & changes...

Jack Cullen was the popular "teen" DJ during the mid fifties in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. He was a "big band" enthusiast and a crooner of sorts... singing a song or two during his emcee appearances around town.. One such appearance was in 1956 during a sock hop at John Oliver High School. In the audience on that day was a young student by the name of Les Vogt. Les introduced himself to the popular DJ and told Cullen that he was a member of a basement band that would someday be playing at high school dances just like him. It was a "sure kid... good luck and stay in touch" kind of meeting that would pay off big time down the road.

Les was a tall, shy kid that became interested in music at the age of 13 when his older brother (Ed) took him to a few "live" concerts... Louis Armstrong and Wilf Carter were the most memorable. After seeing a Wilf Carter concert in 1951, Les took his older brother's hand-me-down guitar and learned to play and yodel in the confines of his bedroom.

Les relates "I was very shy and becoming interested in girls... but I really wasn't bold enough to go after them. I remember going to bed with my radio, listening to songs and dreaming it was me singing in front of the whole school in the auditorium. And the girls were all coming around wanting to get to know me... I really looked forward to bedtime. Today, I firmly believe that you can dream your way into reality...that is, if you dream long enough and hard enough, it can really happen."

At this point, Les began playing and singing along with the current songs of the day. Frankie Laine... Vaughn Monroe... Patti Paige... Johnny Ray... Guy Mitchell and the Crew Cuts were all popular recording acts at the time. Coming out of the bedroom and singing in front of people was a difficult transition. His best friend at the time, Larry Tillyer, was the catalyst that brought things out in the open. Their common interest in music developed into basement sessions at Larry's house where the two would sing and play the latest hit recordings. Others would often join in and "jam" with them as well. It wasn't long before the loose makings of a band was developed. Various combinations of musicians (musically inclined neighborhood friends) took the stage at the local Fraserview Community Centre and played for teen dances. The band, first known as the "Fraserview Drifters" played mostly country music because it was pretty much the only alternative to the orchestra arrangements of the popular music at the time.

The first band members were Les Vogt - vocals and guitar, Larry Tillyer - guitar,

Laurie Bader - drums & Eric Olson on the accordion. And, for a while. Wayne Dinwoodie (another neighbourhood pal) played fiddle in the band. The Drifters repertoire was made up of songs songs by Eddy Arnold, Hank Thompson, Marty Robbins, Guy Mitchell, Frankie Laine and the like. Their repertoire evolved into

group hits like "Sh-Boom" by the Crew Cuts and "Down By The Riverside" and "Three Coins In The Fountain" by the Four Lads.

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One of the youth coordinators at the Fraserview Community Centre introduced the band to a guitar player (Fred Bennett) from Nova Scotia that wanted to play with them. It was Fred (a little older than the rest) who would take the group to the next level. Fred was an accomplished guitarist and had been in a real band

back in Nova Scotia. Les relates "We were very lucky to come upon Fred... he knew (or quickly learned) all the lead guitar licks for current hits and taught us the right chord structure to play along with him. The band's very first recording was a remake of a Hank Thompson country tune called "Most Of All".

When Elvis' music first hit the Canadian charts in 1956, the direction of the group took a sharp turn in the same direction. Les acknowledges that the Prowlers were the very first rock'n'roll "Elvis-style" band in Vancouver. The term "impersonator" wasn't heard of as yet and didn't really apply anyway. As Les says " All the singers of that era were trying to be like Elvis. Gene Vincent, Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly, etc... they were all trying to look and sound as much like Elvis as they possibly could." One of the Elvis songs the Prowlers would always include in their repertoire was "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You."

