Jules Merrill Blattner (February 8, 1941 – June 7, 2019) was an American
rock and 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 a ...
singer, guitarist, songwriter and bandleader.
Life and career
Born in
St. Louis, Missouri
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 ...
, Blattner studied at
Affton High School
Affton High School is a public comprehensive high school in Affton, St. Louis County, Missouri that is part of the Affton School District.
History
The first high school classes in Affton were offered in 1930 at 8701 Mackenzie Road in the base ...
. He organized his first group, Jules Blattner and the Teen Tones, in 1956. Reputedly the first white rock and roll band in St. Louis, they performed regularly at high school dances and in local shows over the next few years. In 1959, Blattner recorded his first single, "Rock & Roll Blues", for the local
Bobbin record label. Regarded by Bruce Eder at
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 databa ...
as "a classic of late-era
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 ...
", it reached the local charts but failed to break nationally. Blattner and his band supported stars such as
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed onl ...
,
the Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decade ...
and
Little Richard when they did shows in the area, and he released a second single, "Teen Town", but again failed to achieve nationwide success.
[ Biography by Bruce Eder, ''Allmusic.com'']
Retrieved 19 September 2019
Retrieved 19 September 2019
In the early 1960s he recorded for the K-Ark label in
Nashville, and changed the band name, first to the Twist Tones and then to the Jules Blattner Group. As resident bandleader at the Butterscotch Lounge in St Louis, he recorded his own song, "Butterscotch Twist", which was included on the
compilation
Compilation may refer to:
*In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler
**Compilation error
**Compilation unit
*Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products
*Compilation thesis
M ...
LP, ''A Musical Tour of Gaslight Square''. Blattner also recorded several singles for the local Norman label, and released a version of
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 ...
's "
No Money Down" as a single on
Coral Records
Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer.
Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head of ...
. In 1965, he and his band recorded tracks in Chicago with Chuck Berry, which appeared on Berry's LP ''
Chuck Berry in London''. The songs included a reworking of "Butterscotch Twist", credited to Berry as "Butterscotch".
[
Blattner and his band performed regularly in St Louis, and in ]Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
during the winter season. He also recorded for the Tee Pee label. He relocated to California, and was recruited by the USO
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
to perform in Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, where his tour in early 1968 coincided with the Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the force ...
. After returning to the US, Blattner formed a new band in Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, which eventually took the name Jules Blattner and the Warren Groovy All-Star Band, and released several further singles on local labels. In 1971, the Jules Blattner Group released an album on Buddah Records
Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foun ...
, ''Call Me Man!'', followed by ''Back On The Road Again'' in 1972. He also recorded a concept album ''The Mishtabula Maine Marching Band and Soil Salvation Society'', credited to Seluj Renttalb (Blattner's name spelled backwards) and issued by MGM Records. The album is described as "a 'Sergeant Pepper
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound compos ...
' style release, complete with folk music influences and a talking children choir, for the flower power generation". Other albums followed, including ''Back to the Basics'' (1979).[
After the commercial failure of his recordings, Blattner retired from music for several years, re-emerging in the 1980s as a live performer in the St Louis area,][ Florida and elsewhere. In 1992, he was voted Best Local Rock & Roll Artist in a newspaper poll, and released the album ''Jump On This''.][ He retired from performing in 2003.][
His early recordings were reissued on several compilations of rockabilly music, and in 2004 a compilation CD of his recordings was released by the German label Hydra.][
Blattner died in 2019, aged 78, from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.][ Thomas Crone, "Remembering Jules Blattner", ''St Louis Mag'', June 17, 2019]
Retrieved 20 September 2019
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blattner, Jules
1941 births
2019 deaths
American rockabilly musicians
Musicians from St. Louis
Bobbin Records artists
Buddah Records artists
MGM Records artists