Dwight Twilley: Biography

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• Dwight Twilley Band
• Oister

Born:

Jun 6, 1951 in Tulsa, OK

Genres:

Rock Music, Folk & Country Rock Music

Decades Active:

1970's|1980's|1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

Medium

Cultural Impact

Medium

Popularity

Low

Ratings Guide

Though the Dwight Twilley Band only had one hit (Twilley had another on his own), Twilley and partner Phil Seymour created an enduring and highly memorable brand of power-pop that blended Beatlesque pop and Sun rockabilly "slapback" echo. Only a fraction of the band's early output was made available at the time, but these records are highly revered by power-pop aficionados.

According to the legend, Dwight Twilley met Phil Seymour in 1967 at a theater where they had gone to see the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. After the film they immediately went to Twilley's house to start writing and recording. The two continued the partnership over the next several years, calling themselves Oister and recruiting another part-time member, Bill Pitcock on lead guitar. After developing their sound in their homemade studio, "The Shop," they decided to take a stab at professional recording and headed out to Nashville, though they ended up stopping first at the legendary Sun Studios. Jerry Philips (Sam's son) was impressed enough to team them up former Sun artist Ray Harris, who introduced them to the "Sun Sound," roughing up their Beatles-obsessed style a bit and creating a unique and endearing sound.

The two signed to Shelter Records in 1974. Their first single, "I'm on Fire," became a national hit in 1975, peaking at number 16, with relatively no promotion. During an appearance on American Bandstand, the band previewed what was to be the follow-up single, "Shark," an equally infectious, hit-worthy rocker. The success of the film Jaws caused the label to reject the single, however, to keep them from becoming perceived as a cash-in novelty act. This was just the beginning of bad luck that would plague the group from that point on. Their follow-up single and completed album went unreleased for 18 months due to label problems and a second album recorded in England was left unreleased altogether, creating a myth around the band in some circles while the general public quickly lost interest. The belated follow-up single, "You Were So Warm," ended up failing due to distribution problems. Predictably, when the album Sincerely was finally released it failed as well. Seymour and Twilley befriended the like-minded Tom Petty and contributed backing vocals on several tracks. Petty repaid the favor for their second album, Twilley Don't Mind for Arista in 1977. Despite the once again unquestionably high quality of songs, the album stiffed as well. Seymour left the band the following year, pursuing a brief solo career before lymphoma cut his life short in 1993.

Twilley carried on as a solo act, releasing Twilley for Arista in 1979, Scuba Divers for EMI in 1982, and found success again with Jungle in 1984, when he scored his second hit with "Girls." His final album, Wild Dogs went unnoticed on its 1986 release. In addition, he recorded an album in 1980, Blueprint that remains unreleased and contributed one track to the Wayne's World soundtrack, "Why You Want to Break My Heart." Two newly recorded songs appeared on the best-of collection XXI and he released an album titled The Luck in 2001. The Great Lost Twilley Album collects a fraction of the "hundreds" of unreleased songs Twilley and Seymour recorded in the early, ill-fated days.

- Chris Woodstra, All Music Guide