Another good old good one from 1951. Featuring twin brothers Cliff and Claude Trenier, the Treniers helped link swing music to rock & roll with their brand of hot jump blues in the late '40s and early '50s. To the latter-day listener, their early-'50s singles sound closer to swing than rock; indeed, Cliff and Claude had once sung with the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. The group did anticipate some crucial elements of rock & roll, though, with their solid, thumping beats, their squealing saxophone solos, and their song titles, such as "Rocking on Sunday Night," "Rockin' Is Our Business," and "It Rocks! It Rolls! It Swings!." The Treniers' brand of swing-cum-R&B was undoubtedly an influence on Bill Haley, who saw them when both acts were playing summer shows in Wildwood, NJ. They had work recorded for OKeh in the early '50s; by the middle of the decade, their sound was more R&B-oriented. Like many early R&B pioneers, they were unable to find success in the rock & roll era, though they appeared in a few of the first rock & roll films.
(CNN) -- Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit
up such hits as "The Wallflower," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the
wedding favorite "At Last," has died, according to her longtime friend
and manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73.
(NYT) -- Johnny Otis, the musician, bandleader, songwriter, impresario, disc jockey and talent scout who was often called “the godfather of rhythm and blues,” died on Tuesday at his home in Altadena, Calif. He was 90.
"I'll Die Happy" was the flip side to Louis Jordan's 1954, Aladdin Records release of "Ooo-Wee."
This song had some pretty crazy lyrics for the time. My favorite line from the song is "I'm a goofball user and a chick abuser, but I'll die happy." and you will too after hearing this gem.
Here is another one from Roy Hamilton. During his career, Roy spawned over 50 singles, eight of which crossed over to the pop charts. His bevy of hits included the aforementioned “Walk”, released in 1954, which went to number one on the R&B chart and was a pop hit, “Unchained Melody”, another number one R&B hit as well as a top ten pop hit the following year, and the up-tempo hits “Don’t Let Go” in 1958 and “You Can Have Her”, in 1961, both top ten hits. He also berthed a great deal of minor hits, such as his version of “Ebb Tide”, “Hurt”, “If I Loved You”, “Forgive This Fool”, and “Without a Song”. He rigorously toured and performed all over the world, his rich voice and prolific repertoire fitting in at the supper-clubs and cocktail lounges just as easily as on the Chitlin’ Circuit. His bona fide status as a Rock and Roll, star, however, got him a featured spot in the 1958 Columbia Pictures movie “Let’s Rock”. "If I Loved You," was released on the Epic label in 1954.
"It Hurts Me to My Heart" is a 1954, Herald Records single by Faye Adams. The song, written by Rose Marie McCoy and Charles Singleton, was the final of Adams's three number ones on the R&B Best Sellers chart in the United States.
