name	Ted Cassidy
birth date	July 31, 1932
birth place	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
death date	January 16, 1979
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
yearsactive	1952–79
occupation	Actor
birth name	Theodore Crawford Cassidy
height
website	}}

Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979), known as Ted Cassidy, was an American actor who performed in television and films. At in height, he tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as ''Star Trek'' and ''I Dream of Jeannie''. He is best known for playing the part of Lurch, the butler on the 1960s television series ''The Addams Family'' and performing the opening narration of the 1970s TV series ''The Incredible Hulk''.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cassidy was raised in Philippi, West Virginia, 120 miles south of Pittsburgh. He played basketball (center) and football (tackle) for Philippi High School. At that time, he was an imposing figure in both venues, being the tallest player in the conference.

Early in his academic career, Cassidy attended West Virginia Wesleyan College, in nearby Buckhannon, West Virginia, where he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He later attended Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, as a Speech major. Active in student government, he also played basketball for the Hatters, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in his only season as a player.

After graduating with a degree in speech and drama, he married Margaret Helen in 1956, and they moved to Dallas, Texas. His acting business took off when he worked as a mid-day disc jockey on WFAA-AM in Dallas. He also occasionally appeared on WFAA-TV Channel 8, playing "Creech", an outer space creature on the "Dialing for Dollars" segments on Ed Hogan's afternoon movies. An accomplished musician, Cassidy moonlighted at Luby's Cafeteria in the Lochwood shopping center in Dallas, playing the organ to entertain patrons. In 1957, Margaret gave birth to their son, Sean; in 1960, daughter Cameron was born.

The move to television

''The Addams Family''

Cassidy's unusual height gave him an advantage in auditioning for unusual character roles. He is probably best known for playing the butler, Lurch (in which, despite being an accomplished organist, he feigned playing the harpsichord), and the "helpful hand in a box" character named Thing, on the 1960s American television series ''The Addams Family''. (A crew member would take over the "Thing" role in scenes with both characters.) It was Cassidy who came up with the "You rang?" line, which was so funny that it was incorporated in the show.

''The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''

Cassidy had a regular role on NBC's ''The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' as Injun Joe, the blood-foe of Tom Sawyer and Huck.

''Star Trek''

Cassidy portrayed the voice of the more aggressive version of Balok in the ''Star Trek'' episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", and he played the role of the android Ruk in the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?". He also voiced the Gorn in the ''Star Trek'' episode "Arena".

Cassidy did more work with ''Star Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry in the early 1970s, playing Isiah in the pilots of the post-apocalyptic dramas ''Genesis II'' and ''Planet Earth''.

''I Dream of Jeannie''

Ted appeared in several episodes of ''I Dream of Jeannie'' in 1968. Once appearing as the master to Jeannie's devious sister in part 3 of the 4-part episode "Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie?", and again in the episode "Please Don't Feed the Astronauts" in which he plays Jeannie's cousin.

''Daniel Boone''

He appeared on ''Daniel Boone'' in the 1968 episode "The Scrimshaw Ivory Chart" as a pirate named Gentle Sam.

''The Six Million Dollar Man''

In the two-part ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' episode entitled "The Return of Bigfoot", Cassidy appeared as "Bigfoot" (played by André the Giant in a previous two-parter). He even provided the vocal effects for Bigfoot. He reprised the role in the episode "Bigfoot V".

''The Beverly Hillbillies''

In ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' episode "The Dahlia Feud" (April 12, 1967; season 5, episode 30) he played Mr. Ted, a large, muscular gardener who was planting Dahlias for Mrs. Drysdale.

''Lost In Space''

In the ''Lost in Space'' episode, "The Thief from Outer Space", he plays the "Slave" to the alien "Thief" (Malachi Throne) who threatens the Robinsons.

Voice acting and film work

Concurrent with his appearances on ''The Addams Family'', Cassidy began doing character voices on a recurring basis for the Hanna-Barbera Studios, culminating in the role of Frankenstein Jr. in ''Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles'' series. He was the voice of the hero in the Chuck Menville pixillated short film "Blaze Glory' (1969), in which his already-deep voice was enhanced with a deep reverb & echo to give the character an exaggerated super-hero sound. Cassidy also voiced Ben Grimm (aka "The Thing") in the 1978 animated ''Fantastic Four''. Cassidy went on to perform the roars and growls for Godzilla in the 1979 cartoon series that Hanna Barbera co-produced with Toho. His was the basis for the sinister voice of Black Manta, as well as Brainiac and several others on ''Super Friends''.

After ''The Addams Family'', Cassidy began to add more voice-over work to his résumé; in that acting field, most notably, he narrated the opening of the TV series ''The Incredible Hulk''. Cassidy also provided the Hulk's growls and roars.

In deleted scenes from the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' TV pilot movie, "Saga of a Star World" (on the DVD collection ''Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series'' [1978]), Cassidy can be heard providing temporary voice tracks of the Cylon Imperious Leader, before actor Patrick Macnee was contracted to voice the character.

Other film work included his appearances in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'', ''Mackenna's Gold'', ''Goin' Coconuts'', ''The Last Remake of Beau Geste'', ''Poor Pretty Eddie'', ''Harry and Walter Go to New York'', ''The Slams'', ''The Limit'' and ''Charcoal Black''. He also co-wrote the screenplay of 1973's ''The Harrad Experiment'', in which he made a brief appearance.

