Little Willie Littlefield
Willie Littlefield, Jr., billed as Little Willie Littlefield (September 16, 1931 – June 23, 2013), was an American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer whose early recordings "formed a vital link between boogie-woogie and rock and roll". Littlefield was regarded as a teenage wonder and overnight sensation when in 1949, at the age of 18, he popularized the triplet piano style on his Modern Records debut single, "It's Midnight". He also recorded the first version of the song "Kansas City" (originally issued as "K. C. Lovin'"), in 1952. Career Early career Littlefield was born in El Campo, Texas, and grew up in Houston with his mother. By 1947, at the age of sixteen, he was already a local attraction in many of the clubs on Dowling Street in Houston and was recording for Eddie Henry, a local record shop proprietor who ran his own label, Eddie's Records.Topping, Ray (1984). Sleeve notes. ''Jump with Little Willie Littlefield''. Ace Records CHD114. He formed his first b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône
Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero#France, center of Paris, in the "new town#France, new town" of Cergy-Pontoise, created in the 1960s. Population Transport Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône is served by two interchange stations on Paris RER C line and on the Transilien Paris-Nord suburban rail line: Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône-Liesse station, Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône-Liesse and Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône station, Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône. Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône is also served by two other stations on the Transilien Paris-Nord suburban rail line: Épluches station, Épluches and Pont-Petit station, Pont-Petit. Finally, Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône is also served by Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône-Quartier de l'Église station on the Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare suburban rail line. Education Schools in the commune include: *Four sets of preschools (''maternelles'') and elementary schools: Matisse, Prairie, Jean Effel, Le Nô ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Brown (musician)
Tony Russell "Charles" Brown (September 13, 1922 – January 21, 1999) was an American singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced nightclub style influenced West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s. Between 1949 and 1952, Brown had seven Top 10 hits in the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B chart. His best-selling recordings included " Driftin' Blues" and " Merry Christmas Baby". Early life Brown was born in Texas City, Texas. As a child he loved music and received classical music training on the piano.Dahl, Bill. "Biography". Allmusic.com Retrieved 10 November 2015 He graduated from Central High School in [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kansas City (R&B Song)
"Kansas City" is a rhythm and blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952. First recorded by Little Willie Littlefield the same year, as "K. C. Loving", the song later became a chart-topping hit when it was recorded by Wilbert Harrison in 1959. "Kansas City" is one of Leiber and Stoller's "most recorded tunes, with more than three hundred versions", with several appearing in the R&B and pop record charts. Original song "Kansas City" was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two nineteen-year-old rhythm and blues fans from Los Angeles. Neither had been to Kansas City, but were inspired by Big Joe Turner records. Through a connection to producer Ralph Bass, they wrote "Kansas City" specifically for West Coast blues/R&B artist Little Willie Littlefield. There was an initial disagreement between the two writers over the song's melody: Leiber (who wrote the lyrics) preferred a traditional blues song, while Stoller wanted a more distinctive vocal line; Stoller u ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wilbert Harrison
Wilbert Huntington Harrison (January 5, 1929 – October 26, 1994) was an American rhythm and blues singer, pianist, guitarist and harmonica player. Biography Harrison was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He had a Hot 100 number-one hits of 1959 (United States), Billboard #1 record in 1959 with the song "Kansas City (Leiber and Stoller song), Kansas City". The song was written in 1952 and was one of the first credited collaborations by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a music recording sales certification, gold disc. Harrison recorded "Kansas City" for the Harlem-based entrepreneur Bobby Robinson (record producer, label owner), Bobby Robinson, who released it on his Fury Records, Fury record label. At the height of the song's success, Robinson was sued by Savoy Records who informed them that the release of the record in March 1959 violated a contract Harrison had with that label that was to expire in August 1959. Th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller
Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wrote numerous standards for Broadway. Leiber and Stoller found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" (1952) and " Kansas City" (1952). Later in the 1950s, particularly through their work with the Coasters, they created a string of ground-breaking hits—including " Young Blood" (1957), " Searchin'" (1957), "Yakety Yak" (1958), and " Charlie Brown" (1959) — that used the humorous vernacular of teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal. Leiber and Stoller wrote hits for Elvis Presley, including " Love Me" (1956), " Jailhouse Rock" (1957), " Loving You", " Don't", and " King Creole". They also collaborated with other writers on such songs as " On Broadway", written with Barry M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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King Records (USA)
