W.S. Stevenson

• Active: '50s, '60s
• Genres: Country
• Instrument: Arranger, Executive

Biography

W.S. Stevenson is a pseudonym used by '50s record company president William A.(Bill) McCall, who credited himself as co-songwriter on tunes that he owned and sometimes made changes to. These not only include songs that Bill McCall bought outright, but also those written by songwriters who were under contract to his Pasadena-based label, Four Star. Not exactly a popular industry man, McCall took over the label when it was going bankrupt and proceeded to sign musicians, vocalists and songwriters who were just starting out, including Patsy Cline and Donn Hecht. Artists signed to his label could only record what McCall chose and had to pay for all recording and other costs out of their songs' profits (if there were any). Also, as a result of his credits as songwriter, McCall received part of the songwriting proceeds. Some of the songs co-credited to W.S. Stevenson include "There He Goes" (1955) "Stop, Look and Listen" "I Love You Honey" (1956) (originally recorded by Patsy Cline), "Lonely Street" (which has been recorded by the Everly Brothers and Emmylou Harris), "Hot Rod Lincoln," "There She Goes" (??recorded by Jerry Wallace in 1961), "Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray" (made famous by Patsy Cline, more recently covered by k.d. lang) and the much-recorded "Am I That Easy to Forget?" which has been performed by Englebert Humperdinck, Marvin Gaye, George Jones, Debbie Reynolds and many more. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide