Cecil Gant (April 4, 1913 – February 4, 1951) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

singer, songwriter and pianist, whose recordings of both ballads and "fiery piano rockers" were successful in the mid- and late 1940s, and influenced the early development of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

. His biggest hits were the 1944 ballad, " I Wonder," and “We’re Gonna Rock” (1950).

Biography

Gant was born in Columbia, Tennessee, but was raised in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio. He returned to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and worked there as a musician, as well as touring with his own band, from the mid-1930s until he joined the army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1944, after performing at a

War Bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are Security (finance)#Debt, debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an un ...

rally in Los Angeles, California, he recorded his composition " I Wonder" for the tiny black-owned Bronze record label. When it started to become locally popular, he re-recorded it for the newly established white-owned independent Gilt-Edge record label.Nick Tosches, ''Unsung Heroes of Rock'n'Roll'', Secker & Warburg, 1984, pp.69-71 His recording of " I Wonder" was released under the name " Pvt. Cecil Gant", as were later releases on the label. The Gilt-Edge release of "I Wonder" sold well. It reached number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Harlem Hit Parade (the former name of the R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

), and number 20 on the national

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

(as synthesized by

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 W ...

); and its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, the instrumental "Cecil Boogie", reached number 5 on the R&B chart. Gant wrote most of his own songs. Billed as "The GI Sing-sation", his two follow-up records on Gilt-Edge, "The Grass Is Getting Greener" and "I'm Tired", also made the R&B chart. Arnold Shaw identified "I Wonder" as the song that "ignited the postwar blues explosion", and the success of Gant's records helped stimulate the establishment of other independent labels immediately after the war. He also released material through King Records (1947), and recorded for Bullet Records in Nashville until 1949. His 1948 recording of "Nashville Jumps" opens the 2004 compilation '' Night Train to Nashville''. The co-founder of Bullet, Jim Bulleit, said of Gant: In 1949 he returned to Los Angeles, and recorded for the Down Beat and Swing Time labels, before moving to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

to record for Imperial Records in 1950, but with diminishing commercial success. Many of Gant's records had a slow ballad as the A-side but an up-tempo

boogie woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

style piano-based song or instrumental as the B-side, in many cases foreshadowing

and influential on its practitioners. Examples include "We're Gonna Rock" (1950) and "Rock Little Baby" (1951). Cecil Gant, ''HoyHoy.com''
. Retrieved October 5, 2016 On some of his later records, Gant was credited, for unknown reasons, as Gunter Lee Carr. In latter years Gant was married and based in Nashville. He died there in 1951, at the age of 37, while preparing to leave for an engagement in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19t ...

. Although some sources give the cause of death as

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, J C Marion, ''Cecil Gant : The Forgotten Pioneer '', 1999
. Retrieved March 2, 2013 contemporary sources refer to a heart attack, "Cecil 'I Wonder' Gant Dies Of Heart Attack", ''Chicago Defender'', February 17, 1951, reprinted at Black Nashville Genealogy & History
Retrieved October 5, 2016 possibly brought on by Gant's alcoholism. He is buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Compilation albums

*''I'm Still Singing The Blues Today'' ( Oldie Blues) *''I Wonder: The Best of Cecil Gant 1944–1948'' ( P-Vine Records) *''We're Gonna Rock'' (Indigo UK)

Notes

References

External links

DiscographyFindaGrave.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gant, Cecil 1913 births 1951 deaths American blues singers American blues pianists American male pianists 20th-century male pianists Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Blues musicians from Tennessee 20th-century American singers 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers

Biography

Compilation albums

See also

Notes

References

External links