King Records may refer to: *King Records (Japan), a Japanese record label founded in 1931 *King Records (United States) King Records was an American label founded in 1943 by Syd Nathan in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The label owned several divisions, including Federal Records, which launched the career of James Brown. It released original material until 19 ..., an American record label active 1943–1975 * Lizard King Records, a New York and London-based independent label founded in 2002 {{Disambiguation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse (September 12, 1924 – October 16, 1999) was an American singer of popular music whose 1940s and 1950s recordings mixing jazz, blues, and country styles influenced the development of rock and roll. Her 1942 recording of " Cow-Cow Boogie" with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra gave Capitol Records its first gold record. In 1943, her single "Get On Board, Little Chillun", also with Slack, charted in what would soon become the R&B charts, making her one of the first white singers to do so. Morse stopped recording in 1957 but continued to perform and tour into the 1990s. In 1960, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Career Morse was born in Mansfield, Texas. She was hired by Jimmy Dorsey when she was 14 years old. In 1942, at the age of 17, she joined Freddie Slack's band, with whom, that same year she recorded " Cow-Cow Boogie (Cuma-Ti-Yi-Yi-Ay)", the first gold record released by Capitol Records. " Mr. Five by Five" was also recorded by Morse with S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Blacksmith Blues
"The Blacksmith Blues" is a song which was written for Ella Mae Morse by Jack Holmes. The recording reached #3 on the ''Billboard'' chart when it was released in 1952, and sold over a million copies. Recordings were later made by Bing Crosby, the John Barry Seven, and others. Harry James released a recording on Columbia 39671 with Toni Harper on vocals. Original recording Morse recorded the song on December 12, 1951, in the Capitol Records studio on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. The arrangement was created by Billy May and Nelson Riddle, and the recording was produced by Lee Gillette. Bob Bain played a muffled ashtray with a triangle beater to create the hammer and anvil sound effect. The recording was originally issued as the B-side of " Love Me or Leave Me". Origins of the song The tune had first been copyrighted by Holmes in 1950, when it was recorded, with completely different lyrics, as "Happy Pay-Off Day". Its first recording was by Mickey Katz, and it was also reco ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aladdin Records (US)
Aladdin Records was a record company and label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner. It was originally called Philo Records before changing its name in 1946. Philo Records Philo's releases included 78 RPM singles of Illinois Jacquet, Wynonie Harris, Helen Humes with the Bill Doggett Octet, Jay McShann and Lester Young, and an album (set of two 78 RPM records) of Lester Young, Nat King Cole and Red Callender. When the U.S. Patent Office refused to register the label because of the similarity in name with the Philco radio corporation, which produced blanks for the record industry, the dispute was settled when the owners agreed to continue the name as Medlee. On March 2, 1946, the company placed an advertisement in ''Billboard'' magazine, announcing the new trade name. The next week, though, they placed a new ad "correcting their mistake", announcing Aladdin Records. The numbering of the releases was continued, and older Philo releases were reprinte ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maxwell Davis
Thomas Maxwell Davis, Jr. (January 14, 1916 – September 18, 1970), was an American rhythm and blues saxophonist, arrangement, arranger, bandleader and record producer. Biography Davis was born in Independence, Kansas in 1916. In 1937, he moved to Los Angeles, California, playing saxophone in the Fletcher Henderson orchestra. After some years playing Swing music, swing and jazz, he became more involved in the West Coast of the United States, West Coast R&B scene in the mid-1940s, becoming a regular session musician and arranger for the fast-growing independent record labels such as Aladdin Records (US), Aladdin. He also recorded with the Jay McShann band, featuring the blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. He was hired to play the soundtrack for the saxophonist part acted by Big Jay McNeely in the 1950 film noir, noir film D.O.A. (1950 film), D.O.A.. By 1952, Davis had played on numerous R&B hit record, hits by Percy Mayfield, Peppermint Harris, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, T-Bo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joel Whitburn
Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, on November 29, 1939."Joel (Carver) Whitburn". '' Contemporary Authors''. Detroit: Gale. 2002. He started collecting records in his teens, first subscribed to '' Billboard'' in 1953, and when the Hot 100 was introduced in 1958 started recording the chart placings of records on index cards. After graduating from Menomonee Falls High School in 1957, he attended Elmhurst College and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, but did not receive a degree from either institution. Career Whitburn worked on record distribution for RCA in the mid 1960s, using his chart statistics to inform radio stations, before founding his own company, Record Research, Inc., in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1970. He put together a tea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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R&B Chart
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 positions but was shortened to 50 positions in October 2012. The chart is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African-American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, rock and roll, soul, and funk, it is today dominated by contemporary R&B and hip hop. Since its inception, the chart has changed its name many times in order to accurately reflect the industry at the time. History Beginning in 1942, ''Billboard'' published a chart of bestselling African-American music, first as the Harlem Hit Parade, then as Race Records. Then in 1949, ''Billboard'' began publishing a Rhythm and Blues chart, which entered "R&B" into mainstream lexicon. These three charts ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |