“And there she was, on a hockey
bench against the wall,” John remembers. “The band was packing road cases and wardrobes and organizing their equipment.” And on the bench the 13-year-old
boy chatted away with the 15-year- old super-star. They talked about school, touring and what it was like to be on the Perry Como show. John said he had seen her a week earlier on that very same TV show. “She was such a cute girl, polite
and sweet and maybe four feet eleven.” They kept talking for about half
an hour while the band packed up. John carried Brenda’s suitcase to the station wagon. Ever the observant young man, he copied down the license plate. Later he got an autograph, and her mailing address: Post Office Box 50, Nashville, Tennessee. There was no zip code. It hadn’t been invented yet.
continued on page 58
JOHN ROWLANDS Since those days 55 years ago,
John Rowlands has brought home many more greats in many more cameras. Stunning photographs: the Beatles, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, the Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones, Bill Haley, Gene Pitney, Liberace, The Who, James Brown, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dog, and Rihanna, amongst hundreds of others. His career as an entertainment
photographer began then, at 13 years old, at that Brenda Lee concert. He fired the whole roll of film.
When the concert was over, the
audience headed for the doors and left, but young John Rowlands had his eyes open. He glanced down a hallway and spotted the arrow pointing to the dressing rooms. One of the dressing rooms had a sign that said: “Brenda Lee and the Casuals”, her band. “I figured I’d just knock on the
door and thank her for the show,” he recalls. So he knocked on the door, and her mother answered. “I came to thank Brenda...” he
began. Her mother invited him in. “Come on in and thank her yourself,” said her mother. “She’s sitting right over there…”
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