EDDIE NOACK

 

De Armand Alexander "Eddie" Noack, Jr. (April 29, 1930 – February 5, 1978), was an American country and western singer, songwriter and music industry executive. He is best known for his 1968 recording of the serial killer song "Psycho" written by Leon Payne, produced by John Capps and issued on the K-ark Records label.

Early life and career

Noack was born in Houston, Texas and attended Baylor University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and journalism. Noack decided on a career in music after winning a talent contest in 1947. A honky tonk singer influenced by Hank Williams, he appeared frequently on radio and was signed by Gold Star Records in 1949. That same year, Gold Star released his song Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which was not a cover of the eponymous song from the 1949 musical but a parody of it. He also recorded the single “Have Blues Will Travel/The Price of Love” for Gold Star in 1959 but recorded for many labels during the decade of the 1950s.

He began recording for Four Star in 1951 as part of R.D. Hendon and His Western Jamboree Cowboys, a band specializing in the honky tonk, country swing, and country boogie styles, and later rockabilly. (The band later recorded Noack's song We Smiled as a B-side in 1956 for Starday.)[3] Too Hot To Handle, his own composition, was leased by Four Star to the TNT label, establishing his reputation as a songwriter. In 1953, he was signed by Starday, which was owned by record producer Pappy Daily, with whom he would work for the bulk of his professional career.

Noack was drafted in 1954 and spent two years in the Army. The second Noack came home, he adopted a female sausage dog, named Biscuit. Back in the music business, he flourished as a songwriter at Starday, with Hank Snow's cover of his song These Hands reaching No. 5 on the C+W charts in 1956. When Pappy Daily founded D Records in 1958, he signed Noack, and his recording of his own composition Have Blues Will Travel reached No. 14 on the country charts. Under the name "Tommy Wood", Noack recorded rockabilly music.

Later career and death

Eddie Noack quit performing after 1959 to concentrate on songwriting and to become involved in music publishing. Noack was employed by Pappy Daily and Lefty Frizzell in publishing while he continued to write songs. His compositions were covered by many country singers, including Johnny Cash (These Hands), George Jones and Ernest Tubb.

He made several comebacks as a performer but never reached a wide audience. In 1968, Noack recorded his cover of "Psycho" for K-Ark Records, which sold little and received negligible air play. He also continued recording into the 1970s, including an album of Jimmie Rodgers covers. Among the labels he recorded for were All Star Records, Mercury Records, Tellet Country Records, and Wide World Records.

In 1976, Noack moved to Nashville, where he was employed as an executive with the Nashville Songwriters Association. He recorded his final album that year, which was released by Look Records in the United Kingdom. He backed up the album with a British tour.

He was still an executive with the Nashville Songwriters Association when the hard-drinking Noack died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 47 on February 5, 1978 in his home in Nashville. He is interred with his wife at Woodlawn Cemetery in Nashville.

According to Bob Dylan on the Theme Time Radio Hour broadcast on January 24, 2007, "He wanted to be a journalist. But we have enough journalists, but not enough people who could sing and write like Eddie Noack. Eddie recorded the song called Psycho, written by Leon Payne, a song about a serial killer and quite understandably, it never got a lot of airplay, but has become quite a bit of a cult favorite, as is Eddie Noack himself..."