Posts Tagged ‘R&B’
SCREAMING JAY HAWKINS
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins never sold a lot of records in the greater scheme of things, but his one hit, ‘I Put a Spell on You’ was hugely influential and his talent for theatrical live shows made him a star. Usually emerging from a coffin onstage, wild-eyed and raving, toting a smoking skull on a pole…
Read MoreLOUIS JORDAN
If one man could be credited with inventing jump-blues, it would be Louis Jordan. His Tympani Five had 54 Top Ten R&B chart hits between 1942 and 1951, and eighteen of those made the top spot. Louis infectious sax-led jump-blues crossed over into the white market for both record sales and live shows, especially in…
Read MoreFATS DOMINO
Some say, “The Blues had a Baby and they called it Rock’n’Roll.” Willie Dixon said, “Blues is the roots and the other music is the fruits.” Before anyone knew what Rock’n’Roll was, the rollicking good-time R&B coming out of the West Coast and New Orleans showed the direct connection between uptempo Blues and the music…
Read MoreDON ‘Sugarcane’ HARRIS
Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris was given his nick-name (by Johnny Otis) when he was half of Don and Dewey, the vocal duo who co-authored rock’n’roll hits, ‘Farmer John’, ‘Justine’ and ‘Big Boy Pete’. Playing a Jazz-influenced electric violin, Don featured on several albums and tours by Frank Zappa and John Mayall‘s bands, before fronting ‘The Pure Food…
Read MoreETTA JAMES
Etta James was a feisty lady with a sultry and passionate voice equally at home with R&B dance tunes and soulful ballads. Her striking good looks, with almond eyes and short blonde hair, made her a publicists dream, even though she had enough personal problems in her long career to give any manager screaming nightmares.…
Read MoreCHUCK BERRY
Chuck Berry is a pioneer of rock and roll, who crossed the colour line and showed that this powerful new blast of youth culture had its roots deep in black music. His distinctive boogie-woogie flavoured double-string guitar riffs, charismatic ‘duckwalking’ stage act and witty lyrics showed young people all over the world that rock and…
Read MoreBO DIDDLEY
In 1945, Ellas McDaniel was a 16 year-old punk hanging out on the corner of 47th and Langley Avenue in Chicago’s ‘black belt’, playing the Blues with John Lee Hooker‘s young cousin Earl Hooker, who was his class-mate. Working in a grocery store, a meat packing plant, spreading ‘blacktop’ and “anything to make a buck”,…
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