Dean Beard (August 31, 1935 - April 4, 1989) was an American rockabilly musician, known as the "West Texas Wild Man".[1]
Beard was born in Santa Anna, Texas. He was the son of Raymond and Opral (Baker) Beard. He lived in Coleman most of his life. In high school, he and his friends formed a band called the Crew Cats.
He played at a night club in Memphis with Elvis Presley in the mid-1950s. Beard's first record "Red Rover"/ "Wake Up Jacob" was released in 1955 for Fox Records. That same year, he made another single, "Time Is Hangin' Heavy On My Hands" /" Sing, Sing, Sing". Both singles didn’t attract any attention.
Between 1956 and 1957, he recorded for Sun Records, but none of his songs were released until years later. Some of these songs feature a young Jim Seals on saxophone, who would later co-found the duo, Seals and Crofts, with drummer Dash Crofts.
In 1957, his most popular hit, “Rakin’ and Scrapin’”, was released on Edmoral Records in March, but didn’t become popular, until another version he made was released a month later for Atlantic Records. He recorded it with Seals on saxophone and Crofts on drums. He kept making records for Atlantic such as, "Party Party". Earlier that year, he teamed up with songwriter Slim Willet, and wrote their most successful songs together.
He recorded for Challenge Records in 1958, and was also a pianist with The Champs, who also had a contract with that label.
In 1959, he was fired from the Champs by manager/rhythm guitarist Dave Burgess because he was accused of taking part of the cut meant for Seals and Crofts, but made one more record for Challenge that year.
He kept recording for different labels through the 1960s with less success.
His last single was in 1966 for Sims Records called, “Are There Honkey Tonks In Heaven" / "Pocketfull Of Stardust". He achieved recognition in the 1970s and 80s when he started performing live again.
He died at Coleman County Medical Center in Coleman, Texas, on April 4, 1989, from diabetes and other health-related issues.
| Year | Title | Label # | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Red Rover / Wake Up, Jacob | Fox 45-405 | |||
| 1955 | Sing, Sing, Sing / Time Is Hanging Heavy on My Hands | Fox 45-408 | |||
| 1957 | Rakin and Scrapin / On My Mind Again | Edmoral 1011-45 | |||
| 1957 | Rakin and Scrapin / On My Mind Again | Atlantic 45-1137 | |||
| 1957 | Party, Party / Stand By Me | Atlantic 45-1162 | |||
| 1958 | Hold Me Close / Take Time to Love Me | Atlantic 45-1182 | |||
| 1958 | Egad, Charlie Brown / Keeper of the Key | Challenge 59033 | |||
| 1959 | Little Lover / Holding on to a Memory | Challenge 59048 | |||
| 1959 | Little Koko Herrera / Moon Over Mexico (B-side by Chris & Paul Herrera) | Villa 101 | |||
| 1962 | (Ciudad) Villa Acuña / The Day That I Lost You | Gaylo BM-112 | |||
| 1962 | Villa Acuña / The Day That I Lost You | Candix 341 | |||
| 1962 | Tropical Night / Coffee Break | Joed JT-715 | |||
| 1962 | The Red Rose / I Don't Know How | Winston 1063 | |||
| 1963 | That's How It gets Sunup / Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes | Winston 1073 | |||
| 1963 | My Roberta / No Love for Me | Winston 1074 | |||
| 1964 | Strawberry Shake / You're the Nearest Thing to Heaven | Gina RT-1116 | |||
| 1965 | Party, Party / You Don't Have to Go Home (But You Can't Stay Here) | Sangelo 1/2 | |||
| 1966 | Pocketfull of Stardust / (Are There) Honkytonks in Heaven | Sims 299 | |||
| Unissued | |||||
| 1956 |
| Sun | |||
| 1958 |
| Challenge | |||
| |||||
| [status unknown] | ||||