Forum Rockin The Blues

• Rockabilly Blues Country

  http://rockintheblues.xooit.com

Rechercher un forum :

Derniers messages du forum Rockin The Blues

• Howlin' Wolf Shake It For Me

  http://www.youtube.com/v/ux6N00CwudA
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t262-Howlin-Wolf-Shake-It-For-Me.htm
  

• Howlin' Wolf

  
  
  Born in White Station near West Point, Mississippi, he was named after Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States, and was nicknamed Big Foot Chester and Bull Cow in his early years because of his massive size. He explained the origin of the name Howlin' Wolf thus: "I got that from my grandfather [John Jones]. He used to tell him stories about the wolves in that part of the country" and warn him that if he misbehaved, they would "get him". As a youth he listened to Charley Patton, who taught him the rudiments of guitar, as well as to the Mississippi Sheiks, Tommy Johnson, and Jimmie Rodgers, whose famous "blue yodel" Burnett integrated into his singing style. His harmonica playing was modeled after that of Rice Miller (also known as Sonny Boy Williamson II), who had lived with his sister for a time and taught him how to play. He played with Robert Johnson and Willie Brown in his youth.
  He farmed during the 1930s, served in the United States Army as a radioman in Seattle during World War II, and by 1948 had formed a band which included guitarists Willie Johnson and M. T. Murphy, harmonica player Junior Parker, a pianist remembered only as "Destruction", and drummer Willie Steele. He began broadcasting on KWEM in West Memphis, Arkansas, alternating between performing and pitching farm equipment, and auditioned for Sam Phillips's Memphis Recording Service in 1951.
  According to the documentary film The Howlin' Wolf Story, Howlin' Wolf's parents broke up when he was young. His very religious mother Gertrude threw him out of the house for refusing to work around the farm while still a child; he then moved in with his uncle, Will Young, who treated him badly. When he was 13, he ran away and walked 85 miles barefoot to join his father, where he finally found a happy home within his father's large family. During the peak of his success, he returned from Chicago to his home town to see his mother again, but was driven to tears when she rebuffed him and refused to take any money he offered her, saying it was from his playing the "Devil's music".
  Howlin' Wolf quickly became a local celebrity, and soon began working with a band that included both Willie Johnson and guitarist Pat Hare. His first recordings came in 1951, when he was simultaneously signed with the Bihari brothers at Modern Records and to Leonard Chess' Chess Records. Chess issued Howlin' Wolf's How Many More Years in August 1951; Wolf also recorded sides for Modern, with Ike Turner, in late 1951 and early 1952. Chess eventually won the war over the singer, and Wolf settled in Chicago, Illinois c. 1953. Upon arriving in Chicago, he assembled a new band, recruiting Chicagoan Joseph Leon "Jody" Williams from Memphis Slim's band as his first guitarist. Within a year Wolf enticed guitarist Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago; Sumlin's terse, curlicued solos perfectly complemented Burnett's huge voice and surprisingly subtle phrasing. Although the line up of Wolf's band would change regularly over the years, and he employed many different guitarists both on recordings and in live performance, including Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Lee Cooper, L.D. McGhee, Otis "Big Smokey" Smother, his brother Abe "Little Smokey" Smothers, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie "Abu Talib" Robinson, and Buddy Guy, among others, Sumlin remained a member of the band (except for a couple of short absences) for the rest of Wolf's career, and is the guitarist most often associated with the Chicago Howlin' Wolf sound.
  In the 1950s Wolf had four songs that qualified as "hits" on the Billboard national R&B charts: "How Many More Years", his first and biggest hit, made it to #4 in 1951; its flip side, "Moanin' at Midnight", made it to #10 the same year; "Smoke Stack Lightning" charted for three weeks in 1956, peaking at #8; and "I Asked For Water" appeared on the charts for one week in 1956, in the #8 position. In 1958, Wolf's first album Moanin' in the Moonlight was released, consisting mostly of previously released singles.
  His 1962 album Howlin' Wolf is a famous and influential blues album, often referred to as "The Rocking Chair album" because of its cover illustration depicting an acoustic guitar leaning against a rocking chair. This album contained "Wang Dang Doodle", "Goin' Down Slow", "Spoonful", and "Little Red Rooster", songs which found their way into the repertoires of British and American bands infatuated with Chicago blues. In 1964 he toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival tour produced by German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau. In 1965 he appeared on the television show Shindig at the insistence of the Rolling Stones, who were scheduled to appear on the same program and who had covered "Little Red Rooster" on an early album. He was often backed on records by bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon who authored such Howlin' Wolf standards as "Spoonful", "I Ain't Superstitious", "Little Red Rooster", "Back Door Man", "Evil", "Wang Dang Doodle" (later recorded by Koko Taylor), and others.
  In September, 1967, he joined forces with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters for The Super Super Blues Band album of Chess blues standards, including "The Red Rooster" and "Spoonful".
  
