Coasters’ songwriters help with cost of Guy’s services

Monday, Nov. 25, 2002 | 9 a.m.

At Thanksgiving many people often realize how important it is to have family.

Billy Guy's "family" from the entertainment industry has come forward to give The Coasters' baritone a funeral at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Garden Memorial mortuary and graveside services 11 a.m. Wednesday at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Guy, 66, one of the original members of the 1950s' singing quartet that topped the charts with "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown," died Nov. 5 of heart disease in Las Vegas. His body went unclaimed by his survivors, creating concern he would be buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.

A fund-raiser by Las Vegas entertainers last raised $500, half of what was projected. But songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote the Coasters' biggest hits; Artists Rights Enforcement Corp., the company that collected Guy's royalties; and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which gave Guy its 1994 Pioneer Award, came through with $4,000 to give him a proper sendoff.

"Billy Guy truly had a family," said Jerry Copija, director of Garden Memorial. "I believe he would have been happy to know that his family of entertainers were there for him at Thanksgiving."

Copija, who discounted some of his company's costs, said he decided to give Guy two services to give entertainers who work various shifts an opportunity to attend at least one.

Visitation for the Las Vegas resident of 17 years will be 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home at 3600 W. Vegas Dr. The 11 a.m. graveside services Wednesday will be in a plot across from Rancho High School in Las Vegas' oldest cemetery.

Guy was the lead voice on the hit single "Searchin' " and did background vocals on the group's other hits, including "Young Blood," "Along Came Jones," "Poison Ivy" and "Little Egypt." He last performed live with a version of The Coasters in 1999 at the Sahara hotel.

Copija had tried to locate family members for more than a week before a Nov. 15 Sun story reported that Garden Memorial, a small, family-owned business, would have to apply to Clark County Social Services for a pauper's burial -- three caskets stacked in an unmarked grave -- if someone did not come forward.

Copija eventually located a brother and sister, but he said they did not have the funds to bury Guy. Guy's children, Peter and Lisa, could not be found, despite a nationwide search by Guy's friends and business associates.

Guy's companion of more than 30 years, Vanessa Van Klyde, a Las Vegas casino cage cashier, never married Guy and did not have a right to claim his body.

In a Sun story last Tuesday, she said, "We always lived for the now. We never planned for the future."

Two local organizations, Grace Ministries and The Cast Inc., held a fund-raiser last Wednesday with hopes of raising $2,000 -- $1,000 for Grace's homeless assistance fund and $1,000 to help bury Guy. Copija said the organizations informed him Saturday that their gift would be $500.

Leiber and Stoller and Artists Rights Enforcement Corp. pledged $3,000. The Rhythm and Blues Foundation pledged $1,000, Copija said.