Bill Fries, voice of 'C.W. McCall' from "Convoy" passes away at 94

Mannheim Steamroller FB page | 4/1/22 | Mannheim Steamroller FB page

[hoagy62]

He did several other 'novelty' songs, including "Wolf Creek Pass" and "Crispy Critters (and their leader was a Space Cadet)".

It was the success of " Convoy" that allowed Chip Davis to form Mannheim Steamroller.

[Born in 1950]

Catch you on the flip flop, RIP.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Always reminded me of Hoyt Axton’s voice.

[Rio]

I had all of his work in 8-track. Loved it all. Maybe Wolf Creek Pass was the best. Sloan was good, too. NOT Convoy.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[GaltAdonis]

10-4 Rubber Duck ...

[pepsi_junkie]

I saw a little bio of him recently. He was an ad executive who started acting in his own commercials as the character he created, C.W. McCall. Then he decided to have his fictional character become a singer and he sang about life as a trucker.

So he was an executive pretending to be an actor who was pretending to be a singer who was pretending to be a trucker. That's a lot of mileage out of one character! RIP

[ConservativeMind]

I looked him up on Wikipedia just two weeks ago.

RIP.

[Skooz]

Watching him lip sync “Convoy” on some TV show was one of the most disturbing experiences of my childhood.

RIP

[Rio]

Probably American Bandstand. That was pretty awful.

[Brasky]

“I’m a dude who is just a dude playing another dude”

-Tropic Thunder

[OldWarBaby]

I always wanted to take a drive over Wolf Creek Pass to see if there really was a feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs.

[Luke21]

Don’t forget “Roses for Mama,” another classic. His other really big one besides “Convoy.”

[Little Pig]

Wow, no idea that connection was there. I can’t think of a more different pair of musical styles than “Convoy” and early Mannheim Steamroller.

[foreverfree]

See you on that "Long [Not-So-]Lonesome Road", Mr. Fries. Thanks for "Convoy" adding to my ninth grade memories. Ten-four!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY9__9u2S0Y

ff

[Rio]

“We took that top row o’ chickens of slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp.”

[Bratch]

CONVOY 01 CW McCall - Convoy ORIGINAL VERSION

[Bonemaker]

“And I’m about to put the hammer down”

Drive safe mate... RIP.

[cyclotic]

We’ve been following and have joined in the People’s Convoy to stop the mandate orders.

Convoy and CW have been on my mind a lot

[toddausauras]

The sequel to Convoy or the follow up single “Around the world with the Rubber Duck” is nuts. It picks up where the first song left off...on the Jersey Shore and guess what...they go across the Atlantic like “snakes on glass” another line describes how they lost “200 trucks at sea”. Just hilarious. It was a major flop as a single. But hey, the song Convoy is practically part of the culture so cheers to C.W. I hope he doesn’t have to fill out any “swindle sheets” in heaven.