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Griffin Brothers
The Griffin Brothers were an American rhythm and blues band from Norfolk, Virginia, sometimes credited on record as the Griffin Brothers Orchestra. They made successful recordings with singer Margie Day, and had a no.1 hit on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1951 with "Weepin' and Cryin'", featuring Tommy Brown. Biography The group was formed by brothers Jimmy (born James Rudolph Griffin, Norfolk, Virginia, November 26, 1921–November 14, 2000) and "Buddy" Griffin (born Edward Ernest Griffin, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, October 5, 1919–October 22, 1981).Eagle and Leblanc, ''Blues - A Regional Experience'', p.331 By 1920, the family lived in Norfolk, Virginia. Both Jimmy and Buddy studied music at the Juilliard School. Jimmy played trombone, and Buddy played piano. The band was completed by Wilbur Dyer (alto saxophone), Virgil Wilson (tenor saxophone), Jimmy Reeves (bass), and Emmett "Nab" Shields (drums). In the late 1940s they played local clubs in Washington, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, and the 94th-largest city in the nation. Norfolk holds a strategic position as the historical, urban, financial, and cultural center of the Hampton Roads region, which has more than 1.8 million inhabitants and is the thirty-third largest Metropolitan Statistical area in the United States. Officially known as ''Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA'', the Hampton Roads region is sometimes called "Tidewater" and "Coastal Virginia"/"COVA," although these are broader terms that also include Virginia's Eastern Shore and entire coastal plain. Named for the eponymous natural harbor at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Hampton Roads has ten cities, including Norfolk; seven counties in Virginia; and two counties in No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and South Carolina to the south, and Tennessee to the west. In the 2020 census, the state had a population of 10,439,388. Raleigh is the state's capital and Charlotte is its largest city. The Charlotte metropolitan area, with a population of 2,595,027 in 2020, is the most-populous metropolitan area in North Carolina, the 21st-most populous in the United States, and the largest banking center in the nation after New York City. The Raleigh-Durham-Cary combined statistical area is the second-largest metropolitan area in the state and 32nd-most populous in the United States, with a population of 2,043,867 in 2020, and is home to the largest research park in the United States, Research Triangle Park. The earliest evidence of human occupation i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll, and jazz and comedy recordings, released on the Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker and Argo/Cadet. The Chess catalogue is owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records. Established and run by two Jewish immigrant brothers from what was then Poland, Leonard and Phil Chess, the company produced and released many singles and albums regarded as central to the rock music canon. The musician and critic Cub Koda described Chess as "America's greatest blues label". Chess was based at several locations on the south side of Chicago, initially at South Cottage Grove Ave. The most famous was 2120 S. Michigan Avenue, from May 1957 to 1965, immortalized by the Rolling Stones in " 2120 South Michigan Avenue", an instrumental re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the company was relaunched by Atlantic Records in early 2020. History 1950s–1960s: Beginnings ATCO Records was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic Records' founders, Herb Abramson, who had returned to the company from military service. The label was also intended as a home for acts that did not fit the format of the main Atlantic brand, which was releasing blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and soul. The ATCO name is an abbreviation of ATlantic COrporation. ATCO also provided distribution for other labels, including RSO, Volt, Island, Modern, Ruthless, Hansa and Rolling Stones. For most of its history, ATCO was known for pop and rock music, but during its early years, it produced some jazz albums. These included Harry Arnold, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faye Adams
Faye Adams (born Fanny Tuell, May 22, 1923) is an American singer who recorded and performed rhythm and blues and gospel from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. She had several chart hits in the early 1950s, before retiring from the music business. Biography Early years Adams was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her father was David Tuell, a gospel singer and a key figure in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). At the age of five she joined her sisters to sing spirituals, regularly performing on Newark radio shows. Musical career Under her married name, Faye Scruggs, she became a regular performer in New York nightclubs in the late 1940s and early 1950s. While performing in Atlanta, Georgia, she was discovered by the singer Ruth Brown, who won her an audition with the bandleader Joe Morris of Atlantic Records. Having changed Scruggs's name to Faye Adams, Morris recruited her as a singer in 1952, and signed her to Herald Records. Her first release was Morris's song "Shake a Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuck Willis
