HE WALKED AWAY THINKING HIS MUSICAL DREAM WAS COMPLETELY DEAD — BUT HE DIDN’T KNOW THE SONG THAT WOULD SAVE HIS LIFE WAS HIDING ON THE B-SIDE. When Harold Lloyd Jenkins released his single “I’ll Try” in 1958, he waited for the world to listen. Instead, he was met with silence. Convinced that his shot at stardom had slipped through his fingers, he quietly packed up his pride and went back to working on a farm. He traded the microphone for the dirt, carrying the heavy weight of a dream that just wasn’t meant to be. He thought his story in the music business was over. But fate has a funny way of working when you aren’t looking. Hundreds of miles away, a DJ in Columbus, Ohio, picked up that failed record. For some reason, he didn’t play the A-side. He flipped the vinyl over to the forgotten track on the back. Suddenly, the profound, aching heartbreak of “It’s Only Make Believe” poured through the radio waves. That velvet voice commanded the room, turning a throwaway B-side into a monumental number-one hit that changed history. While Conway was out in the fields accepting his defeat, his voice was quietly conquering the world. It is a quiet reminder that sometimes, the things we brush aside as failures are just waiting for the right person to hear them. Though Conway is gone, that song remains—proof that the greatest miracles often happen right after we have completely given up.
Introduction THE INDUSTRY THOUGHT HIS MUSICAL DREAM WAS BURIED IN THE DIRT OF A FARM...