b. James Frederick Rodgers, 18 September 1933, Camus, Washington, USA. After being taught by his mother, the young Rodgers successfully auditioned for the Arthur Godfrey talent show and impressed Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti who signed him to their recently formed Roulette Records. Rodgers’ creamy, effortless voice and blend of folk-tinged pop appealed to a post-war middle America, and over the next decade he made the Billboard singles chart 25 times. He never, however, topped his debut, ‘Honeycomb’, which stayed at number 1 for four weeks in 1957 (number 30 in the UK). His early successes included ‘Kisses Sweeter Than Wine’ a Top 3 hit in 1957 which vied with Frankie Vaughan in the UK for the best position (Rodgers number 7, Vaughan number 8).
One of Rodgers’ most memorable songs was the innocent but catchy ‘English Country Garden’, which, although it became his biggest UK hit (reaching the Top 5 in 1962), did not appear to warrant an American release, possibly because of its parochial title. Rodgers was the victim of a serious mugging in 1967 that left him with a fractured skull. Although he eventually returned to performing full-time, his career had lost its momentum. He was still singing professionally in the late 80s.
