Stuttering to the Top of the Charts

The Stuttering Foundation has recognized the song You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, a 1974 number one hit by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, as being the most unique of the many rock songs featuring stuttering vocals.

Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation, said recently, “Not only was You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet the first song with stuttering vocals to reach number one, but more importantly it was the first such song that was actually about a real person who stutters and therefore has a human connection to the struggles faced by someone who stutters.”

There have been numerous songs in the rock era that display stuttering vocals. Among them have been Too Much Time on My Hands by Styx, My Sharona by The Knack, Changes by David Bowie, My Generation by The Who, Benny and the Jets by Elton John, and many more.

Bachman –Turner Overdrive consisted of the Bachman brothers Randy, Robbie, and Tim, along with Fred Turner. The band’s first manager was Gary Bachman, another Bachman brother, who stuttered. After Gary stepped down from his job as manager, Randy sang their new song with stuttering vocals as an inside joke with the intention that only Gary would hear the tape. After recording their new album Not Fragile, their record company, Mercury Records, asked if the band had a spare song to include. Randy played them You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet and explained it was a joke and agreed to include the song on the album if the band could re-record it. The record company hated the new “serious” version of the song and demanded the version with the stuttering vocals for the album. The rest is history, as the song climbed to number one, giving BTO their only chart-topper.

Gary Bachman would overcome his stuttering through speech therapy and go on to become one of the most successful real estate agents in Winnipeg and own his own agency for almost 30 years.

Said Fraser, “I know people think that these rock songs with stuttering vocals are cute or humorous, but it is a shame that whenever You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet is played that people do not know the true story behind it. If more DJ’s mentioned the song’s history, it would do a lot to spread a message about stuttering, not to mention the fact that the audience would find it most interesting.”

-From the Fall 2011 Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Emily Blunt

Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.

Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, was well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones spoke some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.