Bransen, Larry

Websites:  No
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia
Biography:

Larry was born Larry Joseph Gulbransen on 14 November 1945 in Vancouver, British Columbia of 2nd Generation Norwegian/Canadian parents. He has one older and one younger sister, and three younger brothers. His father played guitar in an amateur band and Larry was raised against this musical background, learning guitar by the time he was 11 or 12 years old.

Despite this, he claims that his worst subject at school was musical theory, and because of the frustration with this subject he has never learned to sight-read music. His present talent has therefore been developed solely playing by ear, a remarkable achievement.

His major inspirations during his teenage years were (of course !) Elvis Presley and crooners such as Pat Boone and Andy Williams.

In 1962 he left school after the tenth grade to help his father and uncle in their house-painting businesses for the next five years. During this his uncle, who had a talent for the impersonation of many comedians and singer of that time, taught Larry some of the voice skill which later served him very well in his musical career.

Also during this period Larry was continuing to study and perfect his guitar work ( he says that whilst painting he was brushing up on his guitar - ouch!!) and also he liked to sing at every opportunity.

It was in fact his singing which led to early retirement as a painter as his Father thought that he was spending more time singing than painting and suggested that he take up the singing for a living.

Up to this time he had not considered a singing career, but given the choice between this and the unemployment line, he then began to give it serious consideration.

However, his other main hobby and interest was in electronics and a friend suggested this as a career. He therefore applied to Westinghouse in Vancouver for a job in electronics - Ironically, because he put his previous employment as “painter” on the application form, that was exactly what they employed him as- ( painting metal switchboxes etc.) - and Larry to his great disappointment, ended up doing exactly what he had tried to get away from.

Meanwhile, the biggest single drawback to his pursuing a career as a singer was his intense shyness. He was so shy that,although he thoroughly enjoyed singing, he could never imagine having the self-confidence to get up and sing in front of an audience.

However, in 1968, when Larry was 23, fate stepped in to take a hand in the form of a workmate at Westinghouse whose brother had a small four piece band ( they were all under five foot six!!) Did they need a guitarist \ vocalist? - No, they needed a manager and asked Larry to go along and talk about it.

Along he went, only to find out that this was a purely instrumental group ( as it turned out - instrumental in getting his career started!!) and after listening to their instrumental version of “ Oh, Pretty Woman, Larry picked up a microphone and asked them to try it again while he sang vocals. It was perhaps uncanny that the first song he sang with a band was this great and best- known Orbison Classic.

Not unnaturally, the job as manager was forgotten and Larry joined the group ( The Western Rytham) as lead vocalist and embarked on the beginnings of his professional career as a singer. His first paid gig was at a Canadian Legion Hall and he earned the princely sum of C$5.00 ( £2.50.)

Larry is keen to point out that at that time the group covered a full range of Rock and Roll and Country Music and he had no intension of trying to sound like anyone other than himself. He was a big Roy Orbison fan but had never tried to imitate him.

Larry stayed with the group for five years, going from mainly one- nighters in the Vancouver area to full weeks throughout the western provinces of Canada. As they became more successful the band changed their style more toward R&R and renamed themselves firstly Larry Bransen and the Rivieras and subsequently Downstream.

As soon as full week bookings started he resigned from Westinghouse to become a full-time professional artist, despite the fact that the pay was initially considerably lower.

Early in this period Larry had married and inevitably his travelling lifestyle put a major strain on the relationship and also on the band and ultimately both the marriage and the band broke up.

The agents who had handled the band during this period would now handle Larry as a solo artist and from 1973 to 1988 and despite the fact that his only accompaniment was his own guitar his popularity went from strength to strength carried almost entirely by his vocal talent.

It was at this time that he made his first recording “ JUST ME.” Quite a good name for a solo album really!! “ JUST ME “ was a compilation of songs that Larry was most often asked to perform in his act.

Also on the album was a song called “ CRY MY LITTLE ONE” which Larry wrote for his eldest son Kenny. At the time that “ JUST ME “ was recorded Larry lived in Albert; however he would soon move to Vancouver. Larry worked doing gigs at a hotel called the Coach House up in north Vancouver for about four years.

It was there that Larry became friendly with the manager of the hotel, who coincidentally was a friend of Les Vogt. At this time Les was Roy Orbison’s road manager. Vogt was trying to book Roy and Barbara into the hotel, not because Roy was performing, but just because they needed somewhere to stay for the night. Roy was performing at the Pacific National Exhibition.

