''Blue Suede Shoes'' is a 1980 music documentary film by Curtis Clark that combines archival film of early American rock 'n' roll pioneers of the 1950s (with footage of

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

's 1957 British tour, an

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran (; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire ...

television appearance and late 1960s concert footage of

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rockabilly and rock and roll. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, " Be-Bop-a-Lula ...

) and British singers

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

and

Tommy Steele Sir Thomas Hicks (born 17 December 1936), known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star. After being discovered at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, London, Steele reco ...

with material recorded at a 1979 rock 'n' roll revival weekender featuring bands and people following the scene (including

Teddy Boys The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly British youth subculture of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s who were interested in rock and roll and R&B music, wearing clothes partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, which Savil ...

, motorcycle greasers and

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

adherents.

Synopsis

The documentary includes archive material from the 1950s plus later concert footage from Gene Vincent (1970). The film includes footage from a revival weekend at a holiday camp in Great Yarmouth, England. The weekend footage includes footage of shows by various bands of the period and after. The film concludes with a 15-minute excerpt from a March 1979 performance by Bill Haley and His Comets recorded during his "comeback tour" in London. Although Haley continued to tour and perform until May 1980, this was his final film appearance.

Featured musicians

Ray Campi Raymond Charles Campi (April 20, 1934 – March 11, 2021) was an American singer and musician, nicknamed "The King of Rockabilly". He first recorded in the mid-1950s. Campi's trademark was his white double bass, which he often jumped on top of an ...

and his Rockabilly Rebels *

Freddie 'Fingers' Lee Freddie 'Fingers' Lee (24 November 1937 – 13 January 2014) (born Frederick John Cheesman) was a British singer, guitarist and pianist. His repertoire ranged from rock and roll, rockabilly and country music. He was known for his wild antics on s ...

Kevin Carey Kevin Carey (born October 6, 1970) is an American higher education writer and policy analyst. He serves as Director of the Education Policy Program at New America, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization based in Washington, D.C. He wri ...

References

External links

* 1980 films 1980 documentary films British documentary films Documentary films about music and musicians Rockumentaries 1980s English-language films 1980s British films {{music-documentary-film-stub