User:Dwight Vaughn/The Bouncin' Beats

The Bouncin' Beats rock band was based in Kingsport, Tn. The group started out by the name of The Starlites in 1961, keeping that name until 1964. The original members were Larry Vaughn, Dwight Vaughn, and Larry Byington. In 1963 two additional members were added, Bill Wampler and Roger Pendleton. The groups talent increased rapidly and were well known in Kingsport, Tn. and the surrounding area. Larry Vaughn was on rythm guitar, Dwight Vaughn on bass guitar, Larry Byington on lead guitar, Bill Wampler on drums and Roger Pendleton on keyboard. The Starlites cut an instrumental record called Contac/Continuous Action on their own label which was played extensively on the radio in the local area and well received by listeners.

In 1964 the group changed their name to The Bouncin' Beats and were traveling quite a radius from Kingsport playing in Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Atlanta, Ga. and on down to Florida. By this time Roger Pendleton and Larry Byington had left the group and Jerry Suthers became lead guitarist and one of the lead vocalist. All four members of the group sang which allowed them to be quite versatile performing all the top tunes of the day regarless of the genre.

In 1965 The Bouncin' Beats signed a 10 year contract with Columbia Records who placed them on the Epic Label. At that time Larry Vaughn was 20 yrs old, Dwight Vaughn was 18, Jerry Suthers was 21 and Bill Wampler was 23. Their first record was 'The Bounce'/'I Need Your Love' which quickly became the number 1 record played in the Kinsport area and was very popular in Knoxville, Tn and all around the area. There is no doubt that, had the group had a professional management agency to obtain widespread radio air time they would have been well known nationwide, based on how well their music was liked by the public where ever they went. Later in 1965 The Bouncin' Beats cut their second record with Columbia called 'Come Home Girl'/'Sweet Was The Wine'. Even though this record was very good, unfortunately it was not released by Columbia since their contract stipulated that all the members of the group that were current as of the signing had to remain in the group in order for their contract to stay in effect. Unfortunately one of the members did have to leave the group due to circumstances beyond his control. Still even in 2010 sometimes their record 'The Bounce'/'I Need Your Love' surfaces and is still well liked.