Ned Fairchild

Who is Ned Fairchild?

Ned Fairchild is the pen name of Nelda Fairchild an American songwriter. Her best known work is the 1957 rock'n'roll hit "Twenty Flight Rock", on which a co-writing credit was given to rock and roll pioneer Eddie Cochran. Paul McCartney and John Lennon have in different contexts said that McCartney was invited to join Lennon's band, The Quarrymen, because he knew both the chords and words to "Twenty Flight Rock," a much-admired staple of the bands forming in England at that time.

She was an AMI staff songwriter, who variously wrote and performed as Ned Fairchild and Sunny Bingo. Born Nelda Fairchild, she and her sister Teena began performing at ages 4 and 5 as a sister act on various radio shows. As teenagers living in Southern California, they worked regularly and were cast members on Foreman Phillips' musical variety show in Compton, California. By the 1950s, Sunny and Teena were appearing as The Southern Belles, appearing on Town Hall Party with Merle Travis and other early TV music stars. Travis introduced Nelda to AMI President Irv Cross, who made her a staff writer, one of a very few women on the writing staffs of music publishers at that time. It was at that time common for a star who covered a song to take a co-writer credit. Originator of this thread, journalist Dean Miller, examined royalty statements at Fairchild's home in 2007 and determined Fairchild is paid an undivided royalty on "Twenty Flight Rock," which supports her statements that Cochran's co-writing credit is not for authorship, but for covering the song. Cochran's nephew, biographer Bobby Cochran, disputes this account in "Three Steps to Heaven — The Eddie Cochran Story," though without supporting documentation.