Roger Fakes

Arkansas-born Roger Fakes only pursued music as a career for a short time in his life, but it was enough to make a bit of a splash in Memphis and get him heard nationally through the work of Bill Justis. Born in Little Rock, he moved to Memphis with his family in 1949, and he later became part of a singing group called the Spinners in the '50s, who ended up cutting some records with Bill Justis. The latter included the track "The Midnight Man," which was the B-side of the number two hit single "Raunchy" in 1957. A little earlier, he'd shown up in the Memphis press after a Fourth of July benefit in which he'd won the door prize, presented by local-boy-made-good Elvis Presley. Fakes got to cut a record of his own at Sun, yielding the ballad "Somehow We'll Find a Way," which was closer to country than rockabilly (but somehow ends up on collections of the latter), and never got released. He appeared on television's Top Ten Dance Party, but he wasn't really committed to rock & roll, or even to country music as a style -- according to Colin Escott, Fakes' idol was Harry Belafonte -- or to music as a career. He finished college and gave up music as a profession. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide