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Harold "Chuck" Willis (January 31, 1926 – April 10, 1958) 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 ...
,
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
, and
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 ...
singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, " C. C. Rider" (1957) and " What Am I Living For" (1958), both reached No.1 on the '' Billboard'' R&B chart. He was known as The King of the Stroll for his performance of the 1950s dance the stroll.Windham, Ben (February 15, 2003). "New release digs deep into Chuck Willis' background". '' The Tuscaloosa News''. p. 16.


Life and career

Willis was born in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, in 1926. He was spotted at a talent contest by Atlanta radio disc jockey Zenas Sears, who became his manager and helped him to sign with Columbia Records in 1951. After one single, Willis began recording on a Columbia subsidiary, Okeh. During his stay at Okeh, he established himself as a popular R&B singer and songwriter, performing material that he wrote himself. In 1956, he moved to Atlantic Records where he had immediate success with " It's Too Late", "Juanita" and "Love Me Cherry". His most successful recording was " C.C. Rider", which topped the US '' Billboard'' R&B chart in 1957 and also crossed over and sold well in the pop market. Jerry Wexler said it was Willis's surprising idea to "do an old standard" instead of one of his own songs. "C.C. Rider" was a remake of a
twelve-bar blues The twelve-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly ba ...
, performed by Ma Rainey in Atlanta before Willis was born. Its relaxed beat, combined with a mellow vibraphone backing and chorus, inspired the emergence of the popular dance, The Stroll. When performing on stage Willis and his group would do this step side to side.
Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid (game show), ...
played "C. C. Rider" on American Bandstand, and "The Stroll" became a popular dance.Dahl, Bill (1994). Liner notes for the CD "Let's Jump Tonight -- The Best of Chuck Willis from 1951 -'56", Sony Music Entertainment. Inc. 53619, egacy's Rhythm and Soul Series/ref> Willis's follow-up was "Betty and Dupree", another "stroll" song and a similar "old standard", which also did well. Wexler said that Dick Clark used "Betty and Dupree" on American Bandstand to accompany "The Stroll," and that is how Willis became known as "King of The Stroll." Willis' single " Going to the River", a song by Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino, was a prototype for his "stroll" sound, reaching No.4 on the R&B chart. Willis performed wearing a turban (a gimmick suggested to him by his friend Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and was also known as the "Sheik of Shake." In the early 1950s he hosted and performed on a weekly Saturday night television show in Atlanta, which featured guest artists such as Ray Charles and Sam Cooke who were passing through town. Zenas Sears said that Willis was a better songwriter than a performer, but also said, "On the TV show ... Chuck would do five or six different numbers every week. He moved very well, he handled himself very well and put everyone at ease." He was a solid, if not spectacular, performer on the road as well, and "was one of the few artists who would treat a band properly," according to Roy Gaines, who was Willis's bandleader and guitarist.Guralnick, Peter (1990). Liner notes for the CD "Chuck Willis -- My Story", Sony Music WK 75061, Previously released as CBS Records Inc. JC 36389 (1980)


Songwriting

Willis approached songwriting with painstaking craftsmanship and the result was literate, soulful and melancholy. He did not introduce a song in the studio until it was a polished product and fully worked out in his mind. He used a variety of methods. Zenas Sears said Willis would drive around in the car singing into a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Sears said, "If he'd lived he would have been recognized for that is songwriting" Roy Gaines recalled, "He'd lock up in a hotel room and wouldn't see anyone for 3-4 days or a week. When he wrote 'It's Too Late,' he was in his room for a week." Ruth Brown, who toured with Willis, said he would write on yellow legal pads. Brown said, "I asked him, because he had such a good song going, I said, 'Chuck, why don't you write me a tune? And he did. He wrote, " Oh What a Dream".'" Jerry Wexler said Willis would bring a full set of lyrics into the studio and then work out the arrangements with the band. Zenas Sears said, " one helped him with his songs. He always wrote a great deal."


Death

Willis had suffered from stomach ulcers for many years. He was known to drink a lot. During surgery in Chicago, Willis died of peritonitis on April 10, 1958, at the age of 32. His death occurred while at the peak of his career, just after the release of his last single, "What Am I Living For", backed by "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes". "Hang Up My Rock & Roll Shoes" was actually the A-side of the single but, upon his death, "What Am I Living For" became the more popular of the two songs.Chuck Willis
''Thedeadrockstarsclub.com'', Accessed March 2010
"What Am I Living For" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It was also the top R&B disc of 1958. This was the first rock and roll record released in stereo, "engineered by Tom Dowd of Atlantic Records". When Willis died, he owed a lot of money to the US government, because, according to Zenas Sears, "he paid the band out of his own pocket without ever deducting taxes. ... When he died, his wife had the house, she had the fur coats and the Cadillac, but there was no money."


Influence

An early Okeh hit, "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" became his most widely covered song with versions by Ruth Brown, Little Richard, Screamin' Jay Hawkins,
James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
, and Delaney and Bonnie. It was also used as the title of an episode of "
Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...
" (Season 7, episode 13, 2011). His hit, the blues ballad " It's Too Late" was covered by other artists, including Otis Redding, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Ted Taylor (1969 single), Freddie King, Derek and the Dominos and the Jerry Garcia Band. In 2005, Redding's version was heavily sampled by
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...
on ''
Late Registration ''Late Registration'' is the second studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released on August 30, 2005, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. West recorded the album over the course of a year during sessions held a ...
s "Gone".
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 ...
covered " I Feel So Bad" and " C. C. Rider" The Five Keys and Peaches and Herb had hits with " Close Your Eyes", and Ruth Brown and Conway Twitty had hits with " Oh What a Dream". The Band covered "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes" on their 1972 live album '' Rock of Ages''. Willis's cousin was Chick Willis.


Discography


Singles


Albums


Compilation albums


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Chuck 1926 births 1958 deaths Musicians from Atlanta American rhythm and blues singers Deaths from peritonitis Atlantic Records artists 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers Okeh Records artists Burials at South-View Cemetery