Buzz Cason

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buzz Cason

Background information
Birth name	James E. Cason
Also known as	Gary Miles (as singer)
Born	27 November 1939 (1939-11-27) (age 68)
Origin	Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation(s)	singer, songwriter and producer
Years active	1960s - present
Website	buzzcason.com

Buzz Cason (born James E. Cason, 27 November 1939, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.) is an American rock singer, songwriter and producer.

He was among the founding members of The Casuals, Nashville's first rock and roll band. Together with Richard Williams and Hugh Jarrett of The Jordanaires he recorded as The Statues for Liberty. In 1960, Cason started a solo career under the pseudonym Garry Miles, and had a #16 hit in 1960 with "Look For A Star".

In 1962 he worked as Snuff Garrett's assistant in Los Angeles. In Nashville he also worked for arranger Bill Justis. Later, he wrote songs together with Bobby Russell, and both ran a publishing and record company until 1974. His biggest hit as a writer was the song "Everlasting Love," which was a #1 hit in England in 1967, and a #6 hit in the U.S. in 1974. It has logged over 5 million plays, according to BMI. Cason was also a backing singer behind stars such as Elvis Presley and Kenny Rogers. In 1970, he founded Creative Workshop, a comfortably up-to-date recording studio, with which all of the Nashville players were familiar and where Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed, Merle Haggard, The Judds, The Doobie Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Olivia Newton-John recorded material. Since the mid 1980s he had his own rockabilly-styled group, B.C. & the Dartz who releaased some albums. Cason is still writing and producing songs.

His book, Living the Rock'N'Roll Dream: The Adventures of Buzz Cason (2004), is about music, freedom and adventure and sheds light on the events and careers that shaped the early days of rock and roll.