  
  
  
  In 1971, Howlin' Wolf and his long-time guitarist Hubert Sumlin traveled to London to record the Howlin' Wolf London Sessions LP. British blues/rock musicians Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts played alongside the Wolf on this album. He recorded his last album for Chess, The Back Door Wolf, in 1973. Chess released a Howlin' Wolf compilation album, Chess Masters, in 1981.
  Unlike many other blues musicians, after he left his impoverished childhood to begin a musical career, Howlin' Wolf was always financially successful. Having already achieved a measure of success in Memphis, he described himself as "the onliest one to drive himself up from the Delta" to Chicago, which he did, in his own car on the Blues Highway and with four thousand dollars in his pocket, a rare distinction for a black blues man of the time. In his early career, this was the result of his musical popularity and his ability to avoid the pitfalls of alcohol, gambling, and the various dangers inherent in what are vaguely described as "loose women", to which so many of his peers fell prey. Though functionally illiterate into his '40s, Burnett eventually returned to school, first to earn a G.E.D., and later to study accounting and other business courses aimed to help his business career.
  Wolf met his future wife, Lillie, when she attended one of his performances in a Chicago club. She and her family were urban and educated, and not involved in what was generally seen as the unsavory world of blues musicians. Nonetheless, immediately attracted when he saw her in the audience as Wolf says he was, he pursued her and won her over. According to those who knew them, the couple remained deeply in love until his death. They raised two daughters, Bettye and Barbara.
  After he married Lillie, who was able to manage his professional finances, Wolf was so financially successful that he was able to offer band members not only a decent salary, but benefits such as health insurance; this in turn enabled him to hire his pick of the available musicians, and keep his band one of the best around. According to his daughters, he was never financially extravagant, for instance driving a Pontiac station wagon rather than a more expensive and flashy car.
  At 6 foot, 6 inches (198cm) and close to 300 pounds (136 kg), he was an imposing presence with one of the loudest and most memorable voices of all the "classic" 1950s Chicago blues singers. Howlin' Wolf's voice has been compared to "the sound of heavy machinery operating on a gravel road". Although the two were reportedly not that different in actual personality, this rough edged, slightly fearsome musical style is often contrasted with the less harsh but still powerful presentation of his contemporary and professional rival, Muddy Waters, to describe the two pillars of the Chicago Blues representing the two sides of the music.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t260-Howlin-Wolf.htm
  

• Biografie — German

  Mitte der Vierziger war Little Walter von Louisiana über Helena, Memphis und St. Louis nach Chicago gekommen. In Helena hatte er Kontakt zu den Gitarristen Houston Stackhouse und Robert Lockwood Jr. gehabt. In Chicago angekommen, hielt sich Walter oft am Maxwell Street Market auf, der Treffpunkt vieler Bluesmusiker aus dem Süden war. Dort traf er auch auf Jimmy Rogers, der viel Zeit mit Muddy Waters verbrachte.
  Muddy Waters erkannte das Können des Ausnahmemusikers und nahm den jungen Walter in seine Band auf. So spielten sie in der Besetzung: Muddy Waters (git, voc.), Jimmy Rogers (git.), Little Walter (hca.), Ernest "Big" Crawford (bs) und Baby Face Leroy Foster (dr.), später ersetzt durch Elgin Evans .
  Die ersten Schallplatten erschienen 1950 auf dem gleichnamigen Label der Brüder Leonard und Phil Chess. Chess sollte in den folgenden Jahren zum marktbeherrschenden Plattenlabel des Blues werden. Ein großer Anteil dieser Marktposition wird den Erfolgen von Muddy Waters und Little Walter zugeschrieben.
  Eher einem Zufall ist es zu verdanken, dass Little Walter als Solist von den Chess-Brüdern aufgenommen wurde. Das Instrumental „Juke“ sollte als Erkennungsstück für die Band von Muddy Waters dienen. Es wurde zu einem ganz großen kommerziellen Hit und zum Einstieg in eine Solokarriere für Little Walters.
  Bis 1957 erscheint Little Walter noch in den Besetzungslisten bei den Schallplattenaufnahmen der Muddy Waters Band. Dann wurde er ersetzt vom jungen Junior Wells, der Jahre später mit Buddy Guy ein erfolgreiches musikalisches Duo bilden sollte.
  Little Walter übernahm im Gegenzug die Band von Junior Wells, die „Aces“, die er in "Jukes" umbenannte, in der Besetzung Louis Myers (git.), Dave Myers (bs.) und Fred Below (dr.). Mit der Band hatte Little Walter eine Reihe Hits wie zum Beispiel: “Mean old world”, “Off the wall”, “Blues with a feeling”.
  Aber der musikalische Erfolg hatte für Little Walter nicht nur positive Seiten: er war streitsüchtig, arrogant und versuchte andere zu übervorteilen. Little Walter trennte sich von den Myers. Ihren Platz nahm der Gitarrist Robert Lockwood Jr. ein, den Walter bereits Jahre zuvor in Helena getroffen hatte. Den Bass übernahm Willie Dixon, eine bekannte Größe im Chicago Blues. Walter kannte Dixon schon aus dem Umfeld von Muddy Waters. Dixon hatte eine Anzahl der Hits geschrieben, die der Grundstein für den Erfolg von Muddy Waters waren. Für Walter schrieb Dixon das Stück „My Babe“, mit dem er noch einmal die ersten Plätze der Hitparaden errang. Aber für Little Walter war es der Anfang vom Ende:
  1959 verließ Robert Lookwood Jr. die Band. Wohl auch, weil es selbst für den schweigsamen Gitarristen immer schwieriger wurde, mit Walter klar zu kommen. Das allgemeine Interesse für Little Walter ließ rapide nach, und er wird in dieser Zeit als sehr launisch beschrieben. Chess nahm ihn nur noch selten auf, er war zu Beginn der sechziger Jahre kommerziell am Ende.
  In den Jahren 1964 und 1967 kam Walter im Rahmen des American Folk Blues Festival nach Europa. Aber das Blues Revival in Europa konnte diesen Könner auf der Blues Harp nicht mehr "auf die Beine" helfen:
  Er wurde 1968 in einer kleinen Seitenstraße in Chicago im Streit erschlagen.
  Im Jahr 1980 wurde er in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t259-Biografie.htm
  

• Little Walter R&R Hall of Fame film

  http://www.youtube.com/v/UUwfrj9aMNA
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t258-Little-Walter-R-R-Hall-of-Fame-film.htm
  

