On August 3, 1955: At a recording studio in Los Angeles, Lowell Fulson recorded two sides for Chess/Checker Records (“Trouble Trouble” and “Rollin’ Blues”)

Lowell Fulson 

was a big-voiced blues guitarist and songwriter, in the 

West Coast blues tradition...

Lowell Fulson 

(March 31, 1921 – March 7, 1999) 

 Fulson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also recorded for business reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, Fulson was the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s…

In 1954, while on contract with Chess Records, he had a MONSTER hit with “Reconsider Baby”…

 

"Reconsider Baby" came from a long term contract agreed with Chess Records in 1954. It was recorded in Dallas under Stan Lewis' supervision with a saxophone section that included David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and Leroy Cooper on baritone…

On August 3, 1955: At a recording studio in Los Angeles, Lowell Fulson

recorded two sides for Chess/Checker Record...

Trouble Trouble

And Rollin' Blues 
(side is unavailable at this time)

 Neither tune charted…

Fulson stayed with the Checker label into 1962, when he moved to the Los Angeles-based Kent Records...

 1965's "Black Nights" became his first hit in a decade...

"Tramp," did even better, restoring the guitarist to R&B stardom…

A resident of Los Angeles, Fulson died in Long Beach, California, in March 1999, 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…

R.I.P. Lowell Fulson

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Aug 3, 1962: John Lee Hooker releases a new single, She's Mine, on Vee-Jay Records in the USA…And had a whole lot more going on, too!!!

John Lee Hooker was BURNIN’ up the chart in August of 1962...

Aug 3, 1962: John Lee Hooker releases a new single, She's Mine, on Vee-Jay Records in the USA…

Boom Boom Boom was another 1962 release from John Lee…

Vee-Jay Records released John Lee Hooker's Album BURNIN’ in 1962…

Check out John Lee doing “A New Leaf” from his 1962 release “Burnin’”

As usual, John Lee Hooker had the Blues scene under control on several levels…

R.I.P. John, 

We Miss Ya!

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TROPICAL JON'S REAL DEAL EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'n ROLL (It came from The Burgh!!!)

A year or so ago, my friend Kim Maki (www.retrokimmer.com) told me I should be the guy who puts 1960s PITTSBURGH music on the web. Well, I did some…

   

TARENA TIME!!!

 Up Front Rock ‘n Roll…

 Porky Chedwick and Terry Lee…

AND A FEW MORE, but didn’t do it like I know I should, SO how about I start now with a LONG SET of Pittsburgh Love Songs???

Let’s start out with The Starglows ’cause we wanna be a LOT more than just friends…

The Safaris talkin’ about The Image of a Girl…

And from 1959, The fantastic Fascinators talk the talk so we can walk the walk...

And a couple of “newcomers” from The Windy City score LARGE in The Burgh…

Etta James & Harvey Fuqua- If I Can't Have You/ My Heart Cries- Chess(1760)60. This B side was the Pittsburgh Favorite…

Motown hadn’t really made it yet (Gordy was gettin’ close, though!) and money was to be had by leasing out great tunes like this one to the Chess Label out of Chicago and they made it to the airways—Especially in The Burgh…

Of course this “new stuff” out of Detroit, albeit via Chicago, was just part of the mix

—REAL Doo-Wop still ruled the Pittsburgh airwaves (and the back seats of the Pittsburgh hot rod community)…

LYRICS—WHO NEEDS LYRICS!?!

Barry White had some real grindin’ tunes a few years later, but this one--with no lyrics-- by The Viscounts, well, you know…

Close this LONG set out with my #1 FAVORITE tune of all time…

The GREAT Donnie Elbert…

And that’s what it was all about, in The Burgh, in the back seat of (fill in your ride here—mine was a 1958 Oldsmobile) in the 1960s…Ain’t nothin’ changed!

BTW: MORE LOVE SONGS AND ROCKERS TO COME 

ON 
TROPICAL JON'S 
 EVOLUTION 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 

August 2: Buddy Holly (1958), Ray Charles (1959), Brenda Lee (1960), Bobby Lewis (1961), Aretha Franklin (1962) all contribute in a big way to The EVOLUTION of ROCK ‘n ROLL!!!

