Barbara Pittman (April 6, 1938 – October 29, 2005) was an American singer, one of the few female singers to record at Sun Studio. As a young teenager, she recorded some demos of songs for others. Pittman's most popular recordings include "I Need A Man" on the Sun label and "Two Young Fools in Love", released on

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, R ...

' International label.

Biography

Pittman was born and grew up in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, United States. As a child, she was friends and neighbors with

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

. She recalled to an interviewer, "I sang with him, I knew him, I lived down the street from him when we were kids in North Memphis. His mom and mine used to get together to have what they called Stanley parties. They call them

Tupperware Tupperware is an American company that manufactures and internationally distributes preparation, storage, and serving containers for the kitchen and home. It was founded in 1942 by Earl Tupper, who developed his first bell-shaped container and ...

parties now. I practically lived out at

Graceland Graceland is a mansion on a estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, once owned by American singer Elvis Presley. Presley is buried there, as are his parents Vernon and Gladys, paternal grandmother Minnie Mae, grandson Benjamin, and daugh ...

in the 1950s before Elvis went into the service. He was going to take me on the road with him, and then he got drafted." It was Presley who first brought Pittman to Sun Studios. Pittman spent time working in Lash LaRue's western shows in 1955–1956. When she returned, she began recording at Sun Records. Between 1956 and 1960, she would cut four different singles there as well as a host of material that was never released, including demo records. Her records did not achieve much commercial success; Pittman stated in interviews that this was due to a lack of promotion on the part of the label. After her time at Sun, she moved to California in the 1960s, and she sang on the soundtracks of several motorcycle films, including ''Wild Angels'', ''Wild on Wheels'', and ''Hells Angels''. This was under the name of Barbara and the Visitors. Pittman also recorded for

Del-Fi Records Del-Fi Records was an American record label based in Hollywood, California, founded in 1958 and owned by Bob Keane. The label's first single released was "Caravan" by Henri Rose in 1958, but the label was most famous for signing Ritchie Valens. ...

, although no material was released by them. Pittman died at her home in Memphis on October 29, 2005, of heart failure. She was 67.

Discography

Singles

* "I Need A Man" / "No Matter Who's To Blame",

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 1956 * "I'm Getting Better All The Time" / "Two Young Fools in Love", Phillips, 1957 * "Everlasting Love" / "Cold Cold Heart", Phillips, 1958 * "Handsome Man" / "The Eleventh Commandment", Phillips, 1960

Compilation albums

* ''The Original Sun Sides'', Rockhouse, 1983 * ''I Need A Man'', Bear Family, 1989 * ''Getting Better All The Time'', Charly, 1997

Live albums

* ''Texas Boogie – Recorded Live in Houston'', Magnum, 1984

References

External links

Rockabilly Hall of Fame
*

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Partial discography

Barbara Pittman & Elvis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittman, Barbara 1938 births 2005 deaths Sun Records artists Phillips International Records artists 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers American rockabilly musicians American women rock singers 21st-century American women Singers from Memphis, Tennessee