Reposted from the Rockabilly Hall of Fame http://www.rockabillyhall.com/PatCupp.html PAT CUPP SPEAKS: I was raised in a musical family. My dad was Burton Cupp and was a drummer. My mother, Ruth, was a piano player. I have two brothers, Skippy and Mickey, who both play piano. My sister Ruth (Bea, nick name), sings. I also did vocals and played guitar. My dad taught me to play the tenor guitar (4 strings) which I also used to do tenor banjo Dixieland style. I was playing music of the thirties when I was five years old. I got my first six (6) string guitar when I was eleven years old after playing a stage show in Dierks, Arkansas. I made six dollars and my dad gave me the rest so I could purchase a guitar which cost fifteen dollars. It took a while for my hands to grow large enough to handle the base strings, but within the next two years I managed to learn. My brother, Skippy had a friend, Billy Jo Graves, who played guitar and I watched him make chords using the base strings. My first guitar was not amplified and was used for rhythm only. I used this guitar until I was 18 years old and began recording. I bought a new guitar just before I signed my recording contract with RPM Records. I signed my Record Contract in May 1956. I appeared on stage shows with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, George Jones, Johnny Horton, Johnny Carroll, Tommy Sands, Jim Ed and Maxine Brown and a host of others. I joined the U.S. Air Force in March 1957 and spent 4 years. I played music most every night of my military service time. I was married to my high school sweetheart, Loretta Gaye Mitchell, February 7, 1958. We have a family consisting of one girl, Renee' and two boys, Darrin and Scott. I continued my music as a hobby since my marriage. I played guitar and did vocals with a band I was with for 35 years. The band was called the "Variables" and we played all types of music from 40's Rock to Modern Jazz. The "Variables" consisted of Bob Cargile, piano, Jimmy Allen, bass, Bill Manning, drums, Pat Cupp, guitar and vocals. We recorded on our own record label "Chance" in 1967. The names of the songs that were recorded were, "After All" and "New World". During my career, I appeared as an extra, in a 1976 movie film named "The Town that Dreaded Sundown" starring Ben Johnson and Andy Prine. I appeared in the film as a police officer. The story was a true story of several murders which happened in Texarkana during the late 1940's. I happened into this movie by chance. I was watching the filming and was asked if I would put on a police uniform and be part of a scene. The director wanted an older person to play the police officer in this particular scene. (most of the men, extras, in police uniform were in their 20's) After I played this scene, I was asked to hang around and do other scenes. My name does not appear in the credits, but I appear in many scenes of this movie. (I didn't get paid anything). I did a guest appearance at Hemsby, England (Hemsby 15) in October 1995. This appearance was my last stage show before retiring. I have been forced into retirement due to a hearing problem which has been on-going since 1988. I have lost 90% of my hearing which has made music almost impossible. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.