Death

Cassidy suffered from health issues as he grew older, and died at the age of 46 from complications following open-heart surgery. Fellow actor Sandra Martinez assisted and took care of him during his final years. Cassidy's remains were cremated, and later buried in the backyard of his Woodland Hills home.

References

External links

Hear The Ted Cassidy Song "The Lurch"

Watch a video of Ted Cassidy performing his song "The Lurch"

Category:1932 births Category:1979 deaths Category:American basketball players Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Actors from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Actors from West Virginia Category:Basketball players from Pennsylvania Category:Basketball players from West Virginia Category:Centers (basketball) Category:Deaths from surgical complications Category:People from Barbour County, West Virginia Category:People from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Stetson Hatters men's basketball players

de:Ted Cassidy es:Ted Cassidy fr:Ted Cassidy gl:Ted Cassidy it:Ted Cassidy la:Theodorus Cassidy pt:Ted Cassidy simple:Ted Cassidy sv:Ted Cassidy

name	Chuck Berry
birth name	Charles Edward Anderson Berry
background	solo_singer
born	October 18, 1926St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
instrument	Guitar, vocals
genre	Rock and roll, blues,
occupation	Musician, songwriter
years active	1955–present
label	Chess, Mercury, Atco
website	www.chuckberry.com
notable instruments	Gibson ES-355 }}

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand. But in January 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.

After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including "No Particular Place To Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine", but these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic live performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. His insistence on being paid cash led to a jail sentence in 1979—four months and community service for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several ''Rolling Stone'' "Greatest of All Time" lists, including being ranked fifth on their 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included three of Chuck Berry's songs: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Today – at the age of – Berry continues to play live.

Early life and apprenticeship with Johnnie Johnson (1926–54)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry was the fourth child in a family of six. He grew up in the north St. Louis neighborhood known as "The Ville," an area where many middle class St. Louis people lived at the time. His father, Henry, was a contractor and deacon of a nearby Baptist church, his mother Martha a certified public school principal. His middle class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age and he gave his first public performance in 1941 while still at Sumner High School. Just three years later, in 1944, while still at Sumner High School, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery after robbing three shops in Kansas City and then stealing a car at gunpoint with some friends. Berry's own account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he then flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a non-functional pistol. Berry was sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson City, Missouri, where he formed a singing quartet and did some boxing.

After his release from prison on his 21st birthday in 1947, Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs on 28 October 1948, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on 3 October 1950. Berry supported his family doing a number of jobs in St. Louis: working briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants, as well as being janitor for the apartment building where he and his wife lived. Afterwards he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone. He was doing well enough by 1950 to buy a "small three room brick cottage with a bath" in Whittier Street, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

By the early 1950s, Berry was working with local bands in the clubs of St. Louis as an extra source of income. He had been playing the blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from blues player T-Bone Walker, as well as taking guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris that laid the foundation for his guitar style. By early 1953 Berry was performing with Johnnie Johnson's trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist. Although the band played mostly blues and ballads, the most popular music among whites in the area was country. Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering 'who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?' After they laughed at me a few times they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it."

Berry's calculated showmanship, along with mixing country tunes with R&B; tunes, and singing in the style of Nat "King" Cole to the music of Muddy Waters, brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.

Signing with Chess: "Maybellene" to "Come On" (1955–62)

In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago where he met Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Berry thought his blues material would be of most interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was an old country and western recording by Bob Wills, entitled "Ida Red" that got Chess's attention. Chess had seen the rhythm and blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond it, and he thought Berry might be the artist for that purpose. So on May 21, 1955 Berry recorded an adaptation of "Ida Red"—"Maybellene"—which featured Johnnie Johnson on piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley's band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass. "Maybellene" sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and #5 on the 10 September 1955 Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.

At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached #29 on the ''Billboard Top 100'' chart, and Berry toured as one of the "Top Acts of '56". He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that "I knew when I first heard Chuck that he'd been affected by country music. I respected his writing; his records were very, very great." As they toured, Perkins discovered that Berry not only liked country music, but knew about as many songs as he did. Jimmie Rodgers was one of his favorites. "Chuck knew every Blue Yodel and most of Bill Monroe's songs as well," Perkins remembered. "He told me about how he was raised very poor, very tough. He had a hard life. He was a good guy. I really liked him."

In late 1957, Berry took part in Alan Freed's "Biggest Show of Stars for 1957" United States tour with the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and others. He also guest starred on ABC's ''The Guy Mitchell Show'', having sung his hit song "Rock 'n' Roll Music". The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the top 10 US hits "School Days", "Rock and Roll Music", "Sweet Little Sixteen", and "Johnny B. Goode". He appeared in two early rock and roll movies. The first was ''Rock Rock Rock,'' released in 1956. He is shown singing "You Can't Catch Me." He had a speaking role as himself in the 1959 film ''Go, Johnny, Go!'' along with Alan Freed, and was also shown performing his songs "Johnny B. Goode," "Memphis, Tennessee," and "Little Queenie." His performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 is captured in the motion picture ''Jazz on a Summer's Day''.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career. He had established a racially integrated St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand, and was investing in real estate. But in December 1959, Berry was arrested under the Mann Act after an allegation that he had sex with a 14-year-old Apache waitress whom he had transported over state lines to work as a hat check girl at his club. After an initial two-week trial in March 1960, Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. Berry's appeal that the judge's comments and attitude were racist and prejudiced the jury against him was upheld, and a second trial was heard in May and June 1961, which resulted in Berry being given a three-year prison sentence. After another appeal failed, Berry served one and one half years in prison from February 1962 to October 1963. Berry had continued recording and performing during the trials, though his output had slowed down as his popularity declined; his final single released before being imprisoned was "Come On".

