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George Louis Motola (November 15, 1919 – February 15, 1991) was an American
record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
,
songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
and
sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...
from the 1950s until his death.


Early life and career

Motola, whose last name is often misspelled as Mottola, was born in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
, one of five brothers and three sisters born to parents who had migrated to the USA from Italy. He started his business career as a used car dealer, but soon found out that music was his real interest. By the mid-1950s he was working as a producer at
Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Hadda Brooks, Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turn ...
in Los Angeles, where he supervised acts like
Jesse Belvin Jesse Lorenzo Belvin (December 15, 1932 – February 6, 1960) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter popular in the 1950s. Belvin co-wrote the 1954 Penguins' doo-wop classic " Earth Angel", which sold more than 10 million copies, while h ...
,
Young Jessie Obediah Donnell "Obie" Jessie (December 28, 1936 – April 27, 2020) was an American R&B, rock and roll and jazz singer and songwriter. He recorded as Young Jessie in the 1950s and 1960s, and was known for his solo career, work with The Flair ...
and Jimmy Beasley. His most famous composition is " Goodnight My Love", which was originally recorded by Jesse Belvin in 1956 (# 7 R&B). Subsequent versions by the
McGuire Sisters The McGuire Sisters were a singing trio in American popular music. The group was composed of three sisters: * Ruby Christine McGuire (July 30, 1926 – December 28, 2018) * Dorothy "Dottie" McGuire (February 13, 1928 – September 7, 2012) * P ...
(1957),
Ray Peterson Ray Peterson (April 23, 1935 – January 25, 2005) was an American pop singer who is best remembered for singing "Tell Laura I Love Her". He also scored numerous other hits, including "Corrine, Corrina" and "The Wonder of You". Life and ca ...
(1959),
The Fleetwoods The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington, whose members were Gary Troxel (born November 28, 1939), Gretchen Christopher (born February 29, 1940), and Barbara Ellis (born February 20, 1940). Early history The band ...
(1963), Ben E. King (1966),
Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter and actor. His songs include " Diana", “ You Are My Destiny", “Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wr ...
(1969), The Four Seasons (1963), and
Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...
(1991), all made the Billboard Top 100. Paul Anka reached no. 27 on ''Billboard'' in 1969 with his recording.
The song was written by George Motola with
John Marascalco John S. Marascalco (March 27, 1931 – July 5, 2020) was an American songwriter most noted for the songs he wrote for Little Richard. He was born in Grenada, Mississippi and died in Los Angeles, California. Career Marascalco co-wrote several o ...
. Motola was instrumental in the creation of The Shields, a group he formed with the sole purpose of covering "You Cheated" by
The Slades The Slades were a vocal group out of Austin, Texas. All the members attended local McCallum High School. Personnel included John Goeke, Don Burch, Tommy Kaspar, Bobby Doyle, and Jimmy Davis. The first four were on their initial recording with Da ...
for his own Tender label. The group included Frankie Ervin (lead singer), Jesse Belvin and
Johnny "Guitar" Watson John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), often known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned 40 year ...
. Sold to Randy Wood's
Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In its early years, Dot sp ...
label, "You Cheated" became a # 12 pop hit; the
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
, "That's the Way It's Gonna Be", was co-written by Motola. In 1960, Motola produced one of the wildest rock 'n' roll recordings ever made, "Rockin' This Joint Tonight" by Kid Thomas (real name Tommy Louis). Motola himself was too busy to do anything with the record, but he pointed the Kid in the direction of one Brat Atwood, who promptly took one-half writer's credit and issued it on his TRC label. Just as Thomas was set to do television appearances and start promoting the record, Atwood got into some unspecified problems and the label folded. Motola was a prolific songwriter, with 120 entries in the BMI database. Among his compositions is "Shattered Dreams", recorded by the Johnny Burnette Trio, and he co-wrote "Here Comes Henry" for Young Jessie (with
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...
), both sides of the
Ernie Fields Ernest Lawrence Fields (August 28, 1904 – May 11, 1997)Laprarie, Michael Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' (accessed May 14, 2010). was an American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader. He first became known for leadin ...
1958 single "Annie's Rock"/"Strollin' After School"(Jamie 1102) and "Lou Be Doo" for
Sanford Clark Sanford Clark (October 24, 1935 – July 4, 2021) was an American country music, country-rockabilly singer and guitarist, best known for his 1956 hit "The Fool (Sanford Clark song), The Fool". Biography Clark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa ...
.


Co-writing

He started off writing with his brother, Joe Motola. Most of his co-writing was with his wife,
Rickie Page Rickie is a male or female given name. People * Rickie Fowler (born 1988), American professional golfer * Rickie Harris (born 1943), American football defensive back * Rickie Lee Jones (born 1954), American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and prod ...
, their best-known composition being "
Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie "Jeannie Jeannie Jeannie" is a song by Eddie Cochran recorded and released as a single in January 1958 on Liberty Records. It was a minor hit for Cochran and stalled at number 94 on the Billboard charts. "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie" was posthumous ...
" (
Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran ( ; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in ...
and others). Page was a recording star in her own right, with releases on Liberty, Dot, Zephyr and Rendezvous. Her 1957 recording of "Wee Willie" (Liberty 55094, co-written by Motola and Hal Winn) was included on the CD ''Liberty Rock & Roll''; Eddie Cochran may be playing guitar on this track, according to Tapio. The vocal group The Georgettes, which included Page, was named after George Motola. Their record "Love Like A Fool"/ "Oh Tonight" (Ebb 125, both sides Motola-Page compositions) was released in the UK on London HL 8548. Page was also involved in several other groups (sometimes with other female members of her musical family): The Bermudas (who recorded for Era), Joanne & the Triangles, The Majorettes and Beverly and the Motorscooters. Motola and Page also ran Troy Records, the original 1964 outlet for "He's My Boyfriend" by Becky and the Lollipops, yet another name used by the Page clan.


Death

George Motola died in 1991, survived by his wife and children. From a chartered boat filled with friends, business associates and family, the ashes of Motola were scattered at sea, and his greatest hit was sung, ''a cappella'', by Barbara Ellis of The Fleetwoods (for whom "Goodnight My Love" had been their 11th Billboard Hit).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motola, George 1919 births 1991 deaths Musicians from Hartford, Connecticut Songwriters from Connecticut Songwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American songwriters