#40: You’re The Reason by Bobby Edwards

Peak Month: September 1961
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #11
YouTube.com: “You’re The Reason”
Lyrics: “You’re The Reason”

Robert Edward Moncrief was born in 1926 in Anniston, Alabama. Around 1956 Moncrief served for two years in the United States navy. As Bobby Moncrief, he first recorded for Pappy Daily at ‘D’ Records in late 1958. His first recording was called “Long Gone Daddy”. In 1959, was going by the stage name Bobby Edwards. He revived Tex Ritter’s 1945 hit, “Jealous Heart”, written by Jenny Lou Carson. He also has a hit credited to Bobby Edwards With The Texas Trailblazers titled “Stranger To Me”. The record was issued on the Bluebonnet label. Then Edwards went out west, working shows on his own in southern California. Songwriter Terry Fell was impressed with Edwards and placed him on Crest Records. Fell helped produce and arrange a song Edwards wrote titled “You’re the Reason.” The single was recorded in February 1961.

Though Bobby Edwards wrote the song, his manager and financier Fred Henley, and Terry Fell, received writing credits for “You’re The Reason”. Darrell Cotton, Gib Guilbeau, and Ernie Williams had formed a trio, Darrell, Gib & Ernie. Then, the trio released the singles “I Goof” and “Just or Unjust”, which became local hits. After adding Wayne Moore, they became The Four Young Men, which Edwards then joined to become Bobby Edwards & The Four Young Men. Their first record together was “You’re the Reason”.

“You’re The Reason” peaked at #1 in Vancouver, Toronto, Chattanooga (TN),  Omaha (NE), South Bend (IN), La Crosse (WI), Newport News (VA), Charleston (WV), and Springfield (MA), #2 in Wilkes-Barre (PA), Cincinnati (OH), and Greenville (SC), #3 in York (PA), Mobile (AL), Phoenix,  Minneapolis/St. Paul, Manchester (NH), New York City, Worcester (MA), Houston, Chicago, and Hamilton (ON), #4 in Ottawa (ON), Indianapolis (IN), Buffalo, and Boston, #5 in Winnipeg (MB), #6 in Allentown (PA), Seattle, Hartford (CT), and Denver, #7 in Cleveland, Akron (OH), and Calgary (AB), and #10 in Atlanta, Tucson (AZ), and Montreal.

Joe South recorded a cover of “You’re The Reason” which made the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot C&W sides chart, and #87 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hank Locklin also had a Top 20 hit on the country charts in the USA, but couldn’t crack the Billboard Hot 100 as his version of “You’re The Reason” stalled at #107.

Edwards then transferred to Capitol Records and released the sound-alike “What’s the Reason”, which peaked at # 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. The single climbed to #17 on the CKWX Fabulous Forty in February ’62. In 1963, his single “Don’t Pretend” made the Billboard country chart peaking at #23. This was his last single to enter the country chart. Edwards released another five singles between 1962 and 1968, including a cover of the 1956 Guy Mitchell hit “Singing The Blues”. But, Bobby Edwards single releases got little attention outside of Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky and Missouri.

In the late 1960s, Edwards operated a small recording studio. In the early 1970s, he also recorded several gospel albums. Edwards completely retired from the music industry in 1972 and returned to Anniston to raise a family. Edwards died at the age of 86 in 2012.

April 7, 2023
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Bobby Edwards,” Wikipedia.org.
“C-FUN-Tastic 50,” CFUN 1410 AM, Vancouver, BC, September 30, 1961.

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