• Hound Dog Taylor & Little Walter - Wild About you baby

  http://www.youtube.com/v/gtnJM8iUy38
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t257-Hound-Dog-Taylor-Little-Walter-Wild-About-you-baby.htm
  

• Stop Staring! Clothing

  http://www.myspace.com/stopstaringclothing  
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t253-Stop-Staring-Clothing.htm
  

• Laura B and The Moonlighters

  Laura B and The Moonlighters
  
  http://www.myspace.com/laurabandthemoonlighters
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t252-Laura-B-and-The-Moonlighters.htm
  

• LUTON ROCK'n'ROLL — Covering rockin' events in the Bedfordshire area of the UK

  Check out the Blog & calendar for all our local events.
  http://www.myspace.com/lutonsrocking 
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t251-LUTON-ROCK-n-ROLL.htm
  

• Glenn Miller

  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t248-Glenn-Miller.htm
  

• Benny Goodman — German

  Goodman wurde in Chicago (Illinois) als Sohn armer jüdischer Immigranten geboren. Als Zehnjähriger bekam er eine Klarinette und Unterricht bei Franz Schoepp. Mit 12 Jahren spielte er bereits im Theaterorchester und in verschiedenen Tanzkapellen der Stadt. Seine Jazzlehrmeister waren die großen Solisten und Bands der Zwanziger Jahre, u. a. King Olivers Creole Jazz Band mit Louis Armstrong und die Vertreter des Chicago Jazz. Goodman stieg in eine der damals führenden Bands in Chicago ein, das Ben-Pollack-Orchester, mit dem er 1926 seine ersten Aufnahmen machte, darunter am 9. Dezember die erste Aufnahme eines von ihm gespielten Klarinetten-Solos (He's the Last Word). Zwei Jahre später fing er an, Schallplatten unter seinem eigenen Namen zu veröffentlichen. In den frühen 30ern spielte er mit den national bekannten Bands von Red Nichols, Isham Jones und Ted Lewis. 1934 gründete Goodman eine eigene Big Band, die zum ersten Mal weiße und schwarze Musiker vereinte. Mit ihrer Perfektion errang sie innerhalb weniger Jahre die Anerkennung nicht nur der Jazzfans, sondern auch zahlreicher Musikliebhaber außerhalb des Jazzbereichs. Der große Durchbruch beim Publikum blieb ihm jedoch vorerst verwehrt. Am 16. Januar 1938 gab Goodman dann sein berühmtes Jazz-Konzert (siehe The Famous Carnegie Hall Concert 1938) in der New Yorker Carnegie Hall. Das Konzert und dessen Radioübertragung war ein durchschlagender Erfolg, wodurch der Jazz quasi über Nacht salonfähig und auch in den "feineren Kreisen" zunehmend akzeptiert wurde. Die Aufnahme des Konzertes gilt heute als Meilenstein und bedeutender Genre-Klassiker und fand bereits vor Jahren Aufnahme in den erlesenen Kreis der Hall-of-Fame des Jazz.
  Neben seiner Big Band, in der unter anderem die Star-Trompeter Harry James und Ziggy Elman spielten, gründete er auch das Benny-Goodman-Quartett, das die Jazzgrößen Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa und Lionel Hampton vereinte. In diesem Quartett spielten mit Teddy Wilson und Lionel Hampton zwei schwarze Musiker zusammen mit zwei weißen Musikern, was zur damaligen Zeit ein Tabu war.
  Die Musik des Bandleaders Benny Goodman war in erster Linie darauf ausgerichtet, ihn in seiner Rolle als Solisten auf der Klarinette herauszustellen, wenngleich er auch stets andere hervorragende Solisten in seiner Band hatte. Goodman war zwar kein Innovator etwa im Range eines Duke Ellington oder Count Basie, es stammen auch nur verhältnismäßig wenige seiner Stücke aus eigener Feder. Die akribischen Arrangements seiner Titel waren jedoch meist sehr eingängig und so konnte er mit seinem virtuosen Spiel im Kreise der perfekt eingespielten Bandkollegen und sicher auch aufgrund der Hautfarbe damals ein größeres Publikum erreichen als diese. Stilistisch markierte seine Musik den Mainstream des Swing und zusammen mit dem ebenfalls Klarinette spielenden Artie Shaw war er der populärste weiße Bandleader der Swing-Ära, der auch in der Nachkriegszeit noch große Erfolge feierte.
  Viele Musikkritiker sind heute der Meinung, dass Goodman für den Jazz und Swing die gleiche Bedeutung hat wie z. B. Elvis Presley für den Rock ’n’ Roll. Benny Goodman hatte das Ziel, "schwarze" Musik einem jungen weißen Publikum näher zu bringen, und er hat sich dabei auch um die Überwindung der Rassentrennung in den USA sehr verdient gemacht, denn in den frühen dreißiger Jahren konnten schwarze und weiße Jazzmusiker in den meisten Musikkapellen oder in Konzerten aufgrund der öffentlichen Meinung nicht zusammen spielen. Dies hatte er in seiner eigenen Big Band möglich gemacht. Auch deshalb gilt er heute als der "King of Swing".
  Sogar Vertreter der sogenannten "Ernsten Musik" wie Paul Hindemith, Aaron Copland, Malcolm Arnold und Béla Bartók haben ihm Kompositionen gewidmet. Benny Goodmann selbst spielte auch klassische Musik, so zum Beispiel das Klarinettenkonzert KV 622 und das Klarinettenquintett KV 581 von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t245-Benny-Goodman.htm
  

• Lightnin' Slim - Rooster Blues

  http://www.youtube.com/v/z5fAxJuxL9c
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t244-Lightnin-Slim-Rooster-Blues.htm
  

