Fund-raiser to help pay costs of singer’s burial

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

So tired of performing the same Coasters songs night after night for more than 40 years, Guy, one of the original Coasters, started telling even his closest friends he was ill to avoid potential appearances.

"He came to me one day and said, 'Honey, I'm just tired of all the "Yakety Yak" and I don't want to go out there anymore,' " said Vanessa Van Klyde, Guy's girlfriend of more than 30 years. "He told people he was sick, but he never saw a doctor a day in his life.

"I said, 'Honey, you took care of me all those years, now I'll take care of you.' We always lived for the now. We never planned for the future."

Guy died suddenly of heart disease on Nov. 5 at age 66. Van Klyde, a graveyard shift cage cashier at the New Frontier, never married Guy so she could not claim his body, which remains unclaimed.

Despite the popular success of the Coasters, Guy, who provided the deep baritone for the legendary rock 'n' roll group, could wind up in an unmarked pauper's grave.

Local entertainers and friends on Monday said they won't let that happen.

At least one local fund-raiser is scheduled this week, and friends from across the nation say they will contribute money to defray an estimated $3,700 to $5,000 for funeral and burial expenses that include a headstone.

When told that Guy died without the funds to have himself buried, friends were not surprised, but dismayed.

"That's a shame if it comes to that," original Coaster Carl Gardner said Monday from his home in Florida. "Billy didn't take the best care of himself, and he didn't save his money. Still, he should be buried and left in peace."

Veta Gardner, Carl's wife, said she is informing disc jockeys at oldies stations and others of the situation to help with fund-raising efforts.

Friends are trying to locate Guy's estranged children, Peter and Lisa, to get them to either claim his body or give Garden Memorial mortuary permission to cremate him, which would reduce costs by about $2,000.

Jerry Copija, the mortuary's director, said Guy's sister from Los Angeles came forward Monday but could not claim the body.

"She said she did not have the financial resources," Copija said. "She is trying to locate other family members, including Guy's children, but does not know where they are."

On Monday Van Klyde recalled her life with Guy, whom she met in the early 1970s at a pancake house in Hollywood.

"We just got to talking," she said. "He never mentioned during that conversation he was a member of The Coasters. He wasn't one to blow his horn.

"It was difficult for us at first, him being black and me being white. The looks of disapproval we would get from people -- it was a big thing in those days."

Van Klyde said at that time Guy would go out on the road for months at a time and bring home a lot of money that they routinely spent on life's pleasures.

The couple moved to Las Vegas in 1985.

Guy, who received 25 percent of royalties from the sale and commercial playing of The Coasters records, saw those checks gradually shrink over the years.

"I was surprised in recent years that any money was coming in at all," Van Klyde said. "It wasn't much -- about $1,500 every three months. They're not selling too many Coasters records anymore."

Van Klyde said in the 1990s Guy would spend a lot of time writing new music "and trying to get something going," but all his public wanted to hear was the old Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller classics such as "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown."

"It frustrated him," Van Klyde said, noting Guy last performed with a version of the Coasters in 1999 at the Sahara Hotel. "All those years we were together, I only went to a couple of his shows -- one at the Four Queens and the other in California, I believe."

In his final months Guy would spend his days watching television or would frequent the Barbary Coast to bet football and other games.

A simple man, his earthly possessions were few -- four bags of clothes, two music awards and a photo album that fit in the palm of his hand.

The awards were a trophy commemorating his 1987 induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and the 1994 Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

The few photos he kept were snapshots of fellow Coasters after the Rock and Roll induction ceremony, a 5-by-7-inch high school photo of his daughter, Lisa, and severalshots of his son, Peter.

Two local organizations Grace Ministries and The Cast Inc., have joined forces to hold a Wednesday fund-raiser to help pay for Guy's burial.

"We already had set the date for our November fund-raiser, so we invited The Cast to join us and split the proceeds," said singer Leslie Anders said.

"We are pooling our efforts and resources to get Billy a decent sendoff," she said. "We feel he should not be stacked three caskets deep in an unmarked grave."

Randy Poe, spokesman for Leiber and Stoller, said Monday the songwriters will help with efforts to bury him.

Chuck Rubin of Artists Rights Enforcement Corp., a New York-based company that collects royalties on behalf of Guy and other musicians, said his organization will match Leiber and Stoller's donation.

"We have an obligation, a moral responsibility, to get involved," Rubin said. "Billy entertained millions of people with a beautiful expression of Leiber and Stoller's music, giving it a voice that will live forever."

Copija said he will attend Wednesday's fund-raiser and will discount his fees for Guy's services and burial.

Guy's distinctive baritone voice can be heard as the lead on "Searchin'." The group's other hits include "Young Blood," "Along Came Jones," "Poison Ivy" and "Little Egypt."