David Geddes - Run Joey Run (Reissue) (1975)

A Michigan-based singer/songwriter who scored a Top 5 hit in 1975 with the teenage tragedy gem "Run Joey Run," David Geddes was born David Cole Idema in 1950. Copping his nom de plume from Geddes Road, a street in the University town of Ann Arbor where he attended college, Geddes spent the first portion of his music career operating under his own name as the drummer for the cult band the Fredric. After adopting his stage name, Geddes embarked on a solo career, releasing a bevy of singles for major labels but failing to score a hit. Frustrated, Geddes returned to his education, attending law school at Wayne State University in Detroit. A chance call from producer Paul Vance, who remembered Geddes' expressive voice from earlier recordings, asked the semi-retired singer/songwriter to record a song that he had written. The resulting "Run Joey Run" peaked at number four in October 1975, and Geddes dropped out of law school and dove back into the music business. He landed another single in the Top 20, the county hit "The Last Game of the Season (A Blind Man in the Bleachers)," and had modest success with the song "House on Holly Road," the latter of which was released under his own name, but "Run Joey Run" would prove to be his commercial high point. ~ James Christopher Monger