• Lightnin' Slim

  Specialising in Louisiana and swamp blues, Lightnin' Slim was born Otis Hicks in St. Louis, Missouri, and died of stomach cancer in Detroit, Michigan.
  Slim moved from Missouri to Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the age of thirteen. Taught guitar by his older brother Layfield, Slim was playing bars in Baton Rouge by the late 1940s.
  He debuted on Jay Miller's Feature Records label in 1954 with "Bad Luck" ("If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all").[1]
  Slim then recorded for Excello Records for 12 years, starting in the mid 1950s. Slim often collaborated with his brother-in-law, Slim Harpo.
  In the 1970s Slim performed on tours in Europe, both in the UK and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He was mostly accompanied by Moses "Whispering" Smith on harmonica.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t243-Lightnin-Slim.htm
  

• Lowell Fulson

  
  
  According to some sources, Fulson was born on a Choctaw reservation in Oklahoma. Fulson has stated that he is of Cherokee ancestry through his father, but he has also claimed Choctaw ancestry. At the age of eighteen, Fulson moved to Ada, Oklahoma, and joined Alger "Texas" Alexander for a few months in 1940
  but later moved to California, forming a band which soon included a young Ray Charles and tenor saxophone player, Stanley Turrentine. He recorded for Swing Time in the 1940s, Chess Records (Checker Records) in the 1950s, Kent Records in the 1960s, and Rounder Records (Bullseye) in the 1970s.
  Fulson was drafted in 1943, but left the United States Navy in 1945
  His most memorable and influential recordings include: "3 O’Clock Blues" (now a blues standard), Memphis Slim's penned classic "Everyday I Have the Blues", "Lonesome Christmas", "Reconsider Baby" (covered in 1960 by Elvis Presley; and later by Eric Clapton on his From the Cradle album; as well as by Joe Bonamassa), and "Tramp" (co-written with Jimmy McCracklin) and later covered by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas.
  "Reconsider Baby" came from a long term pact inked with Chess Records in 1954. It was cut in Dallas under Stan Lewis' supervision with a saxophone section that included David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and Leroy Cooper on baritone
  Jackie Brenston played in Fulson's band between 1952 and 1954.
  Fulson stayed with Checker into 1962, but a change of record labels worked wonders when he jumped over to the Los Angeles based, Kent Records. 1965's driving "Black Nights" became his first hit in a decade, and "Tramp," did even better, restoring the guitarist to R&B stardom
  Fulson was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1993
  and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. His "Reconsider Baby" was chosen by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".
  In 1993 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California a show entitled "California Blues - Swingtime Tribute" opened with Fulson plus Johnny Otis, Charles Brown, Jay McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jimmy McCracklin and Earl Brown
  A resident of Los Angeles, Fulson died in Long Beach, California in March 1993, at the age of 77. His companion Tina Mayfield stated that the causes of death were complications from kidney disease, diabetes, and congestive heart failure. He was the father of four and grandfather of thirteen
  Fulson was interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery, in Inglewood, California
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t242-Lowell-Fulson.htm
  

• Chicago-Blues

  He was born near Jackson, Tennessee in 1914. His original harmonica recordings were considered to be in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill at making harmonica a lead instrument for the blues, and popularized the instrument for the first time in a more urban blues setting. He has been called "the father of modern blues harp".
  His very first recording, "Good Morning, School Girl", was a major hit on the 'race records' market in 1937. He was hugely popular among black audiences throughout the whole southern U.S. as well as in the midwestern industrial cities such as Detroit and his home base in Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade. Other well-known recordings of his include "Shake the Boogie", "You Better Cut That Out", "Sloppy Drunk", and "Early In The Morning". Williamson's style influenced a large number of blues harmonica performers, including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry, Little Walter, and Snooky Pryor among many others. He was easily the most widely heard and influential blues harmonica player of his generation. His music was also influential on many of his non-harmonica playing contemporaries and successors, including Muddy Waters (who had played with Williamson in the mid-1940s) and Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording in 1946 was as a harmonica player, performing an uncanny imitation of Williamson's style); Rogers later recorded Williamson's songs "My Little Machine" and "Sloppy Drunk" on Chess, and Waters recorded "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" on CBS/Blue Sky.
  
  
  
  He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice" Miller, who was based in Helena, Arkansas, began also using the name Sonny Boy Williamson. John Lee is said to have objected to this, though no legal action took place, possibly due to the fact that Miller did not release any records during Williamson's lifetime, and also because Williamson played mainly around the Chicago area, and Miller seldom ventured beyond the Mississippi delta region.
  Williamson recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label, with many early sessions taking place at the Leland Hotel in Aurora, Illinois; most later sessions were recorded in Chicago. His final recording session took place in December 1947, backing Big Joe Williams. On June 1, 1948, John Lee Williamson was killed in a mugging on Chicago's South Side, as he walked home from his final performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. and Giles Ave., a tavern just a block and a half away from his home at 3226 S. Giles.
  His legacy has been overshadowed in the post-war blues era by the popularity of the musician who falsely assumed his name, Rice Miller, who after Williamson's death went on to record many popular blues songs for Chicago's Checker Records label and others, and toured Europe several times during the 'blues revival' in the early 1960s.
  Williamson is buried at the former site of The Blairs Chapel Church, southwest of Jackson, Tennessee. In 1991, a red granite marker was purchased by fans and family to mark the site of his burial. A Tennessee historical marker, also placed in 1991, indicates the place of his birth and describes his influence on blues music. The historical marker is located south of Jackson on TN Highway 18, at the corner of Caldwell Road.
  
