Andy Anderson and the Rollin' Stones
 Major
Works
Songs
- Johnny Valentine (Andy Anderson and the Rolling Stones)
- You Shake Me Up (Andy Anderson and the Rolling Stones)
- Tough, Tough, Tough
(Andy Anderson and the Dawnbreakers)
Original Releases
Feb. 3 , 1958 Johnny Valentine
I-I-I
Love You
May 18, 1959 You Shake Me Up 
The
Way She Smiled
May, 1960 Gimme Lock
A Yo Hair
Tough
Tough Tough
1960/Oct. I'm
Gonna Sit Right Down & Cry Over You
Promise
Me
1962 or later All By Myself
Tall
Oak Tree
1962/Mar. 10 The Scoot
Ol' Man River [unissued]
How
Long, How True, 'Til Then
Please
Forgive Me
They
Call It The Blues
1964 [unissued]
I
Missed A Lot In You
Mustang
Kid
My
Babe 
Stuck
On You
Tall
Oak Tree [alt. vers.]
Without
Your Love
1965 [unissued]
Big
Game Hunter
Sad
Notes
So
Long, I'm Gone
We
Were Happy
April 9, 2003 You Shake Me Up (Label: Sunjay)
T.V. Shows
- Dick Clark’s American Bandstand
- Alan Freed Show
---------------------------------------------------------
Andy Anderson: A Biography
By Chad Stowell (SHS)
Andy
Anderson was born on a family-owned plantation in Clarksdale,
Mississippi, in 1935, where he grew up listening to
live Saturday afternoon shows by artists like Howlin'
Wolf and John Lee Hooker. In 1951 Andy's mother, Elizabeth Anderson,
suggested that Andy might be able to earn some money playing
and singing guitar, so she bought him a guitar in Memphis.
Listening to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night, Andy
learned some of the songs, and Andy's mother encouraged
him. She herself played piano, sang and composed. Her
death in 1953 ended Andy's family encouragement in music.
He also had a younger brother named Brooks. Throughout his life,
Andy has always enjoyed rock and roll, and rhythm and blues.
He has had many ups and downs in his career, but he has always
found a way through (Brewer 158.)
Andy Anderson and the Rolling Stones formed in Starkville,
Mississippi, in 1955. The members were Andy Anderson, Joe
Tubb, “Cuz” Covington, Bobby Lyon, James Aldridge,
and Roy Estes. Andy and all the other boys attended Mississippi
State in Starkville, Mississippi. Andy had a great
voice and a love for music, and Andy Anderson and the Rolling
Stones quickly became popular in the Starkville area. Andy Anderson
signed with Delta Records in 1965, and Delta distributed their
hit song Johnny Valentine nationwide. They
also went to Memphis to see Sam Phillips at Sun Records. There
Andy and the "Rolling Stones" cut several records for Sun.
While still attending Mississippi State, Andy and the Stones
cut an album with Jack Clements as engineer at the old Madison
Avenue Studio in Memphis. Unfortunately, the work was
never released because
of Sun's financial position. Apollo records released some
of their work in New York. "You shake me up" was extremely popular
in the New York State area, and the Andersib and his band played
on Dick Clark's Bandstand and appeared on the Alan Freed
show in Philadelphia.
In 1959, Andy got a phone call from his father telling to forget
about rock and roll and to come home to work on the family plantation.
Since Andy was obligated to take up his responsibilities at
the plantation, Andy told the other guys he was going home.
When Andy got home, his father told him that he had changed
his mind and did not need him. Andy was furious at his father
because he was now finished with the Rolling Stones. Later Andy
moved to California to pursue an acting career (Rockabilly Hall
of Fame). He also married there and divorced.
Photo above: Bobby Joe Swilley
and Andy Anderson. Courtesy of Swilley.
In 1968 Andy received another phone call from home saying his
brother Brooks was terminally ill with cancer. Andy immediately
moved home to take care of his brother. Andy’s brother
Brooks died in 1969. In California, Anderson had
started a business, and the IRS and Andy’s ex-wife were
after him for court settlements. Anderson was forced to seek
psychiatric help. He became secluded from the world, and according
to Rockabilly Hall of Fame, no one could get to him. Finally,
by the fall of 1975, Andy had negotiated final settlements with
his wife and the IRS. In 1974, Andy was living in Ocean
Springs, Mississippi. There he met J.J. Hettinger from Louisville,
Kentucky, who was teaching in the Catholic High School in Biloxi.
