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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMELCHER, Terry(b 8 Feb '42, NYC; d 19 Nov. 2004 of melanoma) Producer, vocalist; the son of Doris Day and trombonist Al Jorden, who later committed suicide, he later took the surname of Day's later husband Marty Melcher. He initially recorded with little success as Terry Day, then with Bruce Johnson as Bruce and Terry and as the Rip Chords; he also produced his mother's last chart LP Love Him! '64, single 'Move Over Darling' same year (top ten UK, did not chart USA). He produced the Byrds' first LPs, Mr Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!, each including hit singles; then Paul Revere and the Raiders on four LPs '65-7; obscure duo Gentle Soul with Ry Cooder and Van Dyke Parks among backing; also produced Pat Boone and Wayne Newton, co-wrote songs with Bobby Darin, etc and was a director of the original Monterey Pop Festival and member of the board of Monterey Pop Foundation. Marty Melcher failed at everything he did and resented his stepson's obvious success; when he died mid-'68 his poor financial investments had lost Day and her son enormous sums; Terry's position as executor meant months of arduous dealing with lawyers and he moved in with his mother for the duration. During this period he had gone to a commune to audition a hippy songwriter named Charles Manson, but turned him down; in mid-'69 Manson and his tribe of spaced-out acolytes went to Melcher's rented house and committed five bizarre and brutal murders, the crime of the decade. Melcher hired bodyguards for himself and his mother until the trial was over, but suffered a breakdown and was badly injured in a motorcycle accident to boot. He produced three more LPs by the Byrds '70-71 (incl. their last hit 'Chestnut Mare'), but his real comeback was his Terry Melcher '74 on Reprise, overlooked but including a good cover of Jackson Browne's 'These Days'. He formed a production company with Johnson in the mid-'70s: Equinox produced David Cassidy, Barry Mann's Survivor (another �underrated album), Melcher's disappointing Royal Flush� (RCA/Equinox). Melcher came to the UK late '70s to produce an LP for the group Freeway; produced TV's Doris Day's Best Friends '85. The successful producer's career was blighted by horror, but some of his work is still selling; he gave his stepfather credit for his ambition to achieve: 'It doesn't matter where you get your ass kicked, Versailles or a six-floor walk-up, the motivation is the same' (quote from A. E. Hotchner's Doris Day: Her Own Story '75). |