The Club Imperial was a nightclub owned by George Edick (1928 – 2002), located at 6306-28 West Florissant Ave. in north

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. During the club's heyday in the 1950s through the 1960s, acts such as

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocal ...

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

, and Bob Kuban and the In-Men performed at the Club Imperial.

Jimmy Forrest James, Jim or Jimmy Forrest may refer to: Sports * James Forrest (rugby union) (born 1907), Scotland international rugby union player * James Forrest (baseball) (1897–1977), American baseball player * James Forrest (basketball) (born 1972), Ame ...

, known for his 1952 hit " Night Train," played piano at the club for years. In the following decades, the building went through different ownership and was almost demolished in 2018, but preservationists fought to save the site of the historic music venue.

History

The two-story building which is the site of the Club Imperial and the Imperial Hall was built in 1928. It was a dance hall, bowling alley, and restaurant complex in an all-white neighborhood. In 1952, George Edick from Chicago purchased the hall, and then booked swing bands such as

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

's orchestra. Soon,

Rhythm & Blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

was taking over the city as the word got across the river of the exciting bands in

East St. Louis East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. In 1954, bandleader Ike Turner relocated his Kings of Rhythm from Clarksdale to East St. Louis where he built his own nightclub, Manhattan Club. Edick got word of the buzz about Turner and booked his band to revitalize the Club Imperial. Turner's King's of Rhythm became the hottest attraction in the St. Louis music scene, attracting black and white audiences. Gabriel, a DJ and musician who started his career on St. Louis radio in 1953 remembered: "Ike Turner just took over this area. He created a ripple effect with his energy and ambition, he sent word back to Mississippi and was followed here by

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and

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include "Baby, I Love ...

, he was a premier blues pianist who later became a great guitarist." After

attained success with their single "

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" and moved to California, they continued to occasionally perform at the Club Imperial. They recorded their first live album, ''

Ike & Tina Turner Revue Live ''Ike & Tina Turner Revue Live'' is the first live album by Ike & Tina Turner released on Kent Records in 1964. Background The Ike & Tina Turner Revue was formed in 1960 in St. Louis by songwriter, musician, and bandleader Ike Turner. By 196 ...

'', at the club in 1964. Greg Edick, son of the owner George Edick, grew up in the club and later took over ownership. He recalled that

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

was a guitarist in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, but he was fired for his long solo that "brought the dancers to a halt." Hendrix met Jazz musician

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

at the club, and Davis remarked that Hendrix's guitar sounded like a "machine gun." The Turners were performing at the club in July 1966 when

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

paid a visit and invited them to be the opening act on their 1966 British tour. Robert Vroman bought the building in August 2017 in an auction. By the following year, no one offered to buy it for renovation and that it's too dilapidated to save, he said. A beauty products company wanted to buy the building, demolish it and build a new structure. In January 2018, The St. Louis Preservation Board unanimously denied a demolition permit for the former Club Imperial.

References

External links

Club Imperial
on The Metro St. Louis Live Music Historical Society {{coord missing, Missouri Music venues in St. Louis Music venues in Missouri Buildings and structures in St. Louis County, Missouri Ike Turner