Keith Colley - WELCOME HOME BABY (Gold Star Studio) (Phil Sloan) (1965)

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED - (Vee Jay 682) Born in 1941 as Jarrell Keith Colley, the Spokane, Washington native had his vocal talent noticed while attending the University of Washington. Recording his own version of Dion's 'A Teenager In Love' at a local radio station, impressed disc jockies placed it in their regular rotation. The owner of Spokane's Jerden Records, Jerry Dennon, heard Keith's recording and wasted no time signing him to the label.
Moving to Los Angeles, Keith's contract was converted to Era Records where he issued three singles between 1961 and 1962. Hooking up with record executive, Al Allen in late 1962, Keith's name would appear on four singles on Allen's, Unical Records throughout 1963. The second of which would place him in hit status on a little thing called 'Enamorado'. As the story goes, Al Allen wasn't impressed with Keith's original English lyrics, and suggested that the song be translated to Spanish. Keith's ability to sing in Spanish may not have been top notch but he had the last laugh as the record did quite well in many markets across the country.
The next record company hop would be an elusive single issued in late 1963 on the miniscule Los Angeles based, JAF Records. In the summer of 1964, a deal was made with Al Allen and Vee Jay Records for Keith's next single ultimately issued in January of 1965. Written by Colley and up and coming singer/songwriter, Phil Sloan, 'Welcome Home Baby' was Keith's best single to date. As were his previous recordings, the session was held at Hollywood's legendary Gold Star Studio with engineer, Larry Levine at the controls. A simple musical arrangement with swirling strings and shimmering echo gave the disc an impressive atmospheric presence.
Keith's next move was to the Gene Autry owned, Challenge Records later in 1965 where after he recorded two singles for the label, focused his energies as an in-house song writer and company executive.
The next record label stop would be with Columbia in 1968 for his original version of 'Shame, Shame' backed with a re-recording of 'Enamorado'. 'England's The Magic Lanterns would cover 'Shame, Shame' that same year and managed a top thirty hit with it.