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t241-Chicago-Blues.htm
  

• The Record Collector magazine — has published a new feature on Billy, read it here

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t240-The-Record-Collector-magazine.htm
  

• Billy Fury — British rock 'n' roller

  Born at Smithdown Hospital (now Sefton General Hospital), Smithdown Road, Liverpool, Ronnie Wycherley first attended a gig in Liverpool run by impresario Larry Parnes, in the hope of interesting established artiste Marty Wilde in some of the songs he had written. Instead, in an episode that has become pop music legend, Parnes pushed young Wycherley up on stage right away. He was such an immediate success that Parnes signed him, added him to the tour, and renamed him "Billy Fury".
  He released his first hit for Decca, "Maybe Tomorrow", in 1959. By March 1960, he hit UK Number 9 with his own composition "Collette", followed by "That's Love" and his first album The Sound Of Fury (1960), which featured a young Joe Brown on lead guitar, with backup vocals by The Four Jays.
  
  
  
  After further hits and sacking his band The Blue Flames—which included keyboardist Georgie Fame—auditions were held for a new group and held by Parnes in Liverpool. Among those who failed were the pre-fame Beatles, who for the first time called themselves The Silver Beetles. They were offered the job for £20 a week on condition that they sacked bass guitar player Stuart Sutcliffe. John Lennon refused and the band left after Lennon had secured Fury's autograph. The Beatles were salvaged, however, by being sent on a tour of Scotland with Johnny Gentle and Duffy Power, who were a couple more of Parnes' acts.
  Fury concentrated less on Rock 'n' Roll and more on mainstream ballads, such as "Halfway to Paradise" and "Jealousy" (both 1961, each of which reached number 2 in the British Singles Chart). This was Decca's decision to mould Fury into a teen idol after his last self-penned song, "My Christmas Prayer", had failed to chart. The years 1962 and 1963 were Billy Fury's best years chartwise. However, he was not a typical teen idol; there was too much sexuality in his performances and his renditions were never lightweight in the mould of some singers like Craig Douglas or Jimmy Justice. Fury's fans and contemporaries in music knew he was a rocker and the real thing musically.
  In 1962 Fury appeared in his first film Play It Cool, modelled on the Elvis movies. It featured Helen Shapiro, Danny Rivers, Shane Fenton (aka Alvin Stardust) and Bobby Vee who appeared with the Vernons Girls. The hit single from the film was "Once Upon a Dream". In the film Fury did not get the girl but stayed with his friends. There are notable performances by many well-known British actors and performers such as Richard Wattis, Lionel Blair and Dennis Price. The music highlight of the film is Fury's singing of the title track.
  
  
  
  Billy Fury was known for excellent albums. His We Want Billy (released 1963, with The Tornados) was one of the first live albums in British rock history and featured renditions of his major hits and covers of several classic R&B songs such as "Unchain My Heart" by Ray Charles. "Turn Your Lamp Down Low" (recorded in 1965 with backing band The Gamblers) was one of the earliest examples of a British act recording a track in the reggae style (with the emphasis on the second and fourth beats of each bar).
  In 1965 he appeared in the film I've Gotta Horse, which featured the band The Bachelors. The movie was not a success but it seemed more real, and there are many interesting references to the British seaside towns of the 1960s. A few of the minor roles are notable for appearances by Michael Medwin and Jon Pertwee of Doctor Who fame. The album from the film is available in stereo.
  Having had more UK hits, such as "It's Only Make Believe" and "I Will" (written by Dick Glasser, not to be confused with the Paul McCartney song), both in 1964, and "In Thoughts of You" in 1965, Fury began a lengthy absence from the charts in 1967, and underwent surgery for heart problems caused by rheumatic fever which led to his abandoning touring. Despite spending many weeks on the charts, Billy Fury never achieved a number one single, but he remained popular even after his hits stopped. Fury's song "I Will" would become a US hit for Dean Martin in 1965 and would later be a US hit for Ruby Winters in 1977.
  In 1973, Fury came out of retirement to play rock 'n' roller "Stormy Tempest" in the film That'll Be The Day. The film, starring David Essex and Ringo Starr, was roughly based on the early days of The Beatles. Ringo Starr was from the same Dingle area of Liverpool as Fury, and had originally played drums for Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, who the Stormy Tempest group were said to be modelled on.
  
  
  
  In 1981 and 1982, Fury was signed to Polydor Records by A&R man Frank Neilson and recorded a comeback album, The One And Only (released posthumously) with Shakin' Stevens' producer Stuart Colman and several singles. Because of his health, Fury did little touring to promote the new album. His last public appearance was at the Sunnyside, Northampton, in December 1982. He recorded a live performance for the television show Unforgettable featuring six of his old hits. At the request of his mother, only four were transmitted, however, as the two others had such great emotional attachment for her.
  Fury lived with Lee Middleton from 1959 to 1967, married Judith Hall in May 1969 and lived with the property heiress Lisa Rosen from 1971 until his death on 28 January 1983 at Paddington, West London.
  The song "A Wondrous Place" which was a great favourite of Fury's (so much so that he recorded it at least four times during his career) later received much airplay on British television when it was used as the theme for a Toyota Yaris car advertisement in 1999 and 2000.
  Billy Fury was a keen amateur birdwatcher.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t239-Billy-Fury.htm
  

• Bill Haley — Early life and career

  Early life and career
  Haley was born William John Clifton Haley (some sources append "Junior" to his name, but his eldest son states that this is erroneous) in Highland Park, Michigan and raised in Booth's Corner, Pennsylvania. Many sources (almost universally predating his death in 1981) state that Haley was born in 1927, which is due to Haley knocking two years off his age for publicity purposes in the 1950s. A few recent sources erroneously give a birth year of 1924.
  Haley was blinded in his left eye as a child due to a botched operation. According to biographer John Swenson, Haley later adopted his distinctive spit-curl hairstyle to distract attention from his blind eye. The spit-curl caught on as a 50's style signature, although Haley and others had worn the hairstyle much earlier.
  In 1946, Haley joined his first professional group, a Pennsylvania-based western swing band called the Down Homers run by Kenny Roberts. It has often been reported in musical reference works that Haley's first professional recordings were made with the Down Homers on a pair of singles released in 1946 by Vogue Records.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t238-Bill-Haley.htm
  

