By Darragh Doiron

The News staff writer

Musicians remember Glenn Wells as an easy-going friend, ready to write a song as soon as he could find a pencil.

Born Glynn Stilwell Jr. he adopted the stage name Glenn Wells and recorded his first music at age 14 or 15. Wells was 62 when he died Sunday at his home in Wimberley.

His band, The Blends, topped the charts in the early ‘60s with songs such as “You’re Mine Tonight,” “ Write Me A Letter” and “Lesson in Love.” He has been inducted into the Gulf Coast Hall of Fame at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.

He had for years been coping with schizophrenia, which family members said “ended his life as he knew it.”  

Glenda Durkey, his sister, said she expects lots of his musician friends to attend a memorial service at 6 p.m. Saturday at Clayton-Thompson Funeral Home, West Parkway Drive, Groves. His music may be heard, and others will be invited to speak and sing as the spirit moves.

Gene Bourgeois, known as singer Jivin’ Gene, said if music trends hadn’t changed in the ‘50s and ‘60s, Wells could have gone big time with his song writing and playing.

“The thing that amazed me about him was how good he was at writing songs. He could write with ease,” Bourgeois, of Groves, said. “I think that if I he could have pursued his career, he would have been another Hank Williams.”

“Besides being a soft-spoken, gentle and kind type of person, Glen was real smooth. He was a real good singer, but the thing that amazed me about him was how good he was at writing songs,” Bourgeois said.

David Worthington of Groves played drums with the Wells band and also marveled at his friend’s writing talents.

“When I knew him, he was always having fun. He’d grab a pencil and just start writing. He was a really good song writer,” Worthington said. “I remember the time we went to New Orleans. We’d played a high school prom in Houma and had a good time. We played in Houston a whole bunch when we had our records out. We played three record hops a night.”

Wells’ nephew, Charles “Tory” Canfil of Port Neches, recalls that at family gatherings, the guitar always came out.

“He used to sit there and sing for the family, for the kids. The kids loved his music. He was always writing music, probably up ‘til the day he died,” Canfil said.

Sister Glenda Durkey, of Taylor Landing, said her brother was “truthful to a fault.”