"Nadine" and move to Mercury (1963–69)

When Berry was released from prison in 1963, he was able to return to recording and performing due to the British invasion acts of the 1960s—most notably The Beatles and The Rolling Stones—having kept up an interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs; along with other bands reworking his songs, such as the Beach Boys basing their 1963 hit "Surfin' USA" on Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen". In 1964–65 Berry released eight singles, including three, "No Particular Place to Go" (a reworking of "School Day"), "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine," which achieved commercial success, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 100. Between 1966 and 1969 Berry released five albums on the Mercury label, including his first live album ''Live at Fillmore Auditorium'' in which he was backed by the Steve Miller Band.

While this was not a successful period for studio work, Berry was still a top concert draw. In May 1964, he did a successful tour of the UK, though when he returned in January 1965 his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed local backing bands and a strict non-negotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a difficult yet unexciting performer. He also played at large events in North America, such as the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park in July 1969, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in October.

Back to Chess: "My Ding-a-Ling" to White House concert (1970–79)

}} Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. There were no hit singles from the 1970 album ''Back Home'', then in 1972 Chess released a live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling", a novelty song which Berry had recorded in a different version on his 1968 LP ''From St. Louie to Frisco'' as "My Tambourine". The track became Berry's only No. 1 single. A live recording of "Reelin' And Rockin'" was also issued as a follow-up single that same year and would prove to be Berry's final top-40 hit in both the US and the UK. Both singles were featured on the part-live/part-studio album ''The London Chuck Berry Sessions'' which was one of a series of London Sessions albums which included other Chess mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Berry's second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album ''Chuck Berry'', after which he did not make a studio record until 1979's ''Rock It'' for Atco Records, his last studio album to date.

In the 1970s Berry toured on the basis of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. Allmusic has said that in this period his "live performances became increasingly erratic, [...] working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike. Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Chuck Berry were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career. Springsteen related in the video ''Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll'' that Berry did not even give the band a set list and just expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry neither spoke to nor thanked the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. At the request of Jimmy Carter, Chuck Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.

Berry's type of touring style, traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s (where he was often paid in cash by local promoters) added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service's accusations that Berry was a chronic income tax evader. Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service—doing benefit concerts—in 1979.

Still on the road (1980–present)

Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop. In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, ''Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll'', of a celebration concert for Berry's sixtieth birthday, organised by Keith Richards, in which Berry reveals his bitterness at the fame and financial success that Richards achieved on the back of Berry's songs. Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 that he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same guitar Berry used on his early recordings.

In the late 1980s, Berry bought a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air, and in 1990 he was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathroom. Berry claimed that he had the camera installed to catch red-handed a worker who was suspected of stealing from the restaurant. Though his guilt was never proven in court, Berry opted for a class action settlement with 59 women. Berry's biographer, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees. It was during this time that he began using Wayne T. Schoeneberg as his legal counsel. Reportedly, a police raid on his house did find videotapes of women using the restroom, and one of the women was a minor. Also found in the raid were 62 grams of marijuana. Felony drug and child-abuse charges were filed. In order to avoid the child-abuse charges, Berry agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was given a six-month suspended jail sentence, two years' unsupervised probation, and ordered to donate $5,000 to a local hospital.

In November 2000, Berry again faced legal charges when he was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson, who claimed that he co-wrote over 50 songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven", that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.

Currently, Berry usually performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis. In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, and Spain. In mid-2008, he played at Virgin Festival in Baltimore, MD. He presently lives in Ladue, Missouri, approximately 10 miles west of St. Louis. During a New Year's Day 2011 concert in Chicago, Berry, suffering from exhaustion, passed out and had to be helped off stage.

Legacy

}}

A pioneer of rock music, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high-school life, and consumer culture, and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll; and, in addition to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs. Though not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive – he incorporated electronic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists, and drew on the influence of guitar players such as Charlie Christian, and T-Bone Walker, to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitar musicians would acknowledge as a major influence in their own style. In the film ''Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll!'' Eric Clapton states 'If you wanna play rock and roll - or any upbeat number - and you wanted to take a guitar ride you would end up playing like Chuck...because there is very little other choice. There's not a lot of other ways to play rock and roll other than the way Chuck plays it; he's really laid the law down..." In 1992 Keith Richards told ''Best of Guitar Player'' "Chuck was my man. He was the one who made me say 'I want to play guitar, Jesus Christ!'...Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do." Berry's showmanship has been influential on other rock guitar players, particularly his one-legged hop routine, and the "duck walk", which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk."