The band's big break came from a fluke telephone call to DJ Jack Cullen's radio program. Cullen's "Owl Prowl" was Vancouver's most popular radio program at the time and pretty much all the teenagers in the city listened to it. One of the girls attending a basement rehearsal for the band took it upon herself to phone Jack Cullen (on the air) and asked him to listen to the band over the phone. He not only listened to the band... he patched the call over the airwaves and all of Vancouver was talking about the band the next day. Cullen received so many phone calls that he brought the band into his small radio studio and recorded several songs which he proceeded to play regularly on the air. This connection resulted in the band calling themselves "The Prowlers" since their popularity came from Jack Cullen's Owl Prowl radio show. These primitive recordings were discovered in 2003 by DJ Red Robinson and rockabilly collector Gary Olsen while appraising the record collection of the late Jack Cullen. This discovery formed the basis for a 2003 CD release of all the music of Les Vogt and the Prowlers. Jack Cullen was the hot DJ in Vancouver at the time and he did his part to launch the band. He included them on a show with Bill Haley & the Comets at Vancouver's Kerrisdale Arena on June 27th, 1956. This was Vancouver's very first rock & roll concert. The band also opened for other Cullen shows such as Ivory Joe Hunter at the PNE Gardens and Gene Vincent at the Silver Moon Ballroom in White Rock, B.C. Jack Cullen died April 27, 2002 at the age of 80.
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In May, 1958 The Prowlers released a Les Vogt penned tune "Get A Move On" on Al Reusch's Aragon record label. "I think it was the best local rock'n'roll record ever produced at the time" says Vogt. But, it

would never receive the attention it deserved. The teen-age airwaves were now dominated by a young superstar DJ by the name of Red Robinson at CKWX Radio where management deemed The Prowlers competition (as their name represented a competitive radio station) and the disk was buried without any exposure to speak of... CJOR Radio with an upstart teen jock, Frosty Forst, was the only support the record received. With all the kids listening to Red Robinson... the record died before any life at all.

"Get A Move On" was conceived in a dream... in the dream Les and guitar player (Fred Bennett) were driving to a gig with none other than Elvis Presley seated between the two band members in the front seat of Fred's old Packard straight eight. At one point Elvis turns up the volume on the car radio and says "They're playing my new new record" which was a new song that the two men had never heard before. Les woke up and jotted down the lyrics immediately (in about 5 minutes) He and the band recorded the song (Get A Move On) a short time later. Les' explained "I was trying to write a song similar to "Don't Be Cruel" which was a big hit at the time. I think I had been challenging myself to find a similar sounding guitar intro for a song idea I already had in my head. Sometimes, when you go to bed with a challenge, the answer comes to you in a dream. I was amazed to be able to receive an entire song... and from Elvis no less."

Vancouver songwriter Allen Parker (aka Sipson P.Kloop) was a milkman at Dairyland where Les also worked his "day job" as a milkman. Al (Parker) often hired local bands to record demos for some of his original songs and in 1958, when the two men met at work, The Prowlers would record "The Blamers" and "Moon Rocketin" (two Parker penned tunes) at Aragon Studios. Lead guitarist, Fred Bennett, was working out of town (as a pipefitter) and couldn't perform on the session. His replacement, Johnny Faas, turned out to be an important part of making the recording unique enough to attract international interest. Johnny's creative introduction and backing guitar fills gave the record character and were, Les believes, the main reason the song would ultimately become the hit it became. But, the recording sat on the shelf and did not resurface for a few years...

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After the disappointment of no air-play for "Get A Move On"... and emerging wives and kids, the band members would all spend more time raising their families (the music business wasn't a profitable job at the time) and the band members just seemed to drift apart. Les and Irene Buttner (AKA Irene Butler - female singer with the Prowlers) were married and began performing solo with other bands on weekends. One such band was with their neighbour, Gordy Cowan, who was the leader of a band called the "Originals" and it developed into a regular part-time job for both Irene and Les.

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Allen Parker (Sipson P.Kloop) would shop his demo tapes to anyone that would listen. In late 1958, when the DeCastro Sisters were performing at the Cave in Vancouver, their manager Jack LeGras agreed to listen to Parker's songs and took them with him. He later decided to pursue a record deal for the two milkmen.

In 1960, "The Blamers" was released on a small independent LA record label (Iona Records) in the USA and on Sparton Records in Canada. The record was released under the name of Les Vogt since the band was no longer together and to avoid any further political problems between radio stations.