• JOE HILL LOUIS

  JOE HILL LOUIS
  by Jake Austen
  (From Roctober #34, 2002)
  
  
  
  One of the greatest, though most obscure Sun records acts, Joe Hill Louis, the Be-Bop Boy was one of the One Man Band giants! Unlike some of the more refined, ambidexterous One Man band Blues artists, Louis was a raw, wild performer who didn't display particular expertise on the drums, guitar or harmonica, but displayed an amazing talent to make the wild mess of his simultaneous playing hold together just enough to get through the song. He is much more of a father of raucous contemporary acts like Bob Log IIIand King Louie than the more contained Dr. Ross or Jesse Fuller.
  Leslie Hill was born in Raines, TN in 1921. As a youth of 14 he left home to hobo around, busking with harmonica and Jew's harp before settling with a well-heeled Memphis family. A spirited kid, his brawling earned him the"Joe Louis" nickname. From his busking street serenades he developed his One Man Band act, and renamed himself "Joe Hill Louis The Be-Bop Boy And His One Man Band."
  By the late '40s, he was a popular attraction in Handy Park and he got his own 15 minute radio show on WDIA, the groundbreaking Memphis radio station where he was billed as The Pepticon Boy. He also cut some sides for Columbia in 1949. In 1950 Louis was signed by Sun records founder Sam Phillips, when his label was still called Phillips. He recorded with him until Sam sold Louis' contract to RPM-Modern, where he remained through '53, recording raw, primitive Blues and boogie records. He had cups of coffee with Checker, Meteor, Big Town and House of Sound. He returned to Sun where he recorded as solo artist and session man, and at his best he recorded blistering, ugly music as wild as the best Sun hits.
  Louis was only 35 when he tragically died of tetanus, contracted when a deep gash on his thumb became infected in 1957. Had he lived to a ripe-old age, imagine the Louis-Adkins Battle Of The One Man Bands live Norton LPs we could have enjoyed in the 80s!
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t237-JOE-HILL-LOUIS.htm
  

• Hey Good Lookin'

  Habe ein schöne Aufnahme auf einer sehr preiwerten Complikation von Tennessee Ernie Ford & Helen O'Connell gefunden: Hey Good Lookin'.
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t234-Hey-Good-Lookin.htm
  

• Janis Martin

  Janis Martin was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock & roll music field during the 1950s. Among the popular male rock & roll singers at the time were Bill Haley and the up and coming Elvis Presley. Martin, however, became one of rock & roll's pioneering singers, and also one of country music's earliest female innovators.
  She was born in 1940 in Sutherlin, Virginia. Her mother was a stage mother, and her father and uncle were both musicians, who practised in hopes of gaining a professional career in the music industry. It was not surprising that Janis soon began becoming interested in music also. Before she was six years old, Martin was already singing and playing the guitar, and credited her influences from the Country Music singers Eddy Arnold and Hank Williams. She was soon a fixture in talent shows and other contests, and won most of them. She soon started appearing on a local radio show WDVA Barndance in Virginia at the young age of 11. When she was in her mid-teens, she started appearing alongside other Country singers, like Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, The Browns and Jim Reeves. Her experience at such a young age brought Martin to performing rock & roll. Martin claimed she was getting tired of singing and performing Country music.
  According to some people, Martin's timing in the music business was perfect. She started singing R&B music. A demo of her version of Will You William was sent to RCA to have the song appraised. When RCA got the song, they were more impressed with the singer and then the song. She was immediately called to come to RCA for a recording session. At only age 15, Martin was signed to her first record company, RCA Records. This was only two months after Elvis Presley signed on with them.
  
  
  