The rock critic Robert Christgau considers him "the greatest of the rock and rollers," while John Lennon said that "if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'." Ted Nugent said "If you don't know every Chuck Berry lick, you can't play rock guitar." Among the honors he has received, have been the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000, and being named seventh on ''Time'' magazine's 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. On May 14, 2002, Chuck Berry was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Little Richard.

Berry is included in several ''Rolling Stone'' "Greatest of All Time" lists. In September 2003, the magazine named him number 6 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". This was followed in November of the same year by his compilation album ''The Great Twenty-Eight'' being ranked 21st in the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The following year, in March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth out of "The Immortals – The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In December 2004, six of his songs were included in the "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", namely "Johnny B. Goode" (# 7), "Maybellene" (# 18), "Roll Over Beethoven" (# 97), "Rock and Roll Music" (#128), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (# 272) and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (# 374). In June 2008, his song "Johnny B. Goode" ranked first place in the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".

A statue tall of Berry, funded by donations, has been erected along the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The dedication ceremony attended by Berry was held on July 29, 2011.

Discography

References

External links

}}

Official website

* Category:1926 births Category:Living people Category:African American guitarists Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:African American rock singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American blues guitarists Category:American rhythm and blues guitarists Category:American male singers Category:American robbers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American people convicted of tax crimes Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Chess Records artists Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Lead guitarists Category:Musicians from St. Louis, Missouri Category:People convicted of robbery Category:People convicted of violating the Mann Act Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:St. Louis blues musicians

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Name	Bo Diddley
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Ellas Otha Bates
Alias	Ellas McDaniel
Born	December 30, 1928McComb, Mississippi, United States
Died	June 02, 2008Archer, Florida, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, violin, synthesizer, keyboards, piano, organ, percussion, drums
Genre	Chicago blues, rhythm and blues, Rock 'n' Roll, blues
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1943–2008
Label	Checker, Chess, BoKay Productions, RCA, MF Productions, Triple X, Atlantic
Website	BoDiddley.com
Notable instruments	Gretsch G6138 }}

Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter (usually as Ellas McDaniel), and inventor. He was also known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock & roll, influencing a host of acts including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, The Clash, The Yardbirds, and Eric Clapton. He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalog of songs. Accordingly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was known in particular for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar.

History

Early life and career

Born in McComb, Mississippi, as Ellas Otha Bates, he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed, becoming Ellas McDaniel. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the largely black South Side area of Chicago, where the young man dropped the name Otha and became known as Ellas McDaniel, until his musical ambitions demanded that he take on a more catchy identity. In Chicago, he was an active member of his local Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone and the violin, becoming proficient enough on the latter for the musical director to invite him to join the orchestra, with which he performed until the age of 18. He was more impressed, however, by the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal Church, as well as an interest in the guitar.

Inspired by a concert where he saw John Lee Hooker perform, he supplemented his work as a carpenter and mechanic with a developing career playing on street corners with friends, including Jerome Green (c. 1934–1973), in a band called The Hipsters (later The Langley Avenue Jive Cats). During the summer of 1943–44, he played for tips at the Maxwell Street market in a band with Earl Hooker. By 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson (on washtub bass) and Jody Williams (whom he had taught to play the guitar). Williams later played lead guitar on "Who Do You Love?" (1956). Bo Diddley himself said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother was familiar with, while harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold once said in an interview that it was originally the name of a local comedian that Leonard Chess borrowed for the song title and artist name for Bo Diddley's first single. A "diddley bow" is a typically homemade American string instrument of African origin, probably developed from instruments found on the coast of west Africa.

Success in the 1950s and 1960s

On November 20, 1955, he appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', a popular television variety show, where he infuriated the host. "I did two songs and he got mad," Bo Diddley later recalled. "Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him. Said that I wouldn't last six months". The show had requested that he sing the Merle Travis-penned Tennessee Ernie Ford hit "Sixteen Tons", but when he appeared on stage, he sang "Bo Diddley" instead. This substitution resulted in his being banned from further appearances.

The request came about because Sullivan's people heard Diddley casually singing "Sixteen Tons" in the dressing room. Diddley's accounts of the event were inconsistent.

Chess included Diddley's recording of "Sixteen Tons" on the album ''Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger'', which was originally released in 1960.

He continued to have hits through the rest of the 1950s and even the 1960s, including "Pretty Thing" (1956), "Say Man" (1959), and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" (1962). He released a string of albums whose titles, including ''Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger'' and ''Have Guitar, Will Travel'', were bolstered his self-invented legend. Between 1958 and 1963, Checker Records released 11 full-length albums by Bo Diddley. Although he broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences (appearing at the Alan Freed concerts, for example), he rarely tailored his compositions to teenage concerns.

In 1963, he starred in a UK concert tour with the Everly Brothers and Little Richard. The Rolling Stones, still barely known outside London at that time, appeared as a supporting act on the same bill.

In addition to the many songs recorded by him, in 1956 he co-wrote, with Jody Williams, the pioneering pop song "Love Is Strange", a hit for Mickey & Sylvia in 1957.

Bo Diddley was one of the first American male musicians to include women in his band, including "The Duchess" Norma-Jean Wofford, Peggy Jones (aka "Lady Bo"), Cornelia Redmond (aka Cookie), and Debby Hastings, who led his band for the final 25 years of his performing career. He also set up one of the first home recording studios.