This period was undoubtedly Les Vogt's finest hour as a performer... "The Blamers" quickly rose to the top of Vancouver's C-FUN Top 40 Record Chart. On August 6th, 1960 Les knocked off Elvis' "It's Now Or Never" to become #1... Elvis was now #2 and "Only The Lonely by Roy Orbison was #3. The Blamers remained #1 in Vancouver for a record 11 weeks. Apparently, Big Daddy (Dave McCormick) would later admit that they had forced the record off the charts or it may have been #1 for another 11 weeks. The record was later picked up by ABC Paramount Records and received full release status in the U.S. The two milkmen lost track of where it went from there... there were scattered reports that the record was charted here and there but no royalties were forthcoming. Inexperience and family responsibilities did not allow for full pursuit of a musical career and virtually no follow-up promotion was done. Two more Allen Parker tunes would be recorded by Les Vogt during this period... "Preacher Boy" (which was wasn't one of Les' favourites) was cut in a private residence with the Winmen (a folk-style group) as back-up. And, finally Les' favourite recording of all "Teenager's Dream" was recorded in Seattle, WA using Seattle based musicians. It was the same studio where The Ventures recorded their hits. The studio owner, Joe Boles, asked Les if he would come back to Seattle and record a demo he thought suited Les' vocal style. The still shy, young singer politely refused and returned to Canada. Les later learned that the song Joe wanted him to sing was "Come Softly To Me" which was recorded by a couple of new singers (they would ultimately become known as The Fleetwoods) and the song became a huge hit. Les is still kicking himself for not recording that song... because it truly was a perfect fit.

After "The Originals", who became known as Les Vogt and the "The Blamers," went their separate ways and Les' singing opportunities as a freelance "singer with a hit" faded , along came a new member to the Vogt household. On February 14th, 1961, a little girl Leslie Marlene Vogt was born and thoughts of a more secure job were on Les' mind. The music business wasn't a great business for a new husband and father. A second daughter Lisa Yvonne Vogt would come along on February 26th, 1965.

In 1961 when DJ Red Robinson returned to Vancouver (he worked at KGW in Portland during 1959-1960) he instantly picked up where he left off... the most popular teen DJ in town. At this point, Les Vogt, was the reigning rock & roll promoter running dances and shows with his own band and dabbling with the booking of US recording acts such as Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Knox and others... bringing them into the Vancouver area as an extension of their tour dates ending in Seattle. It was only a matter of time before Les and Red would hook up and become partners in the concert promotion business.

"It was a promoter's dream" relates Les... "Your partner (Red) being the most popular DJ in town telling the kids where and when the shows would be playing. I would do all the leg work, set-up, etc. and Red would MC the events. It was a little goldmine until competition sprung up and station management had to terminate the "free" radio promotion for their star attraction. It was unfair competition and major advertisers with heavy clout were beginning to complain. Little did they know that we would then get fully produced spots at a super wholesale rate... for awhile anyway. It wasn't long before all the station's DJ's wanted similar "extras" and management had no choice but to level the playing field."

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In 1962 Les and Red formed Jaguar Enterprises Ltd. They were 50/50 partners in the business which promoted teen-age concerts and dances. It was a very successful business. One of their first and most successful concerts was originally scheduled to be a dance at the Garden Auditorium (at the PNE) in Vancouver, B.C. featuring Roy Orbison and his band. However, it was discovered that an old city ordinance did not permit anyone under the age of 18 to attend a dance within the city limits. This law was left over from the dance hall/cabaret days when people (over 18) could bring their own bottle and keep it on a shelf under their table. The house would provide glasses and sell ice and mix (set-ups) for additional revenues. Even though those days were long gone... when that devil music rock & roll came along, the city decided to exercise the old law (still on the books) to prevent those troublesome teen-age dances happening within the city limits. Of course, Les and Red simply promoted their dances in areas outside the city limits. The kids would drive for miles to get to those "devil promoted" dances. However, back to the Roy Orbison show... it was pretty much sold out when it was discovered that the city would not issue a license for the dance. So, the dance became a concert and was completely sold out. There were two out of town dances and the Vancouver concert on that trip. Les always says " Roy Orbison bought Red and I our first houses" What he means is that he and Red made enough money on that weekend to place down payments on their first homes. Roy's fee at the time was $800 per night for him and the whole band. Roy received a $1,000 bonus from the young promoters... a gesture that Roy would later say had never happened to him before or since that weekend. Roy would never forget the only promoters to ever give him more than the performance contract had called for. Whenever Roy toured in Canada he insisted that Les and Red be the promoters of any Roy Orbison shows that came near the Vancouver area. Les and Roy would later become involved in a show business partnership that would change the lives of both men.

