Colin Escott (born 31 August 1949) is a British music historian and author specializing in early U.S.

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 ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. His works include a biography of

Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...

, histories of

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

and The Grand Ole Opry,

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

for more than 500 albums and compilations, and major contributions to stage and television productions. Honors include multiple

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s and a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

nomination.

Career

His early career involved stints in operations for

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

and Polygram Records in the 1970s, followed by work for Universal, Sony/Columbia,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Rhino A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

Time Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and direct marketeer seller ...

, Capitol-EMI,

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, and many independent companies, including Bear Family, Sundazed, and

Omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize t ...

. He also wrote music history pieces for various music industry publications including ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'', '' Goldmine'', and ''Record Hunter''. Described as "the foremost authority on

", in 1992 he and Martin Hawkins published ''Good Rockin’ Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll'', the first in-depth account of the label's history. His 1994 book ''Hank Williams: The Biography'' was adapted into the 2015 movie '' I Saw the Light''. The multi-CD box set, '' The Complete Hank Williams'', won a 1998 Grammy, and another of his productions, ''Hank Williams: The Garden Spot Programs, 1950'', won a 2014 Grammy. In 1999 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the

Association for Recorded Sound Collections Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

, and in 2011 he was recognized with the Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism. Escott co-wrote the 2010 musical theater production ''

Million Dollar Quartet "Million Dollar Quartet" is a recording of an impromptu jam session involving Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash made on December 4, 1956 at the Sun Studio, Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. An article about th ...

'', which received three Tony nominations, and in 2020 wrote a sequel, ''Million Dollar Quartet Christmas''. He was also part of the writing/producing team adapting the original show for CMT broadcast in 2017. In 2022 he was tapped as a writer for the "audio adventure" podcast series ''Tennessee Music Pathways''. That same year, he and co-writer

Peter Guralnick Peter Guralnick (born December 15, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written books on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke ...

released "an epic hardcover book", ''The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll: The Illustrated Story of Sun Records and the 70 Recordings That Changed the World'', in conjunction with the film ''

Elvis 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 one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexuall ...

''.

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

's Center for Popular Music houses the Colin Escott Collection of historical documents and photographs acquired in 2019.

Books

Author

* * * * *

Co-author

* * * * * * * * * *

Editor

Other works

Theater

*Co-writer, ''

'' (2010) *Writer, ''Million Dollar Quartet Christmas'' (2020)

Film

*Screenwriter, ''Let Freedom Sing: Music That Inspired the Civil Rights Movement'' (2009) *Writer, ''Only New Orleans'' (2015)

Television

*Consultant, ''Lost Highway: The Story of Country Music'' (BBC, 2003) *Executive producer, ''Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues'' (PBS,

American Masters ''American Masters'' is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the U ...

, 2004) *Writer, producer, ''

'' ( CMT, 2017) *Consultant, ''

Country Music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

'' (PBS, 2019)

Articles and essays

Selected works from books and major music industry publications: *"Memphis Blues: Sun Rise". ''Record Mirror''. November 13, 1971 *"

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

: 'Blue Suede Shoes'". '' The History of Rock'', 1981 *"

Bill Justis William Everett Justis Jr. (October 14, 1926 – July 16, 1982) was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and arrangement, musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, "Raunchy (instrumental), Raunchy". As a ...

: Raunchy by Choice". ''Goldmine''. June 15, 1990 *"

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

: Indisputably the First". ''Goldmine''. April 19, 1991 *" Hi Records: That Memphis Beat". ''Record Hunter''. July 1991 *"

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

: The Fortunate Son". ''Goldmine''. April 29, 1994 *"

Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs " If I Were a Carpenter", " Reason to Believe", " Misty Roses" and " ...

: Poet of the Interior". ''Goldmine''. June 24, 1994 *"

Ian and Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. History Early ...

: Northern Journey". ''Goldmine''. July 8, 1994 *"

The Big Bopper Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959), better known by his stage name The Big Bopper, was an American musician and disc jockey. His best-known compositions include " Chantilly Lace," " Running Bear", and " White Ligh ...

(J.P. Richardson)", "

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

", "

Johnny Horton John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American country, honky tonk, and rockabilly musician during the 1950s. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrative country saga songs that became international ...

", " Billy Walker". ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. 1997 *"Come On, Let's Go!: Elvis on the Hayride". ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

''. December 2004 *

Selected production credits

Producer credits on major LP and CD releases: *'' Elvis Presley: The Definitive Collection'' (

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

, 2006) *'' The Ike & Tina Turner Story: 1960–1975'' ( Time/Life, 2007) *''

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

: The Greatest Duets'' (Time/Life, 2009) *''

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...

: Goin' Down Rockin': The Last Recordings'' (Time/Life, 2012) *''

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

: Heartaches and Hangovers'' (Time/Life, 2012) *''George Jones: The Great Lost Hits'' (Time/Life, 2012) *''Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Hillbilly Music: Volumes 1-10'' (Bear Family, 2011–2013) *''

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

: Songs Our Daddy Taught Us'' (Bear Family, 2013 reissue) *''The Sun Rock Box, The Sun Blues Box, The Sun Country Box'' (Bear Family, 2013) *''

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

: The Knox Phillips Sessions'' (Ace, Time/Life, 2014) *''Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels: The Blissed-Out Birth of Country Rock, Volumes 1-5'' (Bear Family, 2014–2015) *''

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fa ...

: The Complete Boss of the Blues'' (Bear Family, 2020)

Selected liner notes

* Tiny Tim: ''Tiptoe Through the Tulips: Resurrection'' (Bear Family, 1988) *'' Elvis Presley: The Million Dollar Quartet'' (RCA, 1990) *

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

: ''My Greatest Songs'' (RCA, 1992) *''

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, ...

Sunday Concert ''Sunday Concert'' is Canadians, Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's first solo live album, released in 1969 on the United Artists Records, United Artists label. Lightfoot's last recording for United Artists, it was also his first live album and un ...

'' (Bear Family reissue, 1993) *''The Essential

Skeeter Davis Skeeter Davis (born Mary Frances Penick; December 30, 1931September 19, 2004) was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang crossover pop music songs including 1962's " The End of the World". She started out as part of the Davis ...

'' (RCA, 1996) *''The Classic

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

'' (RCA, 2001) *''The Very Best of

the Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...

'' (Sanctuary, 2002) *''

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...

: My Greatest Songs'' (Universal, 2003) *

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

: '' Let's Stay Together'' ( Hi Records, 2003 reissue) *''The Millennium Collection: The Best of

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...

'' (Universal, 2004) *'' This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975'' (

Trojan Records Trojan Records is a British record label founded by Jamaican Duke Reid, Lee Gopthal and Chris Blackwell in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. Th ...

, 2004) *''

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

: The Bootleg Series Volume 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964'' (Columbia Records, 2010)

Awards

Grammy Awards

Tony Awards

Drama Desk Awards

Living Blues Awards

International Bluegrass Music Association The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music. Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1988 they announced plans to create the International ...

Personal life

Escott was born in Boughton Aluph,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England, on 31 August 1949, the son of Lenny, an optician, and Betty Escott. He graduated in 1971 from the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

with a B.A. degree. He has lived in Nashville and Toronto.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Escott, Colin 1949 births Living people British music journalists British musicologists British biographers Grammy Award winners Alumni of the University of Kent Rock music historians Country music historians