Harold "Chuck" Willis (January 31, 1926 – April 10, 1958) was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, " C. C. Rider" (1957) and "What Am I Living For" (1958), both reached No.1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. He was known as The King of the Stroll for his performance of the 1950s dance the stroll.Windham, Ben (February 15, 2003). "New release digs deep into Chuck Willis' background". ''The Tuscaloosa News''. p. 16. Life and career Willis was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1926. He was spotted at a talent contest by Atlanta radio disc jockey Zenas Sears, who became his manager and helped him to sign with Columbia Records in 1951. After one single, Willis began recording on a Columbia subsidiary, Okeh. During his stay at Okeh, he established himself as a popular R&B singer and songwriter, performing material that he wrote himself. In 1956, he moved to Atlantic Records where he had immediate success with " It's Too Late", "Juan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Orioles
The Orioles were an American R&B group of the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal groups who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound. The Orioles are generally acknowledged as R&B's first vocal group. Baltimore natives, they blended rhythm with group harmonies. Dubbing themselves after Maryland's state bird, the Orioles started the trend of bird groups (The Cardinals, The Crows, The Flamingos, The Larks, The Penguins, The Ravens, The Wrens, etc.). They brought their winning formula to their first charted hit " It's Too Soon to Know"; a #1 record in November 1948, soon followed by the group's second hit, "(It's Gonna Be a) Lonely Christmas", in December that same year. Original members *Sonny Til (born Earlington Carl Tilghman, 18 August 1928, Baltimore, Maryland — died 9 December 1981, Washington, D.C.) (lead tenor) *Alexander Sharp (born 6 December 1919, Baltimore — died January 3rd 1970) (high tenor) *George Nelson (born 1925, Baltimore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Williams (saxophonist)
Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (July 13, 1915 – September 14, 2002) was an American jazz and blues saxophonist, bandleader, and songwriter. His record " The Huckle-Buck", recorded in December 1948, was one of the most successful R&B records of the time. In his ''Honkers and Shouters'', Arnold Shaw credited Williams as one of the first to employ the honking tenor saxophone solo that became the hallmark of rhythm and blues and rock and roll in the 1950s and early 1960s. Biography Williams was born in Lewisburg, Tennessee, and grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, before moving with his parents to Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 13. He started learning saxophone and played in school bands before forming his own band, Paul Williams and his Kings of Rhythm, with the trumpeter Lloyd Henderson, in the mid-1930s, and playing in local clubs. The band split up during World War II, and Williams then joined Clarence Dorsey's band. He toured with the band, then known as the Sensational Six, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amos Milburn
Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, "Milburn excelled at good-natured, upbeat romps about booze and partying, imbued with a vibrant sense of humour and double entendre, as well as vivid, down-home imagery in his lyrics." Life and career Milburn was born in Houston, one of thirteen children. By the age of five, he was playing tunes on the piano. He enlisted in the United States Navy when he was fifteen and earned thirteen battle stars in the Philippines. He returned to Houston and organized a sixteen-piece band playing in clubs in the city. He was managed by William and Geneva Church. Milburn was a polished pianist and performer and in 1946 attracted the attention of a woman who arranged a recording session with Aladdin Records in Los Angeles. Milburn's relationship with Aladdin lasted e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Dixon
William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. Next to Muddy Waters, Dixon is recognized as the most influential person in shaping the post–World War II sound of the Chicago blues.Trager, Oliver (2004). ''Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia''. Billboard Books. pp. 298–299. . Dixon's songs have been recorded by countless musicians in many genres as well as by various ensembles in which he participated. A short list of his most famous compositions includes "Hoochie Coochie Man", " I Just Want to Make Love to You", "Little Red Rooster", "My Babe", "Spoonful", and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover". These songs were written during the peak years of Chess Records, from 1950 to 1965, and wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Red Rooster
"Little Red Rooster" (or "The Red Rooster" as it was first titled) is a blues standard credited to arranger and songwriter Willie Dixon. The song was first recorded in 1961 by American blues musician Howlin' Wolf in the Chicago blues style. His vocal and slide guitar playing are key elements of the song. It is rooted in the Delta blues tradition and the theme is derived from folklore. Musical antecedents to "Little Red Rooster" appear in earlier songs by blues artists Charlie Patton and Memphis Minnie. A variety of musicians have interpreted and recorded "Little Red Rooster". Some add new words and instrumentation to mimic the sounds of animals mentioned in the lyrics. American soul music singer Sam Cooke adapted the song using a more uptempo approach and it became a successful single on both the US rhythm and blues and pop record charts in 1963. Concurrently, Dixon and Howlin' Wolf toured the UK with the American Folk Blues Festival and helped popularize Chicago blues wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
