Jerry Cole
| Jerry Cole | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jerald Edward Kolbrak |
| Born |
September 23, 1939 Green Bay, Wisconsin United States |
| Died | May 28, 2008 (aged 68) Corona, California United States |
| Genres | Rock, country |
| Occupation(s) | Session musician |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Associated acts |
The Champs Glen Campbell Roger Miller The Wrecking Crew Them |
Jerry Cole (born Jerald Kolbrak; September 23, 1939 – May 28, 2008) was an American guitarist who recorded under his own name, under various budget album pseudonyms and as an uncredited session musician.
Raised in Chicago, Cole first entered the pop music scene as one of The Champs along with Glen Campbell. Campbell and Cole formed the Gee Cee's after they left the Champs and released one single called "Buzzsaw Twist". Cole increased his income and recordings by playing for various budget albums with a variety of credits. In an interview with Psychotronic Video issue #31, Cole explained his dealings with Crown Records. Crown would request five surf albums, five country and western albums and five easy listening albums. Cole would write nine different songs for each album to back one cover version of a hit of the time, organize a band, arrange and record the music for master tapes that he would deliver to Crown in about three weeks time; doing an album or two in a day. Impressed by his playing as a session musician, Bobby Darin recommended him to Capitol Records where he led an instrumental surf guitar group called "Jerry Cole and his Spacemen". Capitol tried Cole as a vocalist but found his voice wasn't strong enough.
Throughout the 1960s, Cole was a highly sought-after session player, working with The Byrds ("Mr. Tambourine Man" / "I Knew I'd Want You"), Nancy Sinatra ("These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"), The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds LP) and Paul Revere & the Raiders ("Kicks") among others. He recorded as one of "The Wrecking Crew" and as a writer, arranger and conductor for numerous pop groups and performers and performed on many American television shows of the time. He led the pit bands of the teenage music shows Hullabaloo and Shindig!. His bandleader abilities were also tapped by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Roger Miller, and Ricky Nelson and he was a first-call guitarist on TV show bands for Andy Williams, Sonny & Cher, The Smothers Brothers, Laugh In, and Dick Van Dyke.
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