Later years

Over the decades, Bo Diddley's venues ranged from intimate clubs to stadiums. On March 25, 1972, he played with The Grateful Dead at the Academy of Music in New York City. The Grateful Dead released part of this concert as Volume 30 of the band's ''Dick's Picks'' concert album series. Also in the early 1970s, the soundtrack for the ground-breaking animated film ''Fritz The Cat'' contained his song "Bo Diddley", in which a crow idly finger-pops along to the track.

Bo Diddley spent many years in New Mexico, living in Los Lunas, New Mexico from 1971 to 1978 while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as Deputy Sheriff in the Valencia County Citizens' Patrol; during that time he personally purchased and donated three highway patrol pursuit cars. In the late 1970s, Diddley left Los Lunas and moved to Hawthorne, Florida where he lived on a large estate in a custom made log-cabin home, which he helped to build. For the remainder of his life he spent time between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Florida, living the last 13 years of his life in Archer, Florida, a small farming town near Gainesville.

He appeared as an opening act for The Clash in their 1979 US tour; in ''Legends of Guitar'' (filmed live in Spain, 1991) with B.B. King, Les Paul, Albert Collins, George Benson, among others, and joined The Rolling Stones as a guest on their 1994 concert broadcast of ''Voodoo Lounge'', performing "Who Do You Love?" with the band. Sheryl Crow and Robert Cray also appeared on the pay-per-view special.

Illness

On May 13, 2007, Bo Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke after a concert in Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 12. Starting the show, he had complained that he did not feel well. He referred to smoke from the wildfires that were ravaging South Georgia and blowing south to the area near his home in Archer, Florida. Nonetheless, he delivered an energetic performance to an enthusiastic crowd. The next day, as Bo Diddley was heading back home, he seemed dazed and confused at the airport. His manager, Margo Lewis, called 911 and airport security and Bo was immediately taken by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center and admitted to the Intensive-care unit, where he stayed for several days. After numerous tests, it was confirmed that Bo Diddley had suffered a stroke. He had a history of hypertension and diabetes, and the stroke affected the left side of his brain, causing receptive and expressive aphasia (speech impairment). The stroke was followed by a heart attack, suffered in Gainesville, Florida, on August 28, 2007.

While recovering from the stroke and heart attack, Diddley came back to his home town of McComb, Mississippi, in early November 2007 for the unveiling of a plaque devoted to him on the National Blues Trail stating that he was "acclaimed as a founder of rock and roll." He was not supposed to perform, but as he listened to the music of local musician Jesse Robinson who sang a song written for this occasion, Robinson sensed that he wanted to perform and handed him a microphone. That was the first and last time that Bo Diddley performed publicly after suffering a stroke.

Death

Bo Diddley died on June 2, 2008 of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida. Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician's home when he died at 1:45 a.m. EDT (05:45 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. "There was a gospel song that was sung (at his bedside) and (when it was done) he said 'wow' with a thumbs up," Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley's deathbed. "The song was 'Walk Around Heaven' and in his last words he said 'I'm going to heaven.'"

His funeral, a four-hour "homegoing" service, took place on June 7, 2008, at Showers of Blessings Church in Gainesville, Florida and kept in tune with the vibrant spirit of Bo Diddley's life and career. The many in attendance chanted "Hey Bo Diddley" as a gospel band played the legend's music. A number of notable musicians sent flowers, including: George Thorogood, Tom Petty, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Little Richard, who had been asking his audiences to pray for Bo Diddley throughout his illness, had to fulfill concert commitments in Westbury and New York City the weekend of the funeral. He took time to remember Bo Diddley, his friend of a half-century, performing his namesake tune in his honor.

After the funeral service, a tribute concert was held at the Martin Luther King Center, also in Gainesville, and featured performances by his son and daughter, Anthony McDaniel and Evelyn Kelly, long-time background vocalist Gloria Jolivet, co-producer Scott "Skyntyte" Free, Diddley's touring band, The Debby Hastings Band, and guest artist Eric Burdon.

In the days following his death, tributes were paid to him by then-President George W. Bush, the United States House of Representatives, and an uncounted number of musicians and performers, including Eric Burdon, Elvis Costello, Ronnie Hawkins, Mick Jagger, B. B. King, Tom Petty, Robert Plant, Bonnie Raitt, George Thorogood, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Black Lips and Ronnie Wood. He was posthumously awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree by the University of Florida for his influence on American popular music and in its "People in America" radio series about influential people in American history, the Voice of America radio service paid tribute to him, describing how "his influence was so widespread that it is hard to imagine what rock and roll would have sounded like without him." Mick Jagger stated that "he was a wonderful, original musician who was an enormous force in music and was a big influence on The Rolling Stones. He was very generous to us in our early years and we learned a lot from him." Jagger also praised the late star as a one of a kind musician, adding, "We will never see his like again. As his bass player Debby Hastings said: he was the rock that the roll was built on."

The documentary film ''Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street'' by director Phil Ranstrom features Bo Diddley's last on-camera interview.

In November 2009 the guitar used by Diddley in his last-ever stage performance sold for $60,000 at auction.

