Biography
Although Bergen White built his primary reputation through decades of arranging work in Nashville, he also cut one of soft pop’s most sought-after treasures with the opulent, wistful 1970 album For Women Only, now regarded as a minor classic. Steve Stanley’s detailed liner notes for the 2004 Rev-Ola reissue trace White’s origins to Miami, OK, where he was born in 1939 as the son of a Baptist minister whose pastoral assignments kept the family relocating across the southern United States. The Whites eventually put down roots in Nashville when Bergen was 14, and it was there that he formed friendships with fellow music enthusiasts Bobby Russell and Buzz Cason; the three would later issue a single under the name the Todds. Following college, White spent two years teaching math and science until Russell convinced him to revive their partnership, this time as staff vocalists for Bill Beasley’s sound-alike imprint Hit Records, a label notorious for manufacturing supermarket-priced replicas of current hits. The arrangement not only sharpened White’s vocal abilities but also permitted him to place his own original compositions on the B-sides of the label’s releases.
Under the mentorship of Nashville producer Bill Justis, White began receiving opportunities to arrange sessions and joined the Justis-backed hot-rod ensemble Ronny & the Daytonas as a vocalist; the group’s pop smash “G.T.O.” later featured his former classmate Buzz Cason among its members. Buoyed by accumulating studio credits, White signed with Monument in 1967 for his debut solo single, “If It’s Not Asking Too Much,” an exquisitely melancholy, string-laden pop recording that attracted scant commercial notice and returned its creator to behind-the-scenes duties. In 1969 he committed to a full-length LP for Shelby Singleton’s SSS imprint, enlisting noted session guitarist and engineer Wayne Moss, proprietor of Nashville’s historic Cinderella Studio. The resulting For Women Only emerged the next year—an ornate, richly textured example of harmony-rich pop—yet neither the album nor its lead single, “It’s Over Now,” registered on the charts. After releasing the non-LP gospel single “Spread the Word,” SSS ended the contract.
White’s session career, however, was gaining decisive traction even as his own recordings stalled. His contributions to Tony Joe White’s 1969 Top Ten hit “Polk Salad Annie” drew the attention of Elvis Presley, who requested that Bergen craft an arrangement of the song for his Las Vegas performances. In subsequent years White arranged additional Presley dates and occasionally supplied backing vocals in place of a Jordanair; his credits would eventually encompass country figures such as Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, the Statler Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw. In 1975 he joined the Private Stock roster, releasing a cover of the Del Vikings’ “Come Go with Me,” quickly followed by the David Gates composition “Have You Taken a Good Look Lately.” His third Private Stock effort, a reading of the Gene Chandler standard “Duke of Earl,” began to generate commercial interest, yet the prospect of touring conflicted with studio commitments; when White declined the road work, the label withdrew promotional support, effectively concluding his pop chapter. He did issue the 1980 gospel album Praise the Lord and resurfaced in 1998 with a holiday collection credited to the Bergen White Christmas Singers.
Under the mentorship of Nashville producer Bill Justis, White began receiving opportunities to arrange sessions and joined the Justis-backed hot-rod ensemble Ronny & the Daytonas as a vocalist; the group’s pop smash “G.T.O.” later featured his former classmate Buzz Cason among its members. Buoyed by accumulating studio credits, White signed with Monument in 1967 for his debut solo single, “If It’s Not Asking Too Much,” an exquisitely melancholy, string-laden pop recording that attracted scant commercial notice and returned its creator to behind-the-scenes duties. In 1969 he committed to a full-length LP for Shelby Singleton’s SSS imprint, enlisting noted session guitarist and engineer Wayne Moss, proprietor of Nashville’s historic Cinderella Studio. The resulting For Women Only emerged the next year—an ornate, richly textured example of harmony-rich pop—yet neither the album nor its lead single, “It’s Over Now,” registered on the charts. After releasing the non-LP gospel single “Spread the Word,” SSS ended the contract.
White’s session career, however, was gaining decisive traction even as his own recordings stalled. His contributions to Tony Joe White’s 1969 Top Ten hit “Polk Salad Annie” drew the attention of Elvis Presley, who requested that Bergen craft an arrangement of the song for his Las Vegas performances. In subsequent years White arranged additional Presley dates and occasionally supplied backing vocals in place of a Jordanair; his credits would eventually encompass country figures such as Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, the Statler Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw. In 1975 he joined the Private Stock roster, releasing a cover of the Del Vikings’ “Come Go with Me,” quickly followed by the David Gates composition “Have You Taken a Good Look Lately.” His third Private Stock effort, a reading of the Gene Chandler standard “Duke of Earl,” began to generate commercial interest, yet the prospect of touring conflicted with studio commitments; when White declined the road work, the label withdrew promotional support, effectively concluding his pop chapter. He did issue the 1980 gospel album Praise the Lord and resurfaced in 1998 with a holiday collection credited to the Bergen White Christmas Singers.
Albums