  In 1956, Martin released her debut record under RCA, called "Will You Willyum", backed by her own composition, "Drugstore Rock'n Roll". The song, became the biggest hit of her career, and the record sold 750,000 copies. The song was not just a pop/rock & roll hit, but also a Country hit. Most rock & roll artists at the time had their singles become hits on the Country charts as well as the Pop charts. Soon, Martin was performing on America's most well-known shows, like American Bandstand, The Today Show, and the Tonight Show. She also appeared on Country music's Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, becoming one of the youngest performers to ever appear there. She was awarded by Billboard Most Promising Female Vocalist that year.
  Elvis Presley and RCA records were so impressed with Janis' delivery of a song on stage, she was given the nickname The Female Elvis, which stuck with her the rest of her career. Presley in fact sent his wishes and a dozen red roses to Janis when she appeared in Miami, Florida, when she appeared at the RCA Records convention down there to be introduced to other RCA officials around the country and the world. She was chosen by her record company to tour as a member of the Jim Reeves show and tour with the Country singer exclusively.
  Martin continued recording straight-up rock & roll, as well as Country material, that ended up being successful on both charts, like the songs "My Boy Elvis", "Let's Elope Baby", cover of Roy Orbison's song "Oooby Dooby", and "Love Me to Pieces", along with "Will You Willyum", which was a Top 40 Pop hit. Martin rose to fame at a very young age, and she would have been able to sustain a successful rock & roll career which many of her contemporaries were able to keep at the time, except she had secretly married her boyfriend, and after visiting him while he was in the service overseas, became pregnant. Her stage moves and delivery seemed very unseemly and strange (especially in the Country music scene, where few women took a stand and sung Country music at the time) to many people. Also, Martin was usually booked on Country shows, and most Country fans weren't overly thrilled by Martin's rock & roll stage moves, like most rock & roll performers at the time. She was often caught between whether to sing Country or rock & roll.
  Soon though, RCA Records heard that Martin had been married since she was signed to RCA at age 15. That year, she was soon pregnant. This situation led to RCA dropping Martin in 1958. She was also dropped from the label due to falling record sales. Soon, Janis Martin was off the rock & roll and Country music scene. Martin tried to revive her music career a few years later but was unable to regain the momentum. At the end of the decade, she was pursued by King Records and Decca Records, opting to sign to a Belgian label in 1960 called Palette.
  Martin cut sides for Palette in 1960. By this time, Martin was on her second marriage (which wouldn't last for too long), and her new husband Parton didn't take her career at all well. With the demands of her husband, she soon dropped out of the music business, not even making public appearances any more. In the 1970s, she started performing again, with her newly-formed band called The Variations. In 1975, Edd Bayes of Maryland found Janis working for her local police department and coaxed her to appear in Baltimore and allow her story to appear in Goldmine magazine. She caught on instantly and the fans demanded she return to her roots; she then started touring throughout Europe, where she gained a massive following. Martin's RCA recordings were soon forgotten by her record company. In 1979, Edd Bayes convinced RCA Victor to release to him the four songs held in their vaults. They were released on Dog Gone Records and introduced her public to songs never heard before. In the 1980s, the Bear Family label gathered Martin's complete record history, with the compilation album The Female Elvis, giving the public a chance to buy a collection of Martin's 50s hits. In 1995, Martin appeared on Rosie Flores's Rockabilly Filly album for HighTone Records. Rosie Flores recorded a new album with Martin six months before her death. It has not yet been commercially released. A final 45rpm is in progress to release her dynamic version of The Elvis Medley. Edd Bayes says it will be a limited release to his 35 year relationship with the one and only rockabilly queen, Janis Martin. FYI for the fans: the release has been halted due to a contractual misunderstanding with the pressing plant. Other resources are being sought.
  Martin died on September 3, 2007, having earlier been diagnosed with terminal cancer and grief, having lost her only son Kevin Parton in January 2007.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t233-Janis-Martin.htm
  

• Billie Holiday

  Billie Holiday was a true artist of her day and rose as a social phenomenon in the 1950s. Her soulful, unique singing voice and her ability to boldly turn any material that she confronted into her own music made her a superstar of her time. Today, Holiday is remembered for her masterpieces, creativity and vivacity, as many of Holiday's songs are as well known today as they were decades ago. Holiday's poignant voice is still considered to be one of the greatest jazz voices of all time.
  Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan) grew up in jazz talent-rich Baltimore in the 1920s. As a young teenager, Holiday served the beginning part of her so-called "apprenticeship" by singing along with records by Bessie Smith or Louis Armstrong in after-hours jazz clubs. When Holiday's mother, Sadie Fagan, moved to New York in search of a better job, Billie eventually went with her. She made her true singing debut in obscure Harlem nightclubs and borrowed her professional name - Billie Holiday - from screen star Billie Dove. Although she never underwent any technical training and never even so much as learned how to read music, Holiday quickly became an active participant in what was then one of the most vibrant jazz scenes in the country. She would move from one club to another, working for tips. She would sometimes sing with the accompaniment of a house piano player while other times she would work as part of a group of performers.
  At the age of 18 and after gaining more experience than most adult musicians can claim, Holiday was spotted by John Hammond and cut her first record as part of a studio group led by Benny Goodman, who was then just on the verge of public prominence. In 1935 Holiday's career got a big push when she recorded four sides that went on to become hits, including "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Miss Brown to You." This landed her a recording contract of her own, and then, until 1942, she recorded a number of master tracks that would ultimately become an important building block of early American jazz music.
  
  
  
  Holiday began working with Lester Young in 1936, who pegged her with her now-famous nickname of "Lady Day." When Holiday joined Count Basie in 1937 and then Artie Shaw in 1938, she became one of the very first black women to work with a white orchestra, an impressive accomplishment of her time.
  In the 1930s, when Holiday was working with Columbia Records, she was first introduced to the poem "Strange Fruit," an emotional piece about the lynching of a black man. Though Columbia would not allow her to record the piece due to subject matter, Holiday went on to record the song with an alternate label, Commodore, and the song eventually became one of Holiday's classics. It was "Strange Fruit" that eventually prompted Lady Day to continue more of her signature, moving ballads.
  Holiday recorded about 100 new recordings on another label, Verve, from 1952 to 1959. Her voice became more rugged and vulnerable on these tracks than earlier in her career. During this period, she toured Europe, and made her final studio recordings for the MGM label in March of 1959.
  Despite her lack of technical training, Holiday's unique diction, inimitable phrasing and acute dramatic intensity made her the outstanding jazz singer of her day. White gardenias, worn in her hair, became her trademark. "Singing songs like the 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck," she wrote in her autobiography. "I've lived songs like that."
  Billie Holiday, a musical legend still popular today, died an untimely death at the age of 44. Her emotive voice, innovative techniques and touching songs will forever be remembered and enjoyed.
  
