"No More Doggin'" is a rhythm and blues song written and originally recorded by

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 ...

musician Rosco Gordon in 1952. The song featured Gordon's signature "Rosco Rhythm" piano style which became a precursor to Jamaican ska music.

Recording and release

Rosco Gordon had originally been associated with the Beale Streeters, a loose coalition of Memphis, Tennessee musicians that also featured Johnny Ace, B.B. King, and Bobby "Blue" Bland, in the late 1940s. In 1951, Gordon was scouted by Ike Turner to record for the Bihari brothers at

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 reached the ''Billboard'' charts that fall with the single "Saddled The Cow (And Milked The Horse)," released on Modern's subsidiary, RPM Records, which peaked at No. 9 on the Most Played Juke Box R&B Records chart. In March 1952, "Booted," topped the Best Selling R&B Records chart. In early 1952, Gordon recorded "No More Doggin'" at musician Tuff Green's house in Memphis, backed by Ike Turner also on piano. "No More Doggin'" was released on RPM in March 1952. The record reached No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Best Selling R&B Records chart on April 19, 1952. It peaked higher at No. 2 on the Most Played Juke Box R&B Records chart on May 10, 1952.

Influence

''No More Doggin became a popular song in Jamaica and laid down the foundation for the development of ska music. "Towards the end of the 50s Jamaicans got keen on rhythm and blues, particularly a record called 'No More Dogin' sung by Rosco Gordon," said

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

founder,

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...

. "They got hold of this beat, cheered it up a bit, added some lyrics and called it ska....From 1959 onwards this was all the rage." Ska music evolved into

rocksteady Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...

and then became reggae music. Jamaican singer

Laurel Aitken Lorenzo "Laurel" Aitken (22 April 1927 – 17 July 2005) was an influential Caribbean singer and one of the pioneers of Jamaican ska music. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Ska". Career Born in Cuba of mixed Cuban and Jamaican de ...

, one of the pioneers of ska, was inspired to record "Boogie in My Bones" (1958) after hearing "No More Doggin'. Influenced by Gordon's "Roscoe Rhythm" piano style, Aitken and fellow Jamaican musicians Owen Gray and Theophilus Beckford emulated the rhythm, adding guitar and horns.

References

{{authority control 1952 songs 1952 singles RPM Records (United States) singles American rhythm and blues songs