Bit acting parts

His pawnbroker character's offering Louis Winthorpe III "fifty bucks" created one of more quoted scenes in 1983's ''Trading Places''. In the late 1980s, he teamed with Bo Jackson in Nike's famous "Bo Knows" commercials, saying his one line: "Bo, you don't know Diddley!"

In 1998, Bo appeared alongside legendary guitarists B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter as members of the Louisiana Gator Boys in the film ''Blues Brothers 2000''.

In 2003, Bo was cast as himself in an episode of According to Jim, titled ''Bo Diddley''.

Music Videos

In 1982, Bo was featured in the music video, Bad To The Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers as a pool shark.

Accolades

Bo Diddley achieved numerous accolades in recognition of his significant role as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll.

1986: inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall of Fame.

1987: inducted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

1990: Lifetime Achievement Award from ''Guitar Player'' magazine.

1998: Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

1999: His 1955 recording of his song "Bo Diddley" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of lasting qualitative or historical significance.

2000: Inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and into the North Florida Music Association's Hall of Fame.

2002: Pioneer in Entertainment Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters

2002: Bo Diddley was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

2008: Although confirmed before his death in June 2008, an honorary degree was posthumously conferred upon Diddley by the University of Florida in August 2008.

2009: Florida's Secretary of State announces Bo's induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame (induction to occur during Florida Heritage Month, March 2010).

2010: Bo Diddley was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In 2003, U.S. Representative John Conyers paid tribute to Bo Diddley in the United States House of Representatives describing him as "one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, who has influenced generations".

In 2004, Mickey and Sylvia's 1956 recording of his song "Love Is Strange" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of qualitative or historical significance, and he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him #20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In 2005, Bo Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with successful tours of Australia and Europe, and with coast-to-coast shows across North America. He performed his song "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton, Robbie Robertson, and longtime bassist and musical director Debby Hastings at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 20th annual induction ceremony and in the UK, ''Uncut'' magazine included his 1957 debut album "Bo Diddley" in its listing of the '100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed The World'.

In 2006, Bo Diddley participated as the headliner of a grassroots organized fundraiser concert, to benefit the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The "Florida Keys for Katrina Relief" had originally been set for October 23, 2005, when Hurricane Wilma barreled through the Florida Keys on October 24, causing flooding and economic mayhem. In January 2006, the Florida Keys had recovered enough to host the fundraising concert to benefit the more hard-hit community of Ocean Springs. When asked about the fundraiser Bo Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another.". In an interview with Holger Petersen, on Saturday Night Blues on CBC Radio in the fall of 2006 Bo Diddley commented about the racism that existed in the music industry establishment during the early part of his career that saw him deprived of his royalties from the most successful part of his career.

Bo Diddley performed a number of shows around the country in 2005 and 2006 with the fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson Band, featuring Johnson on keyboards, Richard Hunt on drums, and Gus Thornton on bass. But from 1985 until he died, his touring band consisted of Debby Hastings (bass/musical director), Frank Daley or Nunzio Signore (guitar), Tom Major, Dave Johnson, Yoshi Shimada or Sandy Gennaro (drums), and his personal manager, Margo Lewis (keyboards).

The Bo Diddley beat

Bo Diddley was well known for the "Bo Diddley beat," a rumba-like beat similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. Somewhat resembling "shave and a haircut, two bits" beat, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle". Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley", a song that closely resembles it, "Hambone", was cut by Red Saunders' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids.

In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase: :"One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and..." The bolded counts are the clave rhythm.

His songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?") often have no chord changes; that is, the musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that the rhythms create the excitement, rather than having the excitement generated by harmonic tension and release. In his other recordings, Bo Diddley used a variety of rhythms, from straight back beat to pop ballad style to doo-wop, frequently with maracas by Jerome Green.

Also an influential guitar player, he developed many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack. Bo Diddley's trademark instrument was the rectangular-bodied Gretsch nicknamed "The Twang Machine" (referred to as "cigar-box shaped" by music promoter Dick Clark). Although he had other odd-shaped guitars custom-made for him by other manufacturers throughout the years, most notably the "Cadillac" design made by Tom Holmes (who also made guitars for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, among others), Diddley fashioned the square guitar himself around 1958 and wielded it in thousands of concerts over the years. In a 2005 interview on JJJ radio in Australia, Bo implied that the design sprang from an embarrassing moment. During an early gig, while jumping around on stage with a Gibson L5 guitar, he landed awkwardly hurting his groin. He then went about designing a smaller, less restrictive guitar that allowed him to keep jumping around on stage while still playing his guitar. He also played the violin, which is featured on his mournful instrumental "The Clock Strikes Twelve", a 12-bar blues.

He often created lyrics as witty and humorous adaptations of folk music themes. The song "Bo Diddley" was based on the African American clapping rhyme "Hambone" (which in turn was based on the lullaby "Hush Little Baby"). Likewise, "Hey Bo Diddley" is based on the song "Old MacDonald". The rap-style boasting of "Who Do You Love", a wordplay on hoodoo, used many striking lyrics from the African-American tradition of toasts and boasts. His "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again," both of which were later cited as progenerators of hip-hop music, share a strong connection to the insult game known as "the dozens". For example: "You got the nerve to call somebody ugly, why you so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested".

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Notable cover versions

Bo Diddley's songs have frequently been covered by other artists.

Captain Beefheart covered "Diddy Wah Diddy" in 1966.

