Lenny Welch Biography

Leon Welch was born 5/15/1938 in Asbury Park, NJ. He started singing as a youngster, assembling groups, and participating in talent-shows. In his late teens, Welch & group auditioned for Decca Records in New York. The executives loved Lenny, as they called Leon, it flowed better so he kept the name but had no interest in the others. Decca recorded Lenny solo on a couple of promising 45's but the sales were dismal. Two years passed before his next break. Coley Wallace, a prize fighter, introduced Lenny to Archie Bleyer the owner of Cadence Records. The association clicked and "You Don't Know Me" was his first release, it made some noise, but it was the second Cadence single "Since I Fell For You," a #5 Pop hit in 1963 that brought the mass sells and accolades; he also scored with "Ebb Tide," and was on his way to becoming another Johnny Mathis when two devastating circumstances occured.

For starters, and reasons unknown, Archie Bleyer folded Cadence in September of 1964, the label he started December 1952. Cadence had built the careers of many artists including Andy Williams, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Tillotson. Lenny's last Cadence release "If You See My Love," in 1964 charted at #92. He also contributed vocals to Eddie Harris' 1964 LP Cool Sax, Warm Heart. But after a couple of hits and one LP release Since I Fell For You in 1963, Lenny was shopping for a new deal. The second setback came from Uncle Sam.

[Andy Williams, purchased the companies' masters from Bleyer and reissued them on his Barnaby label, but signed with Columbia Records to release his new recordings. Bleyer retired to Wisconsin where he passed March 20, 1989.]

Lenny kept involved in music while serving his country. He did record hops and weekend dates to promote his new releases on Kapp Records, but nothing significant happened until his duty ended. He landed with Kapp shortly after Cadence closed and charted with "Darling Take Me Back," "Two Different Worlds" (1965), "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" (1966), and "The Right To Cry," in 1967.

Unexpectedly, Lenny took another hiatus; this time to get his mind together, and to practiced & researched his musical skills and selling his image. While compared to Johnny Mathis and other ballad singers, Lenny wasn't playing the cushy Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe gigs, his albums didn't sell like Mathis, or Andy Williams'. The leave of absence was a big mistake, he came back, and began gigging at some major clubs, but it never really happened for him like he visioned. Attempted comebacks in the 70's didn't panned out, including a marvelous single on the Cur label entitled "To Be Loved/Glory of Love" b/w "My Heart Won't Let Me." Dwindling interest caused the handsome, velvet voice singer with the super personality to become a "whatever happened to . . ." topic. You can hear his work on Anthology (1958 - 1966), on Taragon Records, and Collectables Records reissued Since I Fell For You. He recorded three albums on Kapp: Two Different Worlds (1965), Rags To Riches (1966), and Lenny, in 1967. ~ Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide