Dennis Binder (born November 18, 1928) is an American

rhythm and 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 ...

musician and singer, best known for his song "Long Man Blues". Binder began his careers in the 1950s, recording for prominent R&B labels, including

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 ...

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

, and

Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee ...

. He was also recorded with

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

Kings of Rhythm The Kings of Rhythm are an American music group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has underg ...

Life and career

Binder was born in

Rosedale, Mississippi Rosedale is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,873 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, down from 2,414 in 2000. Located in an agricultural area, the city had a stop on ...

, on November 18, 1928. He began singing with his mother and aunts in church. As a child his family relocated to St. Louis, where he was introduced to

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

music by a female impersonator named "Toots", who would play

St. Louis blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

style piano while Binder sat on his lap. His family moved to Chicago around 1939 where Binder taught himself how to play piano, determined to become a recording artist. According to Binder, he first recorded for

around 1951. In 1952, Binder began recording with

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...

. Although Binder stated he wasn't a member of Turner's band, they occasionally collaborated. Binder recalled: "I took my band down to Clarksdale to challenge Ike's band to a duel ... and then I would up recording with them." Turner arranged a session for Binder at

Sun Studio Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label ...

in May 1952, but these recordings were unreleased. The song "Love You, Love You Baby" was later included in the 1984 boxset ''Sun Records: The Blues Years 1950–1956''. In 1954, Binder recorded the single "I Miss You So" / "Early Times", backed by Turner for

in Clarksdale. Around that time, Binder formed a band with former Kings of Rhythm drummer Bob Prindell and guitarist Vincent Duling in Memphis. Binder relocated the band to Chicago in 1954. In 1955, they recorded a few tracks for Chicago's

United Records United Records was a record company and label founded in Chicago by Leonard Allen and Lew Simpkins in 1951. United issued records by such artists as Tab Smith, Jimmy Forrest, Gene Ammons, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, the Four Blazes, the M ...

, one of the songs being "Long Man Blues". In addition to the trio, the backing band for the United session included saxophonists Raymond Hill and Bobby Fields, and bassist Al Smith. The recordings were unreleased until

Delmark Records Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, Bob Koester released a recordi ...

released the compilation album ''Long Man Blues'' in 2000. Soon after the United session, Binder and his band toured with the Danderliers, a group on United/

States Records States Record Company was a Chicago-based record label. A subsidiary of United Recording, it was in business from May 1952 to December 1957. States focused on rhythm and blues, jazz, and gospel. States was operated by Leonard Allen and Lew ...

. During the tour they stopped in

Lawton, Oklahoma Lawton is a city in and the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Ce ...

, to visit Prindell's father. Binder decided to make Lawton his home and has resided there since. Lawton was an Army base with a lively music scene. Blues musicians such as

Earl Hooker Earl Zebedee Hooker (January 15, 1930 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and ...

and

Roscoe Gordon Rosco N. Gordon III (April 10, 1928 – July 11, 2002), sometimes billed as Roscoe Gordon, was an American blues singer, pianist, and songwriter. He is best known for his hit songs "Booted," (1952), "No More Doggin'" (1952), and " Just a Little ...

performed at The Jive Club in Lawton which was a popular predominantly black nightclub.

Rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

was becoming popular and white audiences were enthusiastic about "black music", so Binder's band performed at white clubs. For some time, saxophonist

A.C. Reed Aaron Corthen, better known as A.C. Reed (May 9, 1926 – February 24, 2004) was an American blues saxophonist, closely associated with the Chicago blues scene from the 1940s into the 2000s. Biography Reed was born in Wardell, Missouri, ...

was a member of Binders band. In November 1958, Binder recorded at the

Norman Petty Studios Norman Petty (May 25, 1927 – August 15, 1984) was an American musician, record producer, publisher, radio station owner, and considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. Biography Petty was born in the small town of Clo ...

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico, Curry County, New Mexico. The city had a population of 37,775 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, and a 2019 estimated population of 38,319. Clovis is located in th ...

, resulting in the single "Crawdad Song" / "She's Sumpin' Else" released in 1959. He later recorded at Benson Studio in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. In the 1960s, Binder performed

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

, eventually venturing into

country and western 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 the ...

in the 1970s and then

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

. Binder worked as a

bail bondsman Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries ...

while recording and released music on his own label. He was introduced to

Earwig Music Company Earwig Music Company is an American blues and jazz independent record label, founded by Michael Frank in October 1978 in Chicago. From 1975 until 1977 Frank was employed by the Jazz Record Mart, like Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records and Jim O' ...

President Michael Frank by a friend in 2004. This led to Binder signing a record deal with the Chicago-based Earwig label. In January 2007, Binder released his debut album ''Everybody Needs A Miracle''. The album featured a mixture of blues, rock 'n' roll, country and western. Binder performed at

Ponderosa Stomp The Ponderosa Stomp is an annual American roots music festival dedicated to "recognizing the architects of rock-n-roll, blues, jazz, country, swamp pop and soul music." It was founded in New Orleans in 2002 and produced by the non-profit Mystic K ...

in 2008.

Discography

Singles

* 1954: "I Miss You So" / "Early Times" (

Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

930) *1955: "The Long Man" / "I'm a Lover" (

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

194) * 1959: "Crawdad Song" / "She's Sumpin' Else" (Cottonwood 101)

Albums

* 2007: ''Hole in That Jug'' ( Earwig Music)

Featured appearances

* 1980: ''Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm Volume 1'' ( Ace Records) * 1984: ''Sun Records: The Blues Years 1950–1956'' (

) * 1993: Ike Turner – ''Rocks The Blues'' (

P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

) * 2000: ''Long Man Blues'' (

) * 2008: Ike Turner – ''Classic Early Sides 1952–1957'' (

JSP Records JSP Records is a British record label, founded in 1978 by John Stedman (John Stedman Promotions), releasing recordings by blues musicians such as Professor Longhair, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Witherspoon, Louisiana Red, Deitra Farr, Charlie Sayles, ...

)

References

External links

Dennis Binder
on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binder, Dennis 1928 births African-American pianists American blues singers American male pianists Rhythm and blues pianists American rhythm and blues musicians American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Soul-blues musicians Musicians from St. Louis Chicago blues musicians Blues musicians from Mississippi Singer-songwriters from Mississippi Singers from Chicago 20th-century American pianists People from Rosedale, Mississippi People from Lawton, Oklahoma Chess Records artists Sun Records artists United Records artists Modern Records artists Earwig Music artists Living people African-American songwriters 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century African-American male singers 21st-century African-American people American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Illinois Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma Singer-songwriters from Missouri