During the early sixties Les and Red promoted "teen-age" shows in the Vancouver area on a regular basis. Some of the acts included Jerry Lee Lewis, Dick & Dee Dee, Dorsey & Johnny Burnette, Donnie Brooks, Buddy Knox and many others. Jaguar Enterprises also became the biggest booking agency for teenage bands in western Canada. At one point, Les was handling the bookings for all the popular bands in the city.

In 1964 Les convinced the PNE to provide the Garden Auditorium for a teen-age "Dance-Party" that would become the place to be if you were a teenager in Vancouver. The C-FUN Classics were formed to become the radio station band and they would be the featured band in '64 and would provide backing for the Canadian heart-throb Bobby Curtola. In 1965, The Nocturnals would be featured with a rising US recording star Glen Campbell. In 1966 Les would manage the much larger "Teenage Fair"... a fair within a fair that featured bands and teen entertainment all day long. The Gardens would become one of Les' favorite venues for teenage events because of the permanent stage and large dance area with bleacher seating all around. It was also convenient for public transit and had unlimited parking facilities. Some of the performers Les promoted at the Gardens were Roy Orbison, Ike & Tina Turner, Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Dusty Springfield, Billy J Kramer and many more.

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In September, 1965 Les would convert the old Hollywood Bowl (759 Carnavon Street in New Westminster) into the most popular teen hang-out in the lower mainland... "The Grooveyard" which featured "live" bands every Friday & Saturday night. All the bands that were anybody played The Grooveyard and were booked by Les' Jaguar Booking Agency. Some of the Vancouver bands included the Night Train Revue, The Nocturnals, The Epics, The Soul Unlimited, The Stags, The Shockers and The Shantelles. Ike & Tina Turner were featured one weekend when the group were cancelled at the last minute in Seattle. Bo Diddley, Paul Revere & the Raiders, The Sonics. The Frantics and the Kingsmen were just a few of the US bands to be featured there.

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Buddy Knox would eventually move to Canada and become Les' partner in a country music night club called the "Purple Steer"... the club opened in October, 1969 and became one of the most popular night spots in Vancouver until it was sold for a profit in 1972. Some of the entertainers Les brought in to perform at the club included Charlie Rich, Bob Luman, The Coasters, Bobby Freeman, Dorsey Burnett, Jerry Wallace and many more.

Living the good life was never something that suited Les Vogt. Everything was quite comfortable financially but the temptations in the music business were too much for Les and his infidelity led to the separation and ultimate divorce from Irene Butler. He would marry and divorce two more times before finding the love of his life in Randi Kramer a long-time friend and acquaintance.