  
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t232-Billie-Holiday.htm
  

• Elvis Presley (Let's Have a ) Party

  http://www.youtube.com/v/JJbRCvAmXRo
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t227-Elvis-Presley-Let-s-Have-a-Party.htm
  

• Wanda Jackson - Let's Have a Party — Let's Have a Party

  http://www.youtube.com/v/CoM63xtzlkc
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t226-Wanda-Jackson-Let-s-Have-a-Party.htm
  

• WANDA JACKSON

  http://www.youtube.com/v/O0uq1vNHIUI
  
  http://www.youtube.com/v/9DurZwIUpDA
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t225-WANDA-JACKSON.htm
  

• Pioneers of Rock and Roll Music

  Chuck Berry is an influential figure and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's website, "While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together
  Cub Koda wrote, "Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers
  John Lennon was more succinct: "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'
  Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000 in a "class" with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plácido Domingo, Angela Lansbury, and Clint Eastwood. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Chuck Berryon their list of The Immortals: The First Fifty
  He was also ranked 6th on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included three of Chuck Berry's songs (Johnny B. Goode, Maybellene, Rock & Roll Music), of the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t224-Pioneers-of-Rock-and-Roll-Music.htm
  

• Richard Berry

  He was born in Extension, Louisiana, and moved with his family to Los Angeles as a baby. He began singing and playing in local doo-wop groups, recording with several of them including The Penguins, The Cadets and The Chimes, before joining The Flairs (who also recorded as The Debonaires and The Flamingoes) in 1953.
  The Flairs’ record "She Wants To Rock", on Modern Records, featured Berry’s bass vocals, and was an early production by Leiber and Stoller. When, a few months later, that pair needed a bass voice for their production of The Robins’ "Riot In Cell Block #9" on Spark Records, they recruited Berry to provide the menacing introduction to the song – uncredited, as he was contracted to Modern. Berry’s voice was also used at Modern, again uncredited, as the counterpoint to Etta James on her first record and big hit, "The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry)", and several of its less successful follow-ups. Berry also recorded with several other groups on the Modern and Flair labels, including The Crowns, and girl group The Dreamers (who later became The Blossoms).
  By the end of 1954, he left the Flairs to form his own group, the Pharaohs, while also continuing to work with other groups as a singer and songwriter. One of these was a Latin and R&B group, Rick Rillera and The Rhythm Rockers. In 1955, Berry was inspired to write a new calypso-style song, "Louie Louie", based on The Rhythm Rockers version of René Touzet's "El Loco Cha Cha", and also influenced by Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon". Richard Berry and the Pharaohs recorded and released the song on Flip Records in 1957, originally as a B-side. It became a minor regional hit, and, when the group toured the Pacific Northwest, several local R&B bands began to adopt the song and established its popularity. "Louie Louie" finally became a major hit when The Kingsmen's raucous version – with little trace of its calypso-like origins other than in its lyrics - became a national and international hit in 1963. The nearly unintelligible (and innocuous) lyrics were widely misinterpreted as obscene, and the song was banned by radio stations and even investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The song has been recorded over 1,000 times, but, because Berry sold its copyright cheaply in 1959, he received little financial reward for its success for many years.
  
  
  
  Berry continued to write and record in the late 1950s, including such numbers as "Have Love, Will Travel" (which would later become a local hit for The Sonics), but with little commercial success, and also continued as a performer. His other songs also included "Crazy Lover", recorded on their 1987 debut album by the Rollins Band.
  During the 1980s, "Louie Louie" received a number of unprecedented accolades, with hundreds of cover versions being issued on CD compilations and played on radio marathons. In 1986 and again in 1993, Berry finally received substantial financial benefits for writing the song. In February 1996, he performed for the final time, reuniting with The Pharaohs and The Dreamers for a benefit concert in Long Beach, California. However, his health declined, and he died of heart failure in 1997. He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
  
  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t223-Richard-Berry.htm
  

• Hank William Story — The Stories

  
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t221-Hank-William-Story.htm
  

• Guitar Playing Father

  
  
  His guitar-playing father introduced him to the music of Blind Lemon Jefferson, whose music became a major influence. During the early 1940s Lenoir worked with blues artists, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Elmore James in New Orleans, Louisiana, and also became influenced by Arthur Crudup and Lightnin' Hopkins.
  In 1949, he moved to Chicago, and Big Bill Broonzy helped introduce him to the local blues community. He began to perform at local clubs with fellow musicians including Memphis Minnie, Big Maceo Merriweather, and Muddy Waters, and became an important part of the city's blues scene. He first recorded in late 1950 for the J.O.B. label, and his recording of "Korea Blues" was licensed to and released by Chess as by "J. B. and his Bayou Boys". His band included pianist Sunnyland Slim, guitarist Leroy Foster, and drummer Alfred Wallace
  During the early 1950s Lenoir recorded on various labels in the Chicago area including J.O.B., Chess, Parrot, and Checker. His more successful songs included "Let's Roll", "The Mojo" featuring saxophonist J. T. Brown, and the controversial "Eisenhower Blues" which his record company, Parrot, forced him to re-record as "Tax Paying Blues
  Lenoir was known in the 1950s for his showmanship - in particular his zebra-patterned costumes - and his high-pitched vocals. He became a very influential electric guitarist and songwriter, and his penchant for social commentary distinguished him from many other bluesmen of the time
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t220-Guitar-Playing-Father.htm
  

• J.B.Lenoir :Slow Down

  http://www.youtube.com/v/kbje6cyAzqY
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t219-J-B-Lenoir-Slow-Down.htm
  

• Buddy Holly Rock around with Ollie Vee

  http://www.youtube.com/v/md41v9DB0XM
  
  Post: http://rockintheblues.xooit.com/t218-Buddy-Holly-Rock-around-with-Ollie-Vee.htm
  

Commentaires sur le forum Rockin The Blues

Mentions légales

Dernière mise à jour le 13/05/2008 à 11:36:31 GMT+02:00. Mise à jour toutes les 24 heures.

Menu

• Navigation
  • Présentation
  • Créer un forum
  • Comment créer son forum
• Communauté
  • Espace membres
  • Annuaire des forums
  • Forum d'entraide
• Ressources
  • Galerie des thèmes
  • Packs de smilies
  • Images de rangs
  • Faire un lien
• Divers
  • Partenaires
  • Contactez nous