![]() ![]() “Little Bitty Pretty One,” written about his wife, was also a huge hit but not for him. He wrote and recorded three songs in the next two years that became big hits: “Little Bitty Pretty One,” backed with “Over and Over,” and “Rockin’ Robin.” He took the two-sided hit to No. ![]() Day had a feel for what the new rock and roll audience wanted and wrote songs in the doo-wop style that appealed to white and Black teens alike. He signed first with Aladdin Records then later with Class Records. In 1957, he went solo, though the Hollywood Flames continued to back him. He and Nelson also performed as Bob and Earl, scoring with another Day-composed song, “Gee Whiz.” They followed that with “Crazy,” which he also wrote. Day also wrote and produced the group’s first hit, “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz,” which reached the Top 10 on the R&B charts in 1957. He wrote and recorded his first song with them, “Young Girl.” They became popular on the local club scene and got airplay on Art Laboe’s nightly radio show, which helped them put some minor hits on the R&B charts (separated by the recording industry from the pop charts). With Earl Nelson, he formed a group they called the Hollywood Flames in 1949. and became part of the dynamic music community centered there. He lived in Watts, the segregated Black section of L.A. It was there that he started writing songs in the emerging rhythm and blues (R&B) style, known at the time as “race music.” He got a music scholarship to Prairie View A&M and attended for a time but found things “tough” (his word), so he took off to California, settling in Los Angeles and enrolling in UCLA. ![]()
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