Song:You Turn Me On
Album:Big Hits Of The 60s
The 1965 top ten hit You Turn Me On was one of the silliest hits of the British Invasion. But Ian Whitcomb wasn't interested in being a pop star and soon after turned to other kinds of music. He is also the author of several books about music. He was born July 10, 1941 in Woking, Surrey, England. His father was an actor for British Screen Classics and encouraged Ian and brother Robin to learn to play music. They had a ragtime band. Whitcomb started a skiffle group while in high school and then a rock band. While studying history at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Whitcomb formed Bluesville. He signed with Tower Records and You Turn Me On was his second single. It reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. So what's with the falsetto voice? The story goes that a girl whispered You Turn Me On in Whitcomb's ear while making out and then he wrote the song. He's trying to sound like a girl. So now Whitcomb is a pop star and he appeared on all kinds of American TV shows. The song was not a hit in England. After his next single N-Nervous reached the top 50, he returned to Ireland to finish school. He recorded four albums for Tower but I think most fans will only remember You Turn Me On. You can get it on this Capitol various artists comp. Since then Whitcomb has recorded mostly Tin Pan Alley music and has written several books on the subject. He produced Mae West's 1972 album Great Balls Of Fire and wrote the music for the 1978 documentary Bugs Bunny Superstar. That film was narrated by Orson Welles and produced by legendary Warner Bros. animation director Bob Clampett. I have that film on one of my Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD box sets. Ian Whitcomb lives in California and still plays clubs. He hosts The Ian Whitcomb Show on XM Satellite Radio. And last year he wrote a ukulele sing along book. Needless to say, Ian Whitcomb is an interesting character. Here's Ian Whitcomb performing You Turn Me On on Hollywood A Go Go 1965.
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