Hank Mizell (November 9, 1923 – December 23, 1992) was an American

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

. He is best-remembered for his

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

single "Jungle Rock" (1958), which was obscure on its original release but reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1976. In the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, it made it to number 1.

Background

Born William M. Mizell in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach is a coastal Resort town, resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona� ...

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, Mizell moved to

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...

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with his adoptive parents. He joined the

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and served in the

Second World War 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 ...

. After being discharged, he decided to take up singing professionally, with a band featuring guitarist Jim Bobo. Settling in Montgomery,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Mizell sang on local

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, where one of the presenters nicknamed him 'Hank', after the

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singer

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 ...

Career

1950s to 1960s

Mizell recorded "Jungle Rock" in 1958 for Eko Records; the seemingly whimsical lyric tells of a narrator who happens upon a dance party in a jungle, with "a jungle drummer doing a knocked-out beat." The song did not chart but earned a positive review from ''

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 ...

'', which suggested the song "would make good swingin' dance fare." "Jungle Rock" was reissued by King Records in 1959, but again failed to find success. He recorded a handful of additional singles, none of which were successful. Mizell and Bobo continued playing live until 1962, when they split up. By this time, Mizell was married to Rosemary, with four children (including David Alan, John Mark and William Jr.), and he finally gave up music and became a preacher for the

Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to: Church groups * Christianity, the Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ * Christian Church, an ecclesiological term used by denominations to describe the true body of Christia ...

1970s

In 1971, a Dutch bootleg

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, ''Rock n' Roll, Vol. 1'', reissued "Jungle Rock", erroneously credited to Jim Bobo. The song came to the attention of

Charly Records Charly Records is a British record label that specialises in reissued material. Among the labels whose original releases are reissued by Charly are Vee-Jay, Sun, Immediate, BYG, Tomato, and Fania. History Charly Records was founded in Fran ...

in the UK, who had scored hits with re-issued songs by American performers like

The Shangri-Las The Shangri-Las were an American girl group of the 1960s, consisting of Mary Weiss, her sister Elizabeth "Betty" Weiss and twin sisters Marguerite "Marge" Ganser and Mary Ann Ganser. Between 1964 and 1966 several hit pop songs of theirs docu ...

. Charly then re-released "Jungle Rock" in March 1976, and it duly made Number 3 in the UK Singles Chart, and Number 1 in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

charts. Mizell was 52 years old when he finally made it into

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's history books. When the record was played on

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's flagship

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

show ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' in April 1976, host

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...

announced they could not find Mizell, and so the dance group

Pan's People Pan's People were a British all-female dance troupe most commonly associated with the BBC TV music chart show ''Top of the Pops'', from 1968 to 1976. The group, founded and led by choreographer Felicity "Flick" Colby in December 1966, accompanie ...

dressed in khaki blouses, shorts and pith helmets, danced along to the record with several extras in animal costumes representing the animals mentioned in the song (e.g., "a chimp and a monkey doing the Suzy-Q")..

1980s

Having been reported previously in the Dooley's Diary section of the September 15, 1979 issue of ''Music Week'' that Mizell was to sign a long-term contract with Hammer Records, it now looked like a certainty. The magazine reported in the January 19 issue that Mizell was the London-based label's first signing. The group, Hank Mizell & The Rock'n Rhythm Boys were rehearsing and writing material for their first Hammer release. A tour was planned for the following month.

Later years

Later, Mizell was tracked down in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and persuaded to come over to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Mizell made another recording of the song. This was eventually re-released in 1999 on the

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Repertoire label on CD (REP 4778-WG), with three bonus tracks.

Death

Mizell died in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

, in December 1992, aged 69.

Legacy

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "Jungle Rock" appeared on The Fall's 1997 album, '' Levitate'', interpreting Mizell's song via the

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

style of electronic dance music.

Discography

Albums

* ''Jungle Rock'' (1976) – SWE #36

Singles

References

External links

*
Hank Mizell's entry at Black Cat Rockabilly Europe WebsiteBBC website
() * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mizell, Hank 1923 births 1992 deaths American members of the Churches of Christ American rock guitarists American male guitarists Ministers of the Churches of Christ Musicians from Daytona Beach, Florida Songwriters from Florida 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male singers United States Navy personnel of World War II American male songwriters 20th-century American songwriters