Clint Ballard RIP (RR)
funky16corners
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January 19, 2009Clint Ballard Jr., Writer of Hit Songs, Dies at 77 By DOUGLAS MARTINClint Ballard Jr., a Texas-born songwriter whose songs, heard on 10 million records, included the 1965 hit ???The Game of Love??? and Linda Ronstadt???s No. 1 single ???You???re No Good??? from 1975, died on Dec. 23 at his home in Denton, Tex. He was 77.His friend Jacqueline Martinez said that he had a stroke two and a half years ago and that his health had steadily deteriorated.Ms. Ronstadt included ???You???re No Good??? on her ???Heart Like a Wheel??? album, which was released in 1974 and itself reached the top of the Billboard album chart in 1975. Dee Dee Warwick and Betty Everett had earlier recorded the song, both in 1963. The next year, the Swinging Blue Jeans had a Top 10 hit with it in Britain.Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders made ???The Game of Love??? a No. 1 hit in the United States and a No. 2 hit in Britain in 1965. It was one of the songs the disc jockey portrayed by Robin Williams played in the 1987 movie ???Good Morning, Vietnam.???With Fred Tobias, Mr. Ballard wrote ???Good Timin???,??? which Jimmy Jones took to the top of British charts and to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1960. The Hollies reached No. 1 in Britain with Mr. Ballard???s ???I???m Alive??? in 1965.Mr. Ballard also found popular success with songs like ???Gingerbread??? for Frankie Avalon, ???There???s Not a Minute??? for Ricky Nelson and ???Gotta Get a Hold of Myself??? for the Zombies. He wrote ???Journey???s End??? with Noel Sherman for Frankie Laine.In 1958 Mr. Ballard???s ???Hey Little Baby??? was on the B side of ???March From the River Kwai??? by Mitch Miller and his orchestra.Clinton Conger Ballard Jr. was born in El Paso, Tex., on May 24, 1931, and was encouraged in music by his mother. At 11 he attended a program for gifted young musical students at what is now the University of North Texas. He attended the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) and graduated from what is now the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in radio studies. He served in the Army in Japan as a radio operator.One of his early steps in the music business was to discover, manage and secure a recording contract with Decca for the Kalin Twins. Their one hit, ???When,??? was written by Paul Evans and Jack Reardon, not Mr. Ballard.Mr. Ballard settled in Dallas in 1981 and three years later moved to Denton, 35 miles north of Dallas. He became a real estate investor and manager.Mr. Ballard left no immediate survivors.
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RIP,
Dress