Eddie & Ernie

William Edgar (Eddie) Campbell (1940-1994) and Ernest (Ernie) L. Johnson Jnr (1945-2005) were a soul duo based in Phoenix, Arizona, who recorded in the Sixties as Eddie & Ernie. They produced several well regarded and highly collectable 7" singles in the middle years of the decade, many issued on the Eastern label.

The pair started out as backing vocalists in 1961 before making their first recordings as a duo in 1963. Although they recorded for several labels over the following few years, including some quite large concerns such as Columbia, Chess, and Buddah, they never enjoyed any significant chart success. Their biggest R&B hit was "Time Waits For No One", issued by Eastern records in 1964. In 1967 the pair released solo singles on the Phoenix Artco label.

Disillusioned with their lack of progress, the duo then parted company for a few years, with Eddie Campbell moving to Los Angeles to pursue his song writing career. Reunited in Phoenix in 1970, the duo recorded new material. In 1971 they were invited to join a local group, Phoenix Express as vocalists. Recordings made at the time remained mostly unreleased until 2002. Following this the Eddie & Ernie story drifted to a close.

In 2002, Ace Records issued Lost Friends, a CD that compiled many of their rare singles alongside early material, solo releases and several previously unreleased tracks.

Links To Peel
"'I don’t know anything about them really beyond the fact that every record they made was utterly wonderful, but the best ones were on Eastern Records.' (11 November 1999)"

According to the man himself, Peel was introduced to the work of Eddie & Ernie by "our friend Mick up in Windham in Norfolk... I've always been extremely grateful.". Peel repaid the favour by once presenting Mick with a rare single of theirs that he'd found, despite not owning a copy himself. He seemed quite proud of this act of selflessness and mentioned it more than once:

"'Just to show you what a generous kind of chap I am, I've got a mate who is obsessed - well, not obsessed with the work of Eddie and Ernie, but he's particularly partial to it. I did once find in a second hand shop an Eddie and Ernie record which he hadn't got, and I hadn't got either, and I gave my copy of it to him. Am I not a wonderful person, don't you think?' (03 May 1982)"

"'About twenty years ago... my friend Mick played me a record by some people called Eddie & Ernie about whom he quite rightly enthused. He played me more records of Eddie & Ernie's over the years and I got hold of one or two copies myself. One of the very few unselfish things that I've ever done in all of my life was, I got a copy of one of Eddie & Ernie's rarest records and gave it to Mick. I've been regretting it ever since of course, but it was a generous thing to do and I'm quite proud of it.' (05 November 2002)"

On several occasions Peel mentioned how much he'd like to have an LP compiling all of their singles, whilst recognising the difficulties involved in producing such an album due to the many record labels involved. For example:

"'I've often hoped that somebody would put together the complete works of Eddie and Ernie on some sort of an LP. Probably because of the different labels that they were on, it would have to be an illegitimate one, but nevertheless I should like to have one.' (27 July 1988)"

Peel eventually got his wish in late 2002, when Ace Records, through their subsidiary Kent, issued Lost Friends, a CD compiling much of the duo's recorded output, along with rare solo tracks and unreleased material. Tracks from this release, which Peel described as "indispensable stuff" were programmed into the show during November and December 2002.

Three records by Eddie & Ernie were subsequently found to reside in John Peel's Record Box of his most treasured singles.

John Peel's Record Box

 * Time Waits For No One / That's The Way It Is (Eastern) 1964
 * I Believe She Will / We Try Harder (Chess) 1965
 * Outcast / I'm Gonna Always Love You (Eastern) 1965

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None.

Sessions

 * None

Shows Played

 * 1979
 * 22 January 1979: Time Waits For No One (7") Eastern
 * 1982
 * 03 May 1982: I Believe She Will (7") Chess
 * 1988
 * 27 July 1988: Thanks For Yesterday (V/A LP - The Deep South) Kent
 * 1999
 * 11 November 1999: Time Waits For No One (CD - The Birth Of Soul Vol. 2) Kent
 * 2000
 * 30 November 2000: Thanks For Yesterday (V/A LP - Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Taken From The Vaults... Volume 3) Kent
 * 2002
 * 14 February 2002: I Believe She Will (7") Chess
 * 19 February 2002: Time Waits For No One (single 7") Eastern
 * 05 November 2002: Lost Friends (LP - Lost Friends) Kent
 * 06 November 2002: I'm Gonna Always Love You (LP - Lost Friends) Kent
 * 14 November 2002: Doggone It (LP - Lost Friends) Kent
 * 27 November 2002: Outcast (LP - Lost Friends) Kent
 * 04 December 2002: We Try Harder (LP - Lost Friends) Kent
 * 12 December 2002: Tell It Like It Is (LP - Lost Friends) Kent


 * Others
 * November 2002 (Peel's Record Box): Lost Friends (LP) Kent