Tupper Saussy

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Frederick Tupper Saussy III (1936 - March 16, 2007) was an American composer, musician, author, and artist. His first exhibition of watercolors was given in 1972 at Cheekwood in Nashville, Tennessee and his works can be found in the permanent collection of the Tennessee State Museum.^[1]

Tupper Saussy was perhaps best known for being the songwriter and keyboardist for psychedelic pop band The Neon Philharmonic, for which he was nominated for two Grammy awards in 1969. Earlier in his career, Monument Records had released an album of his jazz piano, The Swingers Guide to Mary Poppins, featuring songs from the Disney movie. In the 1960s and 1970s, he composed works for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Chattanooga Symphony.

Between 1980 and 1987, Saussy edited The Main Street Journal, advising and reporting political action dedicated to restoring the gold and silver monetary system established in the U.S. Constitution.^[2] His activism ran him afoul of the IRS, and in 1985 he was found guilty of willfully failing to file a tax return.^[3]in 1977. For the years 1978 and 1979, the jury decided that his failure to file returns was not willful, and he was found innocent. For the single conviction, he was sentenced to serve one year in Atlanta Federal Prison Camp. Saussy remained free for 2 years while his conviction was appealed.

James Earl Ray read of Saussy's defense in the Tennessee newspapers. Ray inquired by postcard if Saussy would be interested in helping him write and publish his autobiography. Thus began a collaboration that resulted in the publication, in 1987, of Tennessee Waltz: The Making of An American Political Prisoner.^[4]

Saussy's appeal was denied by the Supreme Court. Ray's book appeared at about the time Saussy was to begin serving his sentence. Fearing possible retaliation for the revelations made in Tennessee Waltz, Saussy went into hiding for over ten years, not resurfacing until 1997, at which point he served a 14 month sentence at Taft Correctional Institute in Taft, California. He was given the job of chapel music director and piano instructor to prisoners. ^[5]

During his fugitive years, Saussy patronized libraries from coast to coast, researching the religious element in the origins of American government. In prison he collated his research and prepared a final manuscript. In 2001, the work was published by HarperCollins under the title Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge about Governing Bodies.^[6]

In April 2006, Tupper Saussy resumed his composer/pianist/performer persona with the Nashville debut of "The Chocolate Orchid Piano Bar," a song cycle of new and vintage works.^[7] His first new musical release in more than 30 years, the CD was recorded in Nashville and produced by Warren Pash.^[8]

A 1958 graduate of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, Saussy was first married to Lola Haun, a Nashville socialite, whom he met during his tenure as a teacher at Montgomery Bell Academy. After their marriage, Saussy worked as a copywriter in an advertising company he cofounded, McDonald Saussy. The Saussys, who divorced in 1972, had a son, Caleb Powell Haun Saussy, and a daughter, Melissa. By his second wife, Frederique Louise Blanco, the musician had two more sons, Pierre Philippe Saussy and Laurent Amaury Saussy, and a stepdaughter, Alexia Camille Vallord.

Tupper Saussy died on March 16, 2007 at his home in Nashville,Tennessee of a heart attack. He was 70 years old.