Eliza Gilkyson

Folk singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson was born in Hollywood, CA, the daughter of folk-pop singer/songwriter Terry Gilkyson (1916-1999). Her father wrote and recorded "The Cry of the Wild Goose," which Frankie Laine covered for a number one hit in 1950, as well as the 1953 Top Ten hit "Tell Me a Story" recorded by Jimmy Boyd and Laine. As a performer, he was co-credited with the Weavers on the 1951 Top Ten hit "On Top of Old Smoky." With Richard Dehr and Frank Miller, he was a member of the Easy Riders. The three wrote the 1953 Top Ten hit "Mister Tap Toe" recorded by Doris Day, and they wrote and provided backing vocals on the 1957 number one hit "Memories Are Made of This" recorded by Dean Martin. The same year, as Terry Gilkyson and the Easy Riders, they scored their own Top Ten hit with the self-written "Marianne," and they wrote Laine's Top Ten hit "Love Is a Golden Ring." They also wrote the 1960 Top Ten hit "Greenfields" recorded by the Brothers Four. Terry later was employed by the Walt Disney company to write songs for and sing in its films and television programs, and his composition "The Bare Necessities" from the 1967 movie The Jungle Book earned him an Academy Award nomination. Growing up in Hollywood, Eliza sometimes sang on her father's demos and soundtracks along with her brother Tony Gilkyson, who later became a member of the rock bands Lone Justice and X and performed on her records. Though uncredited, she can be heard singing with her father in the Disney TV movies The Secret of Romney Marsh (1964) and The Legend of Young Dick Turpin (1965). (She also had a sister, Nancy Gilkyson, who became an executive at Warner Bros. Records and sang on her records.) In her late teens, she moved to Santa Fe, NM, where she raised a family and released her first...