Carl Dobkins Jr.

Country/rockabilly singer Carl Dobkins Jr. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1941 to a family of musicians who moved to Cincinnati from the Appalachians. His father gave him a ukulele when he was nine years old. He not only learned to play that instrument but afterwards took up the guitar, and by high school he was writing and performing his own songs and eventually cut a few demo records. Local record producer/manager Gil Sheppard heard them and, after meeting with Dobkins, took him on as a client. Dobkins cut a record for local Cincinnati label Fraternity Records (also home to guitarist Lonnie Mack), but it went nowhere. Sheppard then signed Carl to King Records--a much larger label and home to such stars as James Brown and Hank Ballard--and Dobkins cut a record there, but before it could be released Sheppard sold the master to the national label Decca Records. The song, "If You Don't Want My Lovin'", became a regional hit, though it didn't chart nationally. Nevertheless, Decca thought it had a hot prospect in Dobkins and his next record was his breakout one--"My Heart Is an Open Book", which shot to #3 on the Billboard charts in 1959. Dobkins made several appearances on Dick Clark's iconic teen dance show American Bandstand (1952) (he made a total of 14 appearances on the show over the years) promoting the record. He went on a national tour and his follow-up songs, while not reaching the heights that "Open Book" did, sold respectably. His subsequent career, while not spectacular, was nonetheless solid and he toured with some of the biggest names in rock--Bobby Rydell, Freddie Cannon, Frankie Avalon among them--and, though he is semi-retired, still makes occasional appearances.