Slick combination of swing, Carolina Beach Music, blues, updated standards -- great dance music.

14 MP3 Songs
URBAN/R&B: Northern Soul, BLUES: Carolina Beach / Shag

Show all album songs: The Edge of Paradise Songs


Details:
Donny and Susan Trexler




Donny Trexler began performing when he was only 9 years old in Summerfield, NC near Greensboro. His first band was formed when he was 14 and was called "Donny and the Blue Jets." In early 1959 his group, "The Six Teens," began and evolved into "Bob Collins and the Fabulous Five" in 1961. This group went on to become one of the hottest beach bands in the Southeast in the middle and late 60's. They recorded what became a beach classic, "If I Didn't Have a Dime" (aka "Jukebox") with Donny singing lead vocals. They also recorded a well-remembered song that was written by Donny, "Inventory on Heartaches." In early 1968 he joined "The Music Era." Later that year, at Bill Griffin's insistence, he joined "The O'Kaysions" as their guitar player and became their lead singer when Donnie Weaver left the group. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, "American Bandstand" with Dick Clark, and "The Midnight Special" with Wolfman Jack singing their top five hit "I'm a Girlwatcher." Donny was given the CAMMY Award for "Lifetime Achievement" in November 2000. He was inducted into the South Carolina Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame for his accomplishments in the field of music at the "OD Beach Party 2001" in November, 2001, and received the Palmetto Award from Governor Hodges. Donny's instrumentals with Billy Ross - "Begin the Beguine", and with Mark Black - "Memories and Souvenirs" (instrumentals) have both been charted in the Beach Music market. In 2007 Donny was nominated "Instrumentalist of the Year" for Carolina Beach Music Awards.
Although Susan is a Charlotte native, she and Donny met when she was in college in Greensboro. In 1972, Donny and Susan formed "Swing," a four piece Top 40 and Beach/Show band, and traveled the Southeast. "Swing" played their last date on New Year's Eve, 1988. Donny and Susan formed a duo called "Swing, Too" and are still performing together, although they no longer call themselves "Swing, Too."
When not performing for clubs and private parties, Susan has been busy for the past 15 years in the studio recording her own material as well as session work with artists such as "The Fantastic Shakers," "The Entertainers," "The Embers," "Rocky Jarreau," "Bobby Smith," "Brook Benton," "Big John Ruth," and many, many others. Her voice is heard and recognized on innumerable regional hits, and she was beach music's CAMMY Award's "Female Vocalist of the Year" in 1995. She has been nominated every year since, and was given the CAMMY for "Best Female Vocalist" again in 2001. Susan also received the Palmetto Award when, in October of 2001, she became the first white female vocalist to be inducted into the South Carolina Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. Susan again won the Female Vocalist of the Year at the Carolina Beach Music Awards (CAMMYs) ceremony in November of 2003, and her hit âOnly Love Can Mend a Broken Heartâ reached Top 10 in the Beach Music charts. Her recordings "Soon As I Touched Him," "Inventory on Heartaches," and "Spoonful" with Billy Scott were all Top 10 hits in the Beach Music charts. "Memories and Souvenirs" (vocal version) is currently in the charts. She was nominated again for the CBMA for Female Vocalist in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Together, Donny and Susan have several regionally successful recordings such as "Out of My Mind," "Sentimental Journey," "I Don't Do Duets," "Hang On In There Baby," "Something You Got," and âMake Time for Me" (which was written by Donny). âI Don't Do Duets" was nominated for CAMMY Award's "Duo Recording of the Year" in 1998. In 1997, Susan recorded a version of "Give Me One Reason" for the compilation CD Talk That Talk from Forevermore Music and that CD won the CAMMY Award's "Compilation of the Year." Donny and Susan were inducted into the Beach Music Hall of Fame at the awards ceremony in mid-November, 1996. Donny and Susan recently released their second CD Our Worldâ¦Vol. 2 â Duets and "Something You Got" from that CD was nominated in 2001 for the CAMMY Awardâs "Duo Recording of the Year." Currently they have recordings on 24 CD's ( of their own and 22 compilations) released in the past three years.

Donny and Susan live and work in North Myrtle Beach, SC and have 23 and 27 year old sons.