August  2, 1958:  Buddy Holly's version of "Rave On" peaks at #5 on the UK chart. 

The record, which lasts only 1:47, is one of Holly's last hits during his lifetime…

  

August 2, 1959:

 

What'd I Say by Ray Charles

starts a two-week run at No1 in the Billboard R'n'B Chart… 

  

  

 August 2, 1960: Number One Record in the Nation is by a 15 year old named Brenda Lee…

 

 August 2, 1961: Bobby Lewis tops the chart with Tossin’ and Turnin’…

August 2, 1962:
Aretha Franklin made her professional TV debut on American Bandstand…

 

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 

ON AUGUST 1, 1920~1993: According to The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame (of which I AM a fan, ever since they inducted THE STOOGES)…

According to The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame

(of which I AM a fan, ever since they inducted 



THE STOOGES)…

On August 1, 1920: First blues recording is made, "Crazy Blues" by Mamie Smith...

On August 1, 1950: "Gotta Let You Go"/"Boogie In the Park" by Joe Hill Louis is released on Phillips, a label launched by Sam and Memphis deejay Dewey Phillips. It is the only single released by the label…

August 1, 1953: The Orioles' biggest hit, "Crying in the Chapel," enters the R&B chart, which it will go on to top for eight weeks…

August 1, 1953: The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter on lead vocals, record "Money Honey" on Atlantic Records…

August 1, 1955: "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry reaches #5 on Billboard's Best Sellers chart and tops the R&B chart for ELEVEN WEEKS!!!

August 1, 1957: Lotta Lovin'" peaks at #13 while Gene Vincent and a changeable cast of Blue Caps crisscross the country on tour…

August 1, 1960: Jerry Wexler strikes a handshake deal giving Atlantic distribution rights to Memphis-based Stax Records. The labels' eight-year association will yield scores of hits by such artists as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and Booker T. and the MGs, literally shaping the sound of Sixties soul music…

As part of the deal with Atlantic, Satellite (The original name of Stax records) agreed to continue recording Carla Thomas, but to allow her releases to come out on Atlantic. Carla Thomas' first hit, "Gee Whiz," was originally issued on Satellite 104, but was quickly re-issued on Atlantic 2086, becoming a hit in early 1961. Carla Thomas would continue to have material issued on Atlantic through mid-1965, though much of it was recorded in the studios at Satellite (later Stax), or in Nashville under the supervision of the Stax staff…

August 1, 1964: “Do I Love You" by the Ronettes charts at #34…

 

August 1, 1965: The Beach Boys' 
"California Girls," a last gasp of the
 L.A. surf-pop sound, reaches Number Three…

 

August 1, 1967: Little Richard's Greatest Hits, 
a live collection of older classics 
cut for the Okeh label, becomes 
his first LP in ten years
 to make Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart…

August 1, 1970: Eric Clapton is released,
 peaking at #13. This same month,
 Clapton begins recording in Miami 
with his new band, Derek and the Dominos. 
They record the monumental double album 
Layla...
and Other Assorted Love Songs in ten days. 
One writer called it 
"the most valid double since 
[Bob Dylan's] Blonde on Blonde”…

August 1, 1971: The concert 
for Bangladesh, 
featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan 
and Eric Clapton, 
takes place in 
New York's Madison Square Garden…

August 1, 1974: Curtis Mayfield
 makes the pop Top Forty for the last time 
with "Kung Fu," which precedes 
Carl Douglas's "Kung Fu Fighting" 
by two months.
 However, he'll crack the R&B Top Forty 
a dozen more times between 1974 and 1981… 

August 1, 1974: John Lennon records 
his 'Walls and Bridges' album. 
He claims to have written ten of the songs 
in a single week. 
The album goes to #1, 
as does its leadoff single,
 "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night." 

August 1, 1993: 'River of Dreams', 
Billy Joel's 12th studio album, is released. 
Featuring a cover painted 
by then-wife Christie Brinkley, 
it yields hits in "All About Soul"
 and the title track…

1920 to 1993:

August 1^st ROCKED in the

 EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL

 

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