In 1975 Les would see an ad in a Canadian music trade magazine advertising Roy Orbison playing at a bar in Thunder Bay, Ontario. After many years out of the public eye due to depression from losing his brother and wife in motor vehicle accidents and 2 of 3 children in a house fire, Roy was a forgotten man in America and he was at the bottom of the ladder in popularity there. Les would track him down and convince him to let him (Les) promote a concert tour for him in Canada. Les believed Roy was still a Legend (at least in Canada) and that he (Roy) would still fill theatres if the shows were properly promoted. So, Les mortgaged his house for the venture which turned out to be very successful. In 1976, Roy would ask Les if he would promote his shows in the USA... Roy believed that his success in Canada would repeat itself in the US. Les thought so too and he would rent out his North Vancouver home and move to Nashville to work full-time to try and put Roy Orbison back on the map in the U.S. The venture was a hit and miss situation as the US audiences would often dismiss the former recording star as a "has been" artist. There were hot beds where Roy still had star status but every third night seemed to be a bummer. In 1979 just before Roy was to get ready for a working holiday in Hawaii where Les had booked him for a month long engagement at the Boom Boom showroom in the International Marketplace, Roy had a heart attack that required quadruple bypass surgery. Both the rehearsal/holiday and the tour were cancelled. It was just in time to save the tour... but it was too late to simply cancel the Hawaii shows as they were already on sale. A suitable substitute had to be found. Dick Clark had just featured the top 8 Elvis impersonators in the world on his TV show. So, Les located Bobby Greer from Seattle and convinced the Hawaiian buyer that the Elvis show would be more than a suitable replacement. It was a huge success... the Boom Boom Room was packed the whole time and held the show over for months. In fact, the room would feature Elvis acts exclusively for over 5 years. It was during this run that Les realized the power of Elvis and decided he would put a show together featuring 3 Elvis performers on the same show... and ELVIS ELVIS ELVIS was born shortly afterward. We will discuss this more thoroughly further on.

After Roy's heart surgery, it was necessary for him to take it easy for awhile. So, Les arranged a 10 day run at the Cave in Vancouver and another at the Seaway Beverly Hills Hotel Showroom in Toronto. This allowed Roy to work without the stress of daily travel schedules. It wasn't long before Roy's tour schedule picked up again. One particular tour that took Roy to Los Angeles where he once told Les "Never book me in LA or New York because they're all crooks" stands out as being a turning point in his career. The #1 radio station in LA had offered a full sponsorship for Roy's show at the Santa Monica Civic Centre and Les knew that unlimited advertising on "the" station in LA would bring success. So, against Roy's wishes, Les booked the LA show and talked Roy into believing it was a good move. Well, good it wasn't... it was sensational! Not only was it a financial success, everyone who was anyone in LA came back stage to congratulate Roy and offer their good wishes. Some of the most noteworthy guests were... the Beach Boys... the Eagles... Bruce Springsteen... Boz Scaggs... Linda Ronstadt... Huey Lewis and Tom Petty. It was amazing... all these superstars sitting around saying "Wow... we're here with Orbison!"

This event would turn out to be the single most important booking ever for Roy Orbison. The resulting offers for Roy to collaborate with some of the music industry's top writers and recording artists led him to the most successful years of his career... with the Traveling Wilburys project.

It was Les who realized he had done as much as he could (as Roy's defacto manager) and suggested Roy move to LA and get a real manager and take advantage of writing and hanging out with the greatest names in the business. It would be the best opportunity for Roy to get back on top where he belonged. Roy ultimately did move to LA and got an LA manager and he did resurface to the top of the charts. He passed away on Dec 6, 1988 and didn't see the greatest success of his collaborations with the Traveling Wiburys.

Les, on the other hand, was also experiencing unprecedented success with the Elvis Elvis Elvis production which came about by accident when he needed a replacement for Roy Obrison shows scheduled for Hawaii in May, 1979. The tours continued pretty much full-time until 1986 with a month-long run at Expo86 in Vancouver. Ironically, Les' last booking with Roy Orbison was also at Expo Theatre during the summer of 1986.

Les Vogt & Red Robinson were partners on the Legends of Rock'n'Roll project at Expo86 in Vancouver. It was a super successful series that would see over 43 original rock'n'roll greats perform at Expo Theatre every Sunday afternoon and evening. Les booked all the acts while Red hosted the shows. Some of the classic acts featured were Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Righteous Brothers, Carl Perkins, Buddy Knox, Jack Scott, Donovan, Spencer Davis, Peter Noone, Little Anthony, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Coasters and so many more.

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