The Candymen were an Alabama-spawned band probably best remembered today as the backing group for
Roy Orbison. The group started life as
the Webs, co-founded by guitarist John Rainey and a young lead singer/guitarist named
Bobby Goldsboro, in Dothan, AL, in the mid-'60s. The group was heavily influenced by
Elvis Presley and
Jerry Lee Lewis, but also by the slight more pop-rock oriented sound of
Ricky Nelson. They were good enough to attract the attention of local producer and studio owner Ed Boutwells in Birmingham, who made a few recordings of them. The band was making something of a living locally, and even managed to survive the departure of
Goldsboro for what ultimately became an immensely successful solo career --
Rodney Justo, a drummer turned singer who had previously led a band called Rodney & the Mystics, replaced him on vocals. And they even had a songwriter-in-residence of sorts in the person of
Buddy Buie, a friend of
Goldsboro.
Their breakthrough came when they discovered that
Roy Orbison was going to be appearing locally and would be in need of a backing band. As they were already conversant with his work, it wasn't stretch to pick up all the finer nuances of his repertory, and the result was that the legendary Texas-born singer asked them to become his regular touring band. In the process, picking up the name from one of his biggest hits,
the Webs became the Candymen -- additionally,
Buie was taken on as
Orbison's tour manager, and moved to Atlanta, where he became a top producer as well. Meanwhile, the Candymen worked regularly behind
Orbison on-stage, a gig that, in other times, would have gotten them huge exposure. However, the second half of the 1960s were not good times for
Orbison, at least commercially in the United States; signed to MGM since 1965, he released some very good records and sold a lot of them in Europe, but in the United States his career and his concerts passed little-noticed, despite the quality of his music and the Candymen's playing. They resumed the name
the Webs for an MGM single, "People Sure Act Funny" b/w "You Pretty Fool," which didn't go anywhere for those involved.
The Candymen, when they weren't backing
Orbison, developed a serious reputation as a great live band in their own right. They became known for doing
the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" live, amidst other repertory that was usually considered beyond the reach of a lot of bands. And they cut a series of LPs as the Candymen for ABC Records. Ultimately, their gig with
Orbison ended, and they were succeeded by a British outfit, the Art Movement, when the singer toured England.
Buie's career as a songwriter and producer brought the members of the band, in conjunction with members of
the Classics IV, into what became
the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and a decade or more of hit records and healthy album sales. ~ Bruce Eder