Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey share a birthday: November 26, 1937. Jim in Niagara Wisconsin, way up north on the Michigan border and Phil in Madison, the state capital. Jim spent his growing up years in Niagara, until he graduated from high school and attended the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Jim started playing the guitar in his mid-teens. He performed with a fellow named Bobby Jensen, who also played guitar and the harmonica. They played standards like "Walking My Baby Back Home." Bobby and Jim began playing at a club called Rolly Rhodes' "Chalet Bar" in Niagara. They appeared there for about a year. While they were working there, a man from the local union came in and forced the two of them to join with the financial help of Rolly Rhodes.

Jim had met Phil Humphrey in 1957 at a party at school in Milwaukee. The next morning they gave each other their names to keep in touch, but soon after they lost contact with each other. Jim went back to college and was married a year later to his first wife. He was a junior in college. Humphrey was living in a little town called Stoughton, which is 12 miles southeast of Madison.

At the time, Phil was driving a bread truck. He came up to the apartment building where Jim lived and saw his name. Phil remembered the name and went up and talked to Jim's wife and left his phone number. He also talked her into buying some bread. When Sundquist came home, his wife asked him if he knew Phil Humphrey. He said he never heard of him. A little later, Jim did remember who he was. Right away Jim got on the phone and called him. That very night Jim drove up to Stoughton. He had been wanting to start up a band. They started to rehearse and that was the beginning of the Fendermen. Jim was playing a Gretsch and Phil was playing a Fender Telecaster. After he saw and heard the Fender, Jim just had to have one. So they called themselves the Fendermen, named after the guitars they played.

They appeared at the Ideal Bar in Madison in the latter part of 1958 and part of 1959. They started to learn new material to build up a show. Jim played lead guitar, while Phil handled rhythm and did most of the lead singing. They learned some of the tunes that were out that year such as "El Paso" and "The Battle Of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton, which was their favorite at the time. They finally had enough material for a show, but they were not ready for the big time.

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