Cleveland, 1958-62
Lou Josie could very well claim to be Cleveland's first rock and roll star - even though he only lived in the area for a few years. Lou was a native of Florida (and lives there now) but migrated to Cleveland where he helped bring polished songwriting and recordings to a scene that was pretty much hillbilly and R&B to that time.
Lou recorded several 45s at Audio recording where he collaborated with Vlad Maleckar and J.C. Hill (aka Hillman Baker). Josie got releases on Chess, Rendezvous, and Herald (under his alter ego of Jimmy King).
Josie was also involved with the recordings of Buddy Covelle and the Paris Brothers, all of which were done at Audio.
Around 1962 Josie moved out to Los Angeles and continued to work as a songwriter and producer. Among his songs is the garage band fave "Saturday's Son", recorded by the Sons of Adam and Tony and the Vizitors. His best known song is the mega hit "Midnight Confessions" which was originally recorded by a band he was producing call the Evergreen Blues. Their version didn't go, but the Grassroots took it to a well deserved place as an oldies standard.
Lou continues to active in songwriting and recording to the present (2005).