So there were Roy and Larry in the same hotel. Larry was performing some of Roy’s songs in his act, and so the hotel manager it would be nice if Roy could hear Larry perform. On hearing this, Larry panicked. No way did he want to let Roy hear him sing any Orbison songs.

He was invited to a party by Orbison’s band. Roy and Barbara were going to be there but unfortunately, Larry had to decline the invitation as his nerves got the better of him making him ill. ( Needless to say, Larry deeply regrets this.)

However, Larry’s brother attended the party and met the band; Barbara did turn up but apparently Roy was also under the weather and stayed in his room.

After a while Larry decided to go on the road, toring Canada as a solo artist again. He remarried in 1978. His second wife Kim was also a singer and so she and Larry worked as a duet until about 1985. During this time along came their son Kevin and so the duet, ( which more than coincidentally was called Larry and Kim) had to break up and the marriage ended soon afterwards.

In 1988 whilst working in Westminister Larry got a call to say that Roy Orbison had passed away. He was devastated by the news. A short time later Larry contacted Les Vogt with a view to doing a tribute to Roy. At first Les wasn’t too sure if the idea would work.

However, about a week later he contacted Larry to say that he would be bringing someone out to see him perform. Little did Larry know that the man Les was bringing was Sam Orbison, Roy’s brother.

When Les and Sam walked into the room where Larry was performing, he was amazed by Sam’s likeness to his late brother. Although sam was of bigger build than Roy, Larry saw the resemblence at once.

After the first act Les introduced Larry to Sam and the three men talked until Larry was due to start his second act but at this point their discussons didn’t get too far. The next day when Larry went to talk with Les at his office, he found Sam there also. They had another talk and decided that it would indeed be a good idea to do the tribute.

However instead of having a show just dedicated to Roy, they thought they should have some of his friends with him. Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley had both been friends with Roy, and so with this in mind “ THE LEGENDS OF ROCK AND ROLL” was formed. Around 2000 people attended the first performance of “ THE LEGENDS OF ROCK AND ROLL” which took place at the Commodore Ballroom in downtown Vancouver.

In 1989 Larry started to do solo tributes to Roy. Beginning with five dates playing as Roy in a show called “ THE ROY ORBISON STORY”. This venue held around 450 people and over 400 tickets were sold for each performance.

Although this was quite a success, it was decided that over-all “ THE LEGENDS OF ROCK AND ROLL” was a bigger crowd pleaser. So the show was reformed and went on until early 1994. The show closed, mainly due to the fact that Larry was getting more and more solo bookings, most of which were in the U.S.A.

Meanwhile a friend of Les Vogt, who also happened to be Larry’s agent, was vacationing in France. He decided to visit a friend of his by the name of John Miller. During their conversation, Miller said he was looking for someone to portray Roy in Bill Kenwright’s musical “ ONLY THE LONELY”

So it was decided that they would fly out to Reno, Nevada where Larry was performing with a show called “ AMERICAN SUPERSTARS.”
Sometime later, Larry was hired to play the lead in “ONLY THE LONELY”. He then spent the next three years both touring the UK and in the West End with the show.

After returning to Canada for six months to deal with some personal matters, and record “ AN ORBISON CHRISTMAS” with the Jordanaires, ( famous for backing Elvis Presley and other groups.) in Nashville, Larry came back to the UK for the second tour of The Roy Orbison Story (Only the Lonely).

He subsequently returned to Canada and moved from the West Coast to Toronto on the east Coast. He has continued paying tribute to Roy’s music in major shows at Stage West in Toronto and Calgary, and has done two major tours of Canada and the US in the past 2 years. On the 10th Anniversary of Roy’s death, the touring show (This Lonely Heart, The Roy Orbison Experience) appeared in Kitchener, Ontario, and subsequently toured the US again.

Larry is currently back in the UK playing Orbison in the Bill Kenwright production of Four Steps to Heaven, where he is receiving further enthusiastic reviews.

Keep in touch with Larry by joining his Roy Orbison Appreciation Society

Regular newsletters written with style and humor average 16-20 A4 pages

"An Orbison Christmas" and the "Only The Lonely Stageshow soundtrack" are available via Martine:
-Peakey@compuserve.com