Andy once again turned to music as Hettinger was a talented
and creative songwriter. Together they wrote songs they
classified as progressive, folk-rock, blues. They
wrote several commercial songs and cutting tracks at Malaco
Studios in Jackson, Mississipp,i under the name of "The
Eagle and the Hawk". On December 23, 1975, while visiting his
cousin in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Andy met his
future wife, Kay Norcom.
In April of 1976, Andy, Kay, and J.J. moved
to Taos, New Mexico. Aerie Records, his new record label, was a new outlet
for Andy and the Eagle and the Hawk. Andy got a real estate
license and started developing and selling real estate to earn a living,
while continuing to promote his music. However, on May 13th, 1976,
Andy got his middle finger of his left hand cut off by a hydraulic
lift just two days before his forty-first birthday. He became depressed
and put up his guitar. Hettinger moved back to Louisville.
In
1983, Andy once again began to play around a little bit on his guitar,
and he started rehearsing with some other musicians in Taos. In August
of 1987, Andy and his wife Kay moved back to Mississippi. Together
Andy and Bobby Furman finished what Andy had left incomplete in Nashville;
Andy got the master tapes back and finished them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timeline
By Chad Stowell (SHS)
1935-Andy is born in Clarksdale,
Mississippi
1951-Andy buys first
guitar for $37.50
1953-Elizabeth Anderson,
Andy's mother, died. Andy, Joe, and Cuz enroll at Mississippi State
University, Starkville, MS 1955-The Rolling Stones
was formed 1956-The Rolling Stones
were offered a contract from Delta records 1957-Andy and the Rolling
Stones graduated from Mississippi State
1957-Murray Nash and
Associates in Nashville signed the Rolling Stones and re-recorded "Johnny
Valentine" became a hit. 1959-Andy returns home
to give up on music. 1965-Andy moves to
California to pursue an acting career 1968-Andy receives
a phone call from home saying his brother is terminally ill with cancer 1969-Andy's younger
brother Brooks Anderson dies 1972-Andy is forced
to seek therapy in seclusion
1975-Andy started cutting
tracks with J.J. Hettinger under the name “The Eagle and the Hawk” 1975-Andy meets his
future wife Kay Norcom 1976-Andy lost the
middle finger of his left hand in a hydraulic lift 1983-Andy started rehearsing
with some local musicians in Taos, New Mexico
1987-Andy and Kay moved
back to Mississippi
2003-April "You Shake Me Up" released by Sunjay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Websites
Web
Page for Andy Anderson and the Dawn Breakers provides a
complete history to 2007 for Andy Anderson.
Blackcat
Rockabilly (a European site entitled Andy Anderson,
Mississippi's Main Stay)
Excellent
and complete biography of Anderson on Rockabilly Hall of
Fame site.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliography
“Andy Anderson and the Rolling Stones”. Rockabilly
Hall of Fame. Jackson, Mississippi: Rockabilly Hall of Fame. 2001.
Brewer, James H. Ed. “Andy Anderson. Mississippi Musicians Hall of
Fame. Brandon, Mississippi: Quail Ridge Press, 2001. 158.
Johnny Valentine
by
Andy Anderson
Listen everybody 'bout Johnny Valentine
He goes out with girls all of the time
He's in love with 'em all, he goes every night
He's got about a hundred, he likes to hold 'em tight
Johnny Valentine, Johnny Valentine
Johnny Valentine, Johnny Valentine
He's a lover not a fighter, they call him Johnny Valentine
All about Johnny, he's really no square
A real sharp guy, ducks in his hair
He wears T-shirts and blue jeans and motor-cycle boots
He's a real tough guy, but the girls think he's cute
When the chauffeur takes him out in his big Cadillac
There's no such thing as a hole in the back
They're all right there, they're ready to ride
They have to take turns to sit by his side
Johnny Valentine, Johnny Valentine
Johnny Valentine, Johnny Valentine
He's a lover not a fighter, they call him Johnny Valentine
Not too long ago a girl got him all alone
She said, marry me Johnny, let's get us a home
He said, look out baby, don't you start that again
You know as well as I do that I just can't
Johnny Valentine, Johnny Valentine
Johnny Valentine, Johnny Valentine
He's a lover not a fighter, they call him Johnny Valentine
- Andy Anderson-1958
---------------------------------------------------------
|