Billie Holiday, Lucille Bogan and Rufus Thomas:

MARCH 8th BLUES and R 'n B  RECORDINGS WERE IMPORTANT TO THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'n ROLL...

On this date in 1936, using the name Bessie Jackson, the always risque blues vocalist Lucille Bogan records Skin Game Blues for Columbia Records in New York City, USA…

In 1950, Billie Holiday records two cuts:

 This Is Heaven To Me …

God Bless The Child… 

(This was Billie’s final Decca Records session in Los Angeles, California, USA. Orchestral accompaniment is by Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra)

And in 1953, Memphis DJ Rufus Thomas records Bear Cat and Walking In The Rain at Sun Records studio, 706 Union, Memphis, Tennessee, USA...

Bear Cat is an answer song to Big Mama Thornton's 1953 R 'n B hit Hound Dog... 

BLUES AND RnB: MAIN INGREDIENTS IN THE DNA OF ROCK 'n ROLL...

THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED 

Rufus Thomas, Jr. (March 27, 1917 – December 15, 2001)

Rufus Thomas, Jr.
(March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001)

Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian from Memphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the 1950s and on Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s…

Rufus got his start at WDIA in 1950 or 1951—

Depending on which biography one believes!

His celebrity was such that in 1953 he recorded an "answer record" to Big Mama Thornton's hit, "Hound Dog" called "Bear Cat" released on Sun Records… 

Rufus doin' The Funky Chicken

His afternoon show at WDIA was called Hoot and Holler where Rufus Thomas helped to break the careers of such musicians as


Bobby "Blue"Bland, 

As well as; B.B. King, Ike Turner, Roscoe Gordon and Junior Parker. All while still performing himself...

He also took on the hosting duties for the WDIA amateur shows, enabling him to claim the discovery of various local (Memphis) artists, including the aforementioned discovery of B.B. King…



 

But the prime of Rufus' recording career came in the 1960s and early 1970s, when he was on the roster of Memphis label, Stax, having one of the first hit sides at the historic soul and blues label, "Walking the Dog", (#5 R&B, #10 Pop) in 1963.…

Rufus Thomas was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001…

He died of heart failure in 2001, at the age of 84, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis. A street is named in his honor, just off Beale Street in Memphis….

R.I.P. Rufus Thomas

and Thanks for EVERYTHING you did for us…

RUFUS AND HIS DAUGHTER
CARLA THOMAS

EVERYTHING!!!

March 1st is a big day at SUN RECORDS; in 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1957!

March 1, 1951:

Sam Phillips records "Rocket 88" with singer Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner's band.

He hasn’t started SUN RECORDS yet, so he records it for Chess records.

This recording is widely considered the first rock and roll record.

March 1, 1952:

Sam Phillips launches his own label, Sun Records,

 

 with the release of "Drivin' Slow" 

by saxophonist Johnny London

March 1, 1953: WDIA disc jockey Rufus Thomas' "Bear Cat," an answer record to Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," becomes Sun's first national hit.

March 1, 1957:

 "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," the second single by Jerry Lee Lewis, is released on Sun Records…

R.I.P. SAM

THANKS FOR THE MUSIC…

THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED

September 14, 1962: MOTOWN invades the Brit's Oriole/Amereican Label in THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'N ROLL

Before the so-called British Invasion, there were great American musicians who were showin' the Brits how to really shake it down!

For instance:

September 14, 1962: On the UK Oriole/American

 Label, Tamla Motown Records released

Mary Wells' "You Beat Me To The Punch",

The Marvelettes "Beachwood 4-5789" 



and The Contours' "Do You Love Me"

Just one year later, the great Rufus Thomas released WALKIN' THE DOG on the American Stax label, only to be covered a year later by  The Rolling Stones




Go back a bit further and great-googley-moo, ya got The Isley Brothers--another great American group--releasing the classic TWIST & SHOUT

  Which was soon very successfully  (commercially) covered by the Fab Boys from Liverpoole: Beatles' TWIST & SHOUT. The same cats who did a fine European version of The Marvelettes (Sweethearts of Motown)'s PLEASE MR. POSTMAN 



WAIT A MINUTE, WAIT A MINUTE, WAIT A MINUTE--JUST WHO INVADED WHO IN THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK ' ROLL!?!

Geeze, this is just the tip of the iceberg, too, don't start me talkin' bout the AMERICAN Blues...