Camas native, singer Jimmie Rodgers dies at 87 – The Columbian

The legend is that local folks were knocked out by Rodgers talent and took up a collection to send him to perform on TVs Arthur Godfrey talent show, Michele said, where he immediately got signed to Roulette Records.

Rodgers first big hit, the boppy singalong Honeycomb, came in the summer of 1957, swiftly followed by Kisses Sweeter Than Wine, Oh-Oh, Im Falling In Love Again, Secretly and Are You Really Mine? He made the rounds of TV variety shows with these hits in the late 1950s, and he scored several more before his career started to slow down.

Another series of successes came in the late 1960s with more mature material, like Its Over and Child of Clay, but those were Rodgers final hit songs.

His life took a hard and violent turn after that. In 1967 Rodgers suffered serious head injuries in a mysterious roadway incident in Los Angeles that he couldnt remember, other than being pulled over by a car with flashing lights. Lawsuits and countersuits alleged police brutality and slander, but all were dropped when the city of Los Angeles settled the matter for $200,000. While the incident remains ambiguous, some industry insiders have claimed Rodgers was attacked by hired thugs who were off-duty police officers for demanding the royalties he was owed by Roulette Records. Roulette was notoriously tied to the New York mafia.

Rodgers recovered from those head injuries, according to Michele, but had to endure three brain surgeries. His clear, sweet singing voice was eventually blocked by a vocal-cord problem called spasmodic dysphonia. Thats when he got into songwriting and record production, said Michele, who benefited from her fathers expertise as she launched her own Nashville-based music career. He also developed heart and kidney problems as well as COVID-19 at the very end, Michele said.

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Camas native, singer Jimmie Rodgers dies at 87 - The Columbian