Paul Evans (musician)

According to Evans, his entire family was musically inclined. "Family legend has my father selling his flute to buy me my first guitar." His mother taught and played the piano professionally. His eldest sister Estelle, who was "into folk music and in demand at hootenannies," taught him how to play it. While attending Andrew Jackson High School, Evans produced and performed in high school shows. Evans received an engineering scholarship to Columbia University, where he hosted a radio show featuring folk music. He left college to pursue a career in music. While waiting for a hit, he sang at local clubs and spent a year, on and off, on the SS France as the ship's singer. ==Popular culture==

"Happy-Go-Lucky Me" has been featured in the John Waters' film Pecker, and episode #3.10 of the comedy television program Scrubs. In 2014, the song has been included in advertisements for the video game Clash of Clans. The song was also featured in the pilot episode of the 2016 Hulu miniseries 11.22.63. ==Songwriter ==

As a songwriter Evans' songs were performed by numerous performers, including Elvis Presley, Jimmy Dean and Pat Boone. His most successful songs were "Roses Are Red (My Love)", which was a number one hit for Bobby Vinton in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100; and by Ronnie Carroll in the UK reaching no. 3 in 1962; and "When" a chart topper in the UK Singles Chart and #5 in the U.S. for The Kalin Twins. ==Recordings==

With Larry Kusik, Evans wrote "Live Young" for the 1963 Warner Brothers spring break movie Palm Springs Weekend. Evans' songs have also been recorded by Jackie Wilson, Frankie Lymon, Fabian, the Coasters, and more recently by Reba McEntire. His work has also been used in films and as the theme music for CBS This Morning. == Autobiography ==

Happy Go Lucky Me: A Lifetime of Music was published in 2021 by McNidder and Grace and is his first book. His autobiography describes his journey from getting his start in the music business, becoming part of the Brill Building's songwriting community and the sixty-three music-filled years that followed. == Bibliography ==

Albums • Paul Evans Sings the Fabulous Teens (1960) • Hear Paul Evans in Your Home Tonight! (1961) • Folk Songs of Many Lands (1961) • 21 Years in a Tennessee Jail (as Paul Evans and the Rocky Mount Ramblers, 1964) • The Letter People Songs (1972) • Chatter Album (1972) • Hello This Is Paul Evans (1979) • The Fabulous Teens and Beyond (1995) • ''I Was Part of the 50's'' (1998) • Roses Are Red, My Love (2002) • Happy Go Lucky Me – The Paul Evans Songbook (2003) Singles ==See also==