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Although best known for a long and successful career as a Nashville arranger,
Bergen White also recorded one of the Holy Grails of soft pop: 1970's lush, melancholy For Women Only, a minor classic of its genre. According to
Steve Stanley's comprehensive liner notes published in Rev-Ola's 2004 reissue of For Women Only,
White was born in Miami, OK, in 1939, the son of a Baptist minister who regularly moved his family from city to city throughout the southern half of the U.S.
The Whites finally settled in Nashville when
Bergen was 14; there he befriended fellow music fans
Bobby Russell and
Buzz Cason, with whom he later recorded a single credited to the Todds. After college,
White taught math and science for two years before
Russell persuaded him to resume their musical collaboration, this time as staff vocalists with Bill Beasley's sound-alike label Hit Records, an imprint infamous for cutting carbon-copy knockoffs of chart hits that were commonly sold in supermarkets and priced to move. Hit not only offered
White an opportunity to hone his vocal skills, but he was also allowed to compose original material for release via the B-sides of the label's singles.
In time,
White was taken under the wing of Nashville producer
Bill Justis and offered the chance to begin arranging recording sessions. He also joined the
Justis-sponsored hot rod group
Ronny & the Daytonas as a vocalist -- best known for their pop smash "G.T.O.," the band's ranks later included
White's old schoolmate
Buzz Cason as well. With a growing number of session dates now under his belt, in 1967
White signed to Monument to record his first solo single, "If It's Not Asking Too Much" -- an exquisitely melancholy slice of string-sweetened pop, the record earned little commercial attention, and its creator resumed his work behind the scenes. In 1969 he agreed to record a full-length LP for
Shelby Singleton's SSS label, enlisting the assistance of noted session guitarist and engineer
Wayne Moss, owner of Nashville's legendary Cinderella Studio. The resulting For Women Only appeared the following year -- an ornate and elegant work of richly detailed harmony pop, both the album and its lead single, "It's Over Now," failed to chart. After issuing a gospel-influenced non-LP single titled "Spread the Word," SSS terminated
White's contract.
Even as his recording career faltered, however,
White's session career was reaching critical mass -- his work on
Tony Joe White's 1969 Top Ten hit "Polk Salad Annie" brought him to the attention of no less than
Elvis Presley, who wanted
Bergen to arrange a version of the song for him to perform in his Las Vegas show. He went on to arrange several
Presley sessions in the years to follow, on occasion contributing backing vocals as a substitute
Jordanaire --
White's résumé would later include country luminaries such as
Dolly Parton,
Ronnie Milsap,
the Statler Brothers,
the Oak Ridge Boys,
Alabama,
Garth Brooks,
Faith Hill, and
Tim McGraw. In the meantime, in 1975 he signed to the Private Stock label, issuing a cover of the
Del Vikings classic "Come Go with Me," soon followed by the
David Gates-penned "Have You Taken a Good Look Lately."
White's third effort for the label, a rendition of the
Gene Chandler perennial "Duke of Earl," began to accrue some commercial momentum, but touring behind the single would have forced him to turn down some studio projects -- when he balked at hitting the road, Private Stock cut its promotional funding, and for all intents and purposes his pop career was over. In 1980
White did release a gospel LP, Praise the Lord -- in 1998, he also resurfaced with a seasonal effort credited to
the Bergen White Christmas Singers. ~ Jason Ankeny