Star Trek’s Recording Artists:
BUZZ Newspaper Article: Sep 2016 (#66-sT)
By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0
When I was a toddler in Sioux City my favorite TV Shows were: ‘Batman’ ‘Lost In Space’ ‘The Monkees’ & ‘Star Trek’ I was too young to know what was considered good, I just knew I like the beautiful colors & images & pretty girls & the music on those shows. Well this year 3 of these TV Shows turn 50. ‘Star Trek’ Created by Gene Roddenberry, (Eugene Wesley Roddenberry: 19 Aug 1921 El Paso, TX. – 24 Oct 1991) the 1st pilot was filmed in 1964 & the 2nd Pilot in 1965, the show aired from 8 Sep 1966 to 3 Jun 1969, for 3 seasons, with 79 Episodes on; CBS. Strangely, though ‘Star Trek’ was a Science-Fiction Show there were several Records released by the actors on the show! As ‘Star Trek’ reruns, took on a huge cult following in the Mid-70s into the 80s, these same artists released their own Cassettes & some records. Later when the CD extinguished Vinyl in Fall ’87, GNP Crescendo released 4 CDs from the series: ‘Original Sound Effects’ & ’Vol.1: Cage & No Man Has Gone Before’ & ‘Vol.2: Doomsday Machine & Amok Time’ & ‘Vol.3: Shore Leave & Naked Time’ from 1987 -1996, respectively.
This part of history <
Nichelle Nichols (Grace Dell Nichols 28 Dec 1932 Robbins, ILL.) having toured with Duke Ellington & Lionel Hampton long before her stint as “Lieutenant Nyota Uhura” in 70 episodes of the show, it just made sense to have her release records too, the 1st being ’Down to Earth’ in 1967 on Epic Records (BN 26351) followed by a 45 single in 1968”Know What I Mean / Why Don’t You Do Right!” (Epic 5-10131) & just like her co-stars, she began releasing albums in the re-run days of the 70s, starting with ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ in 1974 on Americana Records (EP-1) followed by the 45 single “Beyond Antares / Uhura’s Theme” in 1979 on aR-way Prod. (RE-1001). In 1986 she released the Cassette ‘Uhura Sings’. Her last release was the CD ‘Out Of This World’ in 1991 on GNP Crescendo.
> What’s in the box? <
Next to release a record was the star of the show William Shatner (22 Mar 1931 Montreal Quebec, Can. of Jewish faith & Austrian descent) as “Captain James Tiberius Kirk” in 79 episodes. Bill released ‘Transformed Man’ on Decca (DL 75043) in 1968, his only release while the show was running, this recording gets lambasted quite a lot, because people isolate individual parts, rather than reviewing the recording in its entirety, like the concept album that it is. Shatner’s next release was in 1976 “Foundation: The Psychohistorians” By: Issac Asimov, a spoken word, was released on Caedmon Records (TC 1508). His 3rd LP was a 1971 “Live” recording of his one-man-show, released in ’77 on Lemli Records (L 00001). In 1978 ‘Captain of the Starship’ (a re-release) on K-Tel Records (NC 494) hit the market. Much later he released ’Fear Of Pop’ on Giant 550 Records in 1998 with Ben Folds. Taking some more time off ‘Has Been’ was released in 2004 on Shout Factory, in the last few years ‘Seeking Major Tom’ was released in 2011 on Cleopatra & most recently ‘Ponder The Mystery’ in 2013.
> Music: the final frontier <
Though the next 2 actors we discuss only appeared in the 2nd pilot of the show filmed in 1965, they still released records; Paul Carr (Paul Wallace Carr: 31 Jan 1934 Marreo, LA. -17 Feb 2006) was also a musician in the late 50s & early 60s appearing on ’77 Sunset Strip’ (in 1961) before getting into the acting field & eventually portraying “Lieutenant Lee Kelso” in “Where no man has gone before”. I met Carr at the “Creation Star Trek Convention” in Mar ’02 he had a table next to Gary Lockwood, Carr was selling some trading cards & two 45 singles he had recorded prior to ‘Star Trek’ Carr: “My mother saved a bunch of these, just after they came out, I didn’t know what to do with them so I thought I would try to sell them here” I only wish I had bought one of each or at least written down what the titles were, as now I can find no information on them.
Also in the same episode Sally Kellerman (2 Jun 1937 Long Beach, CA.) riding high on her ‘M*A*S*H” (1970) fame released an album ‘Roll With The Feelin’ in 1972 on Decca/Verve (DL-75359) followed by the 45 single “Triad” (produced by: Barry Manilow) in 1973 on Bell Records (#45-381), her last release was ‘Sally’ in 2009.
>Yeoman Star X <
And finally from the original series run; Grace Lee Whitney (Mary Ann Chase: 1 Apr 1930 Ann Arbor, MI. -1 May 2015) sang with the ‘Keith Williams Orchestra’ in the 60s before becoming famous for portraying ‘Yeoman Janice Rand’ for 8 episodes in the original series, & then later in the 70s she sang with the band ‘STAR’ & released a 45 Single “Disco Trekin b/w Star Child” in 1976 on Star Enterprises (#Stardate 2001) these songs were also written by Whitney. After taking to DeForest Kelley, she began appearing at ‘Trek Conventions’ & selling herself produced Cassettes, in 1980 she released ‘USS Enterprise’ later in 1991 she released ‘Yo, Yeoman’ followed by ‘Light At End Of The Tunnel’ in 1996. When I met her in ’02, her latest release was ’Yeoman Rand Sings’ from ‘99. I had several questions her Whitney, I asked if she was from Minnesota she answered “No, Michigan, but I was adopted & I am trying to locate my birth parents” the other thing we discuss was “AA” as she was a huge supporter of “Addition Recovery” at the time I was on my 15th year of recovery (at the time of this article I just celebrated my 29th year) Grace advised me “You really should attend more AA Meetings, as you do not want to “Fall Off” after all the work you have put into your Recovery”
So there you are fans, Star Trek in Music, some of these recordings are not great material by any stretch, however they are nostalgic & fun, however good luck in finding them, they are ultra rare & even though I am a huge fan, I only have about 1/4 of these & some I have never even heard before !
Live Long & Prosper … MrZerrO
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