Memphis Music History 200th Anniversary #2

Without a doubt Elvis was our most famous resident and his legend lives on. But there are so many more that we need to remember as our Great City is rich in history especially within the music industry. Here we will remember others who had massive impact on our incredible history.

All N One Bail loves our city and our residents and every life here is precious and worth helping when in trouble, that is why we are here! It is a pleasure for us to serve this community and to share our love of city history with you. If you ever find yourself in any kind of trouble always call “The Ones Who Really Care” at All N One Bail in Memphis

Thank you for allowing us to help! and now to show our appreciation the 2nd installment of our Memphis Musical History ENJOY!

Booker T and The MG’s

Three members of Booker T. and the MGs (left to right) Duck Dunn, Al Jackson and Booker T. Jones at STAX in a photograph dated Jan. 21, 1970. Fourth member, Steve Cropper, was in New York, producing a group, the Dramatics, for Paramount, and was expected back in a day or two. The group was to tape a television show the following Saturday with Creedence Clearwater Revival and leave Feb. 17 for a tour of Europe.

The original Orpheum was built as the Hopkins Grand Opera House in 1890 and was renamed the Orpheum after it became part of that vaudeville circuit in 1907. It burned to the ground in 1923, and today’s Orpheum was built on its footprint five years later. It was purchased and operated by Malco as a movie house until 1977, and reopened in its current incarnation in 1984.

Born on March 6, 1893, guitarist and songwriter Furry Lewis was a famed blues storyteller. After recording a series of influential sides in the 1920s, Lewis fell into obscurity, working as a street sweeper in Memphis. He was “rediscovered” 40 years later, his career reinvigorated by the blues revival of the 1960s.

Jazz pianist, composer and bandleader Lil Hardin is born in Memphis on Feb. 3, 1898. Hardin would go on to exert a profound influence in shaping the music and career of her husband, Louis Armstrong. Her songs would be covered by everyone from Ray Charles to Ringo Starr.

Jazz saxophonist, swing-era bandleader and Memphis musical innovator Jimmie Lunceford is born in June 6, 1902.

One of the world’s great pianists, John “Peter” Chatman — better known as Memphis Slim — is born in Memphis on Sept. 3, 1915.

Sam Phillips — founder of the Memphis Recording Service and Sun Studio — is born Jan. 5, 1923, in Florence, Alabama.

Led by Will Shade, the Memphis Jug Band forms in 1925. The group — in various iterations — will make some 60-plus recordings for Victor Records between 1927 and 1932. Their recordings would influence later generations of artists, including Bob Dylan, The Lovin’ Spoonful and the Grateful Dead.

Riley B. King is born Sept. 16, 1925, in Berclair, Mississippi, between Itta Bena and Indianola. The man who would become B.B. King is the great-grandson of a slave, and his childhood is filled with heartbreak. His younger brother died as an infant, his parents then separated and his mother died when he was 9. He was raised by his grandmother, who died during his teens.

Influential radio disc jockey “Daddy-O” Dewey Phillips is born May 13, 1926, in Crump, Tennessee.

Willie Mitchell — trumpeter, bandleader, record producer and architect of Hi Records — is born March 1, 1928, in Ashland, Mississippi. Koko Taylor was a Shelby County sharecropper’s daughter whose regal bearing and powerful voice earned her the sobriquet “Queen of the Blues.” Born Cora Walton on Sept. 28, 1928, just outside Memphis, Taylor said her dream to become a blues singer was nurtured in the cotton fields outside her family’s sharecropper shack. During her more than 40-year career, Taylor was nominated seven times for Grammy awards and won in 1984.

Sonny Burgess is born in Newport, Arkansas, on May 28, 1929. Among the many greats who came through the doors of Sun Records in the 1950s, Burgess was universally regarded for both his musical skills and showmanship on stage. Burgess and his band The Pacers achieved rockabilly immortality with their earliest efforts for Sun — notably their