Buddy Holly's rendition of "Bo Diddley" (recorded in 1957) was a posthumous top-10 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 7 in the summer of 1963.

The Rolling Stones covered several Bo Diddley numbers in concert and in early BBC Radio broadcasts. In 1964 they released "I Need You Baby (Mona)" on the UK version of their first album (the US version featured their cover of the Diddley-inspired Buddy Holly song "Not Fade Away").

The Kinks covered "Cadillac" on their debut album in 1964.

The Pretty Things covered "Road Runner", "She's Fine, She's Mine" and "Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut" on their debut album in 1965, where "Road Runner" was featured as the opening track. "Road Runner" has also been covered by Humble Pie, The Zombies, The Animals, The Who and Aerosmith.

The Animals and Bob Seger have both covered "The Story of Bo Diddley".

The Yardbirds, The Who, The Remains and the Dutch group Q65 covered "I'm a Man".

The Grateful Dead, The Woolies, George Thorogood, Ronnie Hawkins, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Juicy Lucy covered "Who Do You Love", which was also a concert favorite of The Doors.

Quicksilver Messenger Service covered both "Who Do You Love" and "Mona".

Creedence Clearwater Revival and Eric Clapton have both covered "Before You Accuse Me".

The New York Dolls and The Lurkers have both recorded their own versions of the song "Pills".

Dr. Feelgood led off their second album, ''Malpractice'' (1975), with a cover of "I Can Tell."

The Clash recorded "Mona" during the ''London Calling'' sessions.

Ex-Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker counts Diddley as one of her chief influences and covered "Bo Diddley" on her 1989 solo album, ''Life in Exile After Abdication''.

Chris Isaak covered "Diddley Daddy" on his third album, ''Heart Shaped World'' (1989).

Black Strobe covered "I'm a Man" on their Album ''Burn Your Own Church'' (2007).

Tom Petty has played "I Need You Baby (Mona)" in concert, and performed it with Diddley himself in 1999.

Historic marker and other dedications

Bo Diddley was honored by the Mississippi Blues Commission with a Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker placed in McComb, his birthplace, in recognition of his enormous contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi.

On June 5, 2009 the city of Gainesville, Florida, officially renamed and dedicated its downtown plaza the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The plaza was the site of many benefit concerts at which Bo Diddley performed during his lifetime to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in Alachua County, and to raise money for local charities, including the Red Cross.

The Obamas' dog, Bo, is also said to be named after him.

The Mario characters known as Boos were originally called "Boo Diddleys" in Super Mario Bros. 3 as a reference to Bo Diddley, though this was long before Bo Diddley died.

Peter Cook & Dudley Moore did a sketch in which Moore played a character called "(the famous coloured singer) Bo Dudley" in reference to Diddley. Moore's vocal performance during the sketch, however, was a parody of James Brown's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag".

Discography

References

External links

Official website

Cheat You Fair website

The Official Bo Diddley MySpace Page

Exclusive Estate Representatives

Bo Diddley-The Originator

IMDB listing of his soundtrack compositions

Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University – Archival photographs of Bo Diddley from the Toronto Telegram fonds.

Category:1928 births Category:2008 deaths Category:People from McComb, Mississippi Category:African American guitarists Category:African American singers Category:African American rock musicians Category:American adoptees Category:Adoptees adopted by relations Category:American evangelicals Category:American male singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from diabetes Category:Electric blues musicians Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Mississippi Blues Trail Category:Musicians from Mississippi Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees

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Marion Montgomery (November 17, 1934 – July 22, 2002) was a United States born jazz singer who lived in the United Kingdom.

Born Maud Runnells in Natchez, Mississippi, she began her career in Atlanta working clubs, and then in Chicago where singer Peggy Lee heard her on an audition tape and suggested she should be signed up by Capitol Records, releasing three albums for them in the early and mid 1960s. During this early part of her career, she became ''Marian Montgomery'' and then later changed the spelling of her first name to ''Marion'', having previously gone by the nickname of Pepe.

In 1965 she came to England to play a season with John Dankworth and met and married English pianist and musical director Laurie Holloway, thus beginning a long and productive association in which they both became very well known to British jazz, cabaret and television audiences. She numbered amongst her admirers Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and British chat show host Michael Parkinson, on whose show she became resident singer in the 1970s. She also famously collaborated with composer and conductor Richard Rodney Bennett for a series of concerts and albums in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Montgomery's recording of the song "Maybe The Morning" (contained on her 1972 album ''Marion in the Morning''), was used by Radio Luxembourg each evening to close the station in the late 1960s and early 1970s and again as the final song to be heard on the station when it closed in 1992.

She is judged to have been amongst the very best of modern jazz singers and to have possessed a unique musical style along with an equally unique way of expressing the sentiments of her material. Montgomery never categorized herself purely as a jazz singer, rather simply as “a singer”. This is reflected in the huge variety of styles she sang, although she acknowledged her influences as being jazz based.

Her final studio recording was ''That Lady from Natchez'', released in 1999. She continued to perform until just before her death, including a sell-out three week season at London’s Pizza in the Park in April 2002.

Montgomery died in July 2002 (the same year as Peggy Lee) after a 10-year fight with cancer which she always blamed on passive smoking from working in nightclubs, though she herself had never smoked.

