Way back in ’35, Sister Lucille Bogan was a “tad” Risk-ay…
What's The Problem!?!
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Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts ("Hold What You've Got," in 1965, made number five in Billboard)...
His raspy-voiced, jackleg preacher style also laid some of the most important parts of rap's foundation...
He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the '60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records, although his records were more likely than those of most soul stars to become crossover hits…
In 1961, he recorded his composition, "Baby You're Right", for Detroit’s Anna Record Label...
as well as for the New Orleans “ACE” label…
Later that year, James Brown recorded a cover version, albeit with different lyrics and a different musical composition, winning songwriting credit, making the song a hit in 1962, reaching #2 on the R&B chart...
It was during this time that Tex first began working with Buddy Killen, who formed the Dial Records label behind Tex. After a number of songs failed to chart, Killen decided to have Atlantic Records distribute his recordings with Dial in 1964.By the time he signed with Atlantic, Tex had recorded thirty songs, all of which had failed to make an impact on the charts…
In 1965, Killen took Joe to Muscle Shoals, not yet a fashionable recording center, and they came up with "Hold What You've Got," which is about as close to a straight R&B ballad as Tex ever came. It was followed by a herd more, most of which made the R&B charts, a few cracking the pop Top 40…
In 1966, his "I Believe I'm Gonna Make It," an imaginary letter home from Vietnam, became the first big hit directly associated with that war.
His biggest hit was "Skinny Legs and All," from a 1967 live album, his rapping pure hokum over deeply funky riffs. "Skinny Legs" might have served as a template for all the raucous, ribald hip-hop hits of pop's future…
He was too down-home for the slickness of the disco era, or so it would have seemed, yet in 1977, he adapted a dance craze, the Bump, and came up with the hilarious "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)," his last Top Ten R&B hit, which also crossed over to number 12 on the pop chart…
Joe Tex died of a heart attack in 1982, only 49 years old…
Killen, Ben E King, Don Covay, Wilson Pickett, and the great songwriter Percy Mayfield served as pallbearers…
R.I.P. JOE TEX
Ya left us way too soon…
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Mr. Reed was born into poverty in Kansas City, Mo., on Aug. 7, 1928, and lost both his parents when he was about 13, living afterward in the homes of various relatives. He left for Los Angeles when he was 15 and began singing in church gospel choirs while working odd jobs. Singing in amateur contests, he discovered he could make money doing what he liked best...
Herb Reed, on the far left
The core of the original group — Mr. Reed, David Lynch and the lead singer, Tony Williams — later joined with Paul Robi and a 15-year-old girl named Zola Taylor to form the quintet that recorded “Only You” in 1955, the first in a string of hits…
Herb Reed became the group’s most enduring presence...
As original members were replaced, he remained, singing bass on all of the 400 recordings the group made during its peak years, including four that reached No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart:
“The Great Pretender” (1955)
“My Prayer” (1956)
“Twilight Time” (1958)
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1958)
The Platters’ early records, like those of many black artists, had color-coded labels — usually orange, sometimes purple — to alert D.J.’s that they were “race records,” something that effectively barred them from the air in parts of the South.
(The term was later changed to “Rhythm and Blues”)
R.I.P. Herb Reed
Herb Reed, an original member of the Platters, one of the first pop groups to break the color barrier in the 1950s, died on June 4, 2012 in Boston.
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(#5 on the U.S. R&B Chart) and the 1952 release of GOIN’ HOME…
And the flip side, ROCKIN” AND REELIN’
The single hit #30 on the Hot 100 and #1 R&B…
Also among those pre-1955 recordings was the #10 R&B hit in 1954
YOU DONE ME WRONG…
But it was his 1955 release of “Ain’t That A Shame” that finally gave Fats national attention:
Previously popularized by Gene Autry and Glenn Miller, Domino's version finally crossed into the pop mainstream in July of 1955.
Of course Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era.
“Ain’t That A Shame”--HITTING #10 ON THE Hot 100 and Number One on the R&B Charts--was the first in a string of 37 crossover hits for Domino during the next eight years…
Blueberry Hill, 1956
(Hot 100 #2 and #1 on R&B)
Check out Fats doing the tune on "The Legends" DVD...
The piano playing on the Beatles hit “Lady Madonna” was inspired by Fats Domino. According to Paul McCartney,
"'Lady Madonna' was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing ... It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression. It took my voice to a very odd place."
-- (The Beatles Bible. 2008)
Domino himself covered the song later in 1968 and it became a US Hot 100 hit (peaking at exactly #100)…
YOU GO, FAT MAN!!!
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In March of 1954, a Harlem vocal group called The Cadillacs released a GREAT ballad about a girl named Gloria and although it was a major Doo-Wop hit at the hops, it never achieved real popularity at the time…
On February 4, 1956, The Cadillacs did enter the Billboard Pop Chart with "Speedo", which will top out at #17 and become a Doo-Wop classic.
Here they are doing Speedo and a few others in this mini-documentary...
SO, WHAT ELSE HAPPENED ON FEBRUARY 4, 1956--THE SAME DAY THAT THE CADILLACS ENTERED THE BILLBOARD CHARTS???
It was on February 4, 1956 when James Brown And The Famous Flames recorded
"Please, Please, Please" at King Studios in Cincinnati.
The single would go on to become a Billboard #5 R&B hit, selling over a million copies, but nine subsequent releases would fail to live up to the success of their debut.
It would take over two years for the group to return to the charts with the #1 R&B hit, "Try Me".
And with that hit, the man who would become “The Godfather of Soul” got the world to think about what’s coming next…
FIFTY-SIX YEARS AGO IN THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL…
