William R. Flagg (born March 11, 1934) is an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

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 South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

singer, who was the first to use the term ''rockabilly''.

Life

Childhood and youth

Bill Flagg was born and raised in

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The city is home to Colby College and Thomas College. As of the 2020 census the population was 15,828. Along with Augusta, Waterville i ...

. Shortly after the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the family moved to

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Career

Flagg began his career in radio as a "singing cowboy" calling himself ''The Lone Pine Cowboy''. He then moved to bluegrass before he and his friend, John Sligar, changed to rockabilly in 1954. Flagg is the first musician known to use this term. The musical style as such had already existed and had been played by musicians such as Hardrock Gunter and Roy Hall. Because of his rising popularity on the radio, he got a recording contract with Tetra Records in

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 L ...

. With his band members, Cat Gibson and Ted Barton, henceforth calling themselves ''The Rockabillies'', Flagg recorded his first record in 1956, Howie Stange. The first singles, including ''Go Cat Go'' and ''Guitar Rock'', recorded with a

contrabass Contrabass (from it, contrabbasso) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchest ...

and two

acoustic guitars An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, did not show on the

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

. The records were marketed as "rockabillie" by Tetra. In 1958, Flagg changed to

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

and released his last single. After that, he worked in his family's business and helped his father, who had previously suffered a heart attack. He only appeared in bars on weekends. Twenty-seven years after his musical career, his son, Bob, persuaded him to actively join the music scene again. After that, Flagg started a bluegrass band called ''Hobo Bill and the Last Ride''. Since then, Bill Flagg has again been making appearances in the public.

Discography

References

External links

Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flagg, Bill 1934 births American country singer-songwriters American rockabilly musicians Singers from Maine Living people People from Waterville, Maine 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Songwriters from Maine Country musicians from Connecticut Singer-songwriters from Connecticut