Saturday 31 January 2015

Chuck Willis born 31 January 1928


Harold "Chuck" Willis (January 31, 1928 – April 10, 1958) was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll 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.

Willis was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Willis 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. In 1956, he moved to Atlantic Records where he had immediate success with "It's Too Late (She's Gone)", "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. "C.C. Rider" was a remake of a twelve-bar blues, 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. Willis's follow-up was "Betty and Dupree", another "stroll" song, which also did well. Willis' single "Going to the River", a song by Fats Domino, was a prototype for his "stroll" sound, reaching No.4 on the R&B chart.

Willis, who had suffered from stomach ulcers for many years, died during surgery in Chicago of peritonitis 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 & 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 most popular of the two songs. "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.





His hit, the blues ballad "It's Too Late (She's Gone)" was covered by other artists, including Otis Redding, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos and the Jerry Garcia Band. In 2005, it was heavily sampled by Kanye West on Late Registration's "Gone". Elvis Presley covered "I Feel So Bad" and "C. C. Rider" and Ruth Brown and Conway Twitty had hits with "Oh What a Dream". Willis's cousin is Chick Willis. 
(Info from Wikipedia)


4 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Stroll On – The Chuck Willis Collection” go here:

http://www52.zippyshare.com/v/82591187/file.html

01 There's Got To Be A Way
02 It's Too Late
03 Kansas City Woman
04 My Life
05 Ease The Pain
06 Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Baby
07 Juanita
08 C.C. Rider
09 Just One Kiss
10 Love Me Cherry
11 My Baby
12 That Train Is Gone
13 My Crying Eyes
14 Betty And Dupree
15 Thunder And Lighting
16 From The Bottom Of My Heart
17 You'll Be My Love
18 Keep A Drivin'
19 What Am I Living For
20 Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes
21 Big Drops Of Rain
22 I'll Be So Glad When Your Heart
23 Sugar Sugar
24 Stop And Think
25 Love Of Loves

A big thank you to Maria of Jukebox City blog for original post.

RFelis said...

Please re-up the link, thanks.

boppinbob said...

Hello RF, I couldn't find this anywhere. But I managed to reconstruct the playlist from mp3's from various digital albums.

https://www.imagenetz.de/ddaZv

RFelis said...

Very thankful!!