The Blue Moon Boys were a

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

band formed by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

ist

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic ...

and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

ist

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

. The group members were introduced by

Sun Studio Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label ...

owner

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

in 1954, except for

D.J. Fontana Dominic Joseph Fontana (March 15, 1931 – June 13, 2018) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. In 1955, he was hired to play drums for Presley, which marked the beginning of a 15-year relationshi ...

, who joined the group during a

Louisiana Hayride ''Louisiana Hayride'' was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the ...

tour in 1955. The Blue Moon Boys were inducted into the

Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum (MHOF) in Nashville honors all musicians regardless of genre or instrument. The MHOF timeline starts with the beginning of recorded music and inductees are nominated by current members of the American Feder ...

in 2007. The band was named after Bill Monroe's song "

Blue Moon of Kentucky "Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1945 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney. "Blue Moon of Ken ...

Background

On July 18, 1953,

recorded a single at

as a gift for his

mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ...

's birthday, the

Ink Spots The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely a ...

' "My Happiness", with "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" on the flipside. Studio owner

was not there, so Presley's recording was managed by his secretary,

Marion Keisker Marion Keisker MacInnes (September 23, 1917 – December 29, 1989) was an American record producer. She was the first person ever to record the singing voice of cultural icon Elvis Presley. Life Keisker was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and gradu ...

, who kept a demo copy of the recording. At Phillips' behest Keisker called Presley for an appointment at the studio almost a year later; he returned on June 26, 1954. Although most of the session was not recorded, Phillips was impressed by Presley and introduced him to the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

band

Starlight Wranglers Douglas Winston Poindexter (October 19, 1927 – October 1, 2004) was an American singer and guitarist who fronted the country band The Starlight Wranglers (or Starlite Wranglers) in the early 1950s and recorded for Sun Records. Members of his ...

' guitarist

, who later introduced Presley to bassist

Sun recordings

On July 5, 1954, the trio headed to the Sun Studios for a recording test together. They recorded the songs "Harbor Lights" and " I Love You Because", and during a break they performed an impromptu version of

Arthur Crudup Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Gla ...

's "

That's All Right "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946. The song was rereleased in early March 1949 under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and bl ...

", which impressed Phillips, who asked for a refinement of the interpretation that later was recorded. Phillips played the recording for WHBQ's DJ

Dewey Phillips Dewey Phillips (May 13, 1926 – September 28, 1968) was one of rock and roll's pioneering American disc jockeys, along the lines of Cleveland's Alan Freed, before Freed came along. Early life Phillips was born in Crump, Tennessee, but spent ...

, who played the song on his regular show next night, on July 8. On July 9, the trio recorded what became the flipside to "That's All Right", an uptempo

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 South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...

version of

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

's "

". The single was released on July 19, 1954, and was a local hit in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Live appearances

became the manager of the band, and they toured several cities in the south, the three members still working at their regular employments when not touring.Guralnick, Peter. Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Little, Brown; 1994. . Both Moore and Black focused more on the group after they let Presley perform at the regular Starlight Wranglers show on the Bon Air club, where the reception of the audience was unfavorable, and led to animosity between them and the other members of the group for having to leave the stage. The Blue Moon Boys appeared on a regular basis at Eagle's Nest club in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

. Sam Phillips booked the band an appearance at the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a div ...

, which was not well received. After the failure, Phillips contacted Opry's main competition, the

. They made their first appearance on October 16, 1954. Presley sang "That's All Right" followed by the flipside of the record, "Blue Moon of Kentucky". The performance was well received and they signed a one-year contract to be official members of the Hayride, while Presley also signed a new management contract with Bob Neal. On August 8,

joined the band as the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer's ...

on a regular basis after having played occasionally with them, the first time in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is ...

and subsequently on tour. After disputes with

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on ...

's manager, Tom Parker, who booked most of Presley's appearances, Bob Neal turned over the contract to Colonel Parker who became officially Presley's manager on December 15, 1955.

RCA Victor and later years

In January 1956, Presley signed a $40,000 contract with

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

, recording for the first time on January 10, 1956, Mae Axton's "

Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being ...

". The Blue Moon Boys continued appearing on Presley's recordings as well as in movies like '' Loving You''. The first live appearance of the band since Presley's army return was in 1960, during '' The Frank Sinatra Show's'' special '' Welcome Home Elvis'' —minus

, who had left The Blue Moon Boys in 1958. The band's last appearance was during the '' Elvis 1968 Comeback Special''decidated to the memory of

, who had died on October 21, 1965 of a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

. In 2007, the Blue Moon Boys were inducted into the

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

Members

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, lead guitar, percussion, bass guitar (1954–1968; died August 16, 1977) *

– lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1954–1968; died June 28, 2016) *

– double bass, bass guitar, backing vocals (1954–1958; died October 21, 1965) * D. J. Fontana – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1955–1968; died June 13, 2018)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:26 PlotArea = left:115 bottom:80 top:05 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:06/01/1954 till:01/01/1969 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:lead value:teal legend:Lead_guitar id:guitar value:brightgreen legend:Rhythm_guitar id:dbass value:darkblue legend:Double_bass id:bass value:blue legend:Bass_guitar id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:percussion value:claret legend:Percussion id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_album LineData = layer:back color:lines at:03/23/1956 at:10/19/1956 at:10/15/1957 at:02/06/1959 at:07/24/1959 at:04/08/1960 at:11/10/1960 at:06/17/1961 at:06/05/1962 at:02/27/1967 Legend = position:bottom columns:1 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1955 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1955 BarData = bar:Elvis text:"Elvis Presley" bar:Scotty text:"Scotty Moore" bar:Bill text:"Bill Black" bar:DJ text:"D.J. Fontana" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Elvis from:06/01/1954 till:01/01/1959 color:vocals width:3 bar:Elvis from:01/01/1960 till:01/01/1968 color:vocals bar:Elvis from:01/01/1968 till:01/01/1969 color:vocals bar:Elvis from:06/01/1954 till:01/01/1959 color:guitar bar:Elvis from:01/01/1960 till:07/01/1961 color:guitar width:3 bar:Elvis from:01/01/1968 till:01/01/1969 color:guitar width:3 bar:Elvis from:01/01/1955 till:04/01/1958 color:keys width:7 bar:Elvis from:01/01/1968 till:10/01/1968 color:lead width:7 bar:Scotty from:06/01/1954 till:01/01/1959 color:lead bar:Scotty from:01/01/1960 till:07/01/1968 color:guitar bar:Scotty from:01/01/1960 till:02/01/1964 color:lead width:3 bar:Scotty from:06/01/1967 till:06/01/1968 color:lead width:3 bar:Scotty from:06/01/1968 till:01/01/1969 color:lead bar:Bill from:06/01/1954 till:01/01/1959 color:dbass bar:Bill from:01/01/1957 till:01/01/1959 color:bass width:3 bar:DJ from:08/08/1955 till:01/01/1959 color:drums bar:DJ from:01/01/1960 till:06/01/1968 color:drums bar:DJ from:06/01/1960 till:06/01/1968 color:percussion width:3 bar:DJ from:06/01/1968 till:10/01/1968 color:percussion bar:DJ from:10/01/1968 till:01/01/1969 color:drums

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Moon Boys Sun Records artists Elvis Presley Rockabilly music groups Musical groups established in 1954 American rockabilly musicians