Discography

LP Records

''Marion Swings for Winners and Losers'', Capitol (1962)

''Let there be Marion Montgomery'', Capitol (1963)

''Lovin’ is Livin’'', Capitol (1965)

''What’s New?'', Decca 74773

''Marion in the Morning'', Polydor 2383159 (1972)

''Surprise Surprise'' (with Richard Rodney Bennett), Cube HIFLY 24 (1977)

''Town and Country'' (with Richard Rodney Bennett), Cube HIFLY 28 (1978)

''On Stage'', Cube HIFLY 29 (1982)

''Puttin’ on the Ritz'' (with Richard Rodney Bennett), Cube HIFLY 40, (1984)

''I Gotta Right to Sing'' (live at Ronnie Scott’s), Jazz House Records, 003 1988 (1988)

CD’s

''Sometimes in the Night'', See for Miles (1989)

''Mellow'', See for Miles (1994)

''A Night at Ronnie’s'' (recorded live), Ronnie Scott’s Jazz House

''Nice and Easy'' (live), Ronnie Scott’s Jazz, (1989)

''I Gotta Right to Sing'' (live), Ronnie Scott’s Jazz, (1996) (reissue)

''For the Love of Mercer'' Vol 1, Elgin (1997)

''For the Love of Mercer'' Vol 2, Elgin (1997)

''Makin’ Whoopie'' (with Mart Rodger Manchester Jazz), Bowstone records (1993)

''Ballads and Blues'', Elgin (1999)

''That Lady from Natchez'', Audiophile (1999)

''What’s New?'' Universal (2002) (CD reissue)

''Skylark'', UCJ (2004)

''Marion Montgomery'', EMI (2005) (two disc CD reissue of Let There be MM and Lovin’ is Livin’)

External links

BBC obituary

Jazz Review Pictorial - Marion in performance

Category:American jazz singers Category:1934 births Category:2002 deaths Category:People from Natchez, Mississippi

de:Marian Montgomery

Jimmy Clanton (born September 2, 1940, Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an American singer who became known as the "swamp pop R&B; teenage idol". His band recorded a hit song "Just A Dream" which Clanton had written in 1958 for the Ace Records label. It reached number four on the ''Billboard'' chart and sold a million copies. Clanton performed on Dick Clark's ''American Bandstand'' and toured with popular artists like Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Platters.

History

Clanton formed his first band called the Rockets in 1956 while attending Baton Rouge High School.

One of the few white singers to come out of the New Orleans R&B;/rock & roll sound, he rode the crest of the popular teen music wave in the 1950s and 1960s. His records charted in the top 40 seven times (all released on Ace); his Top 10 records were: the doo-wop song "Just a Dream," (Pop #4, R&B; #1 in August 1958, credited to 'Jimmy Clanton and His Rockets'), "Go Jimmy Go" (peaked at number five in late 1959) and "Venus in Blue Jeans" (written by Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller). In early 1961, Clanton was drafted and spent the next two years in the U.S. Army, continuing to have chart successes with "Don't Look at Me" and "Because I Do." His next major hit, "Venus in Blue Jeans," peaked at number seven in mid-1962.

Clanton starred in a rock and roll movie produced by Alan Freed called ''Go Johnny Go'', and later starred in ''Teenage Millionaire,'' with music arranged and produced by Dr. John and arranger/trumpeter Charlie Miller. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Clanton was managed by Cosimo Matassa, the New Orleans recording studio owner and engineer. In May 1960, Ace Records announced in ''Billboard'' that Philadelphia had proclaimed the week of May 16 to be "Jimmy Clanton Week."

Clanton became a disc jockey at WHEX in Columbia, Pennsylvania between 1972 and 1976 and performed in an oldies revue also in the 1970s, ''The Masters of Rock 'n' Roll,'' with Troy Shondell, Ray Peterson, and Ronnie Dove. He had a religious conversion in the 1980s. In the 1995 Jazz Fest in New Orleans, Clanton performed with Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, and Frankie Ford.

Clanton was inducted into The Museum of the Gulf Coast Hall of Fame, which also has inducted such performers as Tex Ritter, Janis Joplin, ZZ Top and B. J. Thomas.

On April 14, 2007, at a "Legends of Louisiana Celebration & Inductions" concert in Mandeville, Louisiana, Jimmy Clanton was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

In December 2007, Clanton was voted by fans worldwide as a member of the first class of inductees to the Hit Parade Hall of Fame, joining an elite group that also included (alphabetically) Paul Anka, The Beatles, Tony Bennett, Pat Boone, the Beach Boys, Teresa Brewer, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Chubby Checker, Nat "King" Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond, Fats Domino, The Four Seasons, Aretha Franklin, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, Johnny Mathis, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Patti Page, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Neil Sedaka, and Frank Sinatra.

Awards

Clanton's songs "Just a Dream," "A Letter to an Angel," "Ship on a Stormy Sea," and "Venus in Blue Jeans," each sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.

References

External links

Official website

Prairiehillpress.com

Category:People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Category:1940 births Category:Songwriters from Louisiana Category:American rhythm and blues musicians Category:American male singers Category:Living people Category:Swamp pop music Category:Ace Records artists Category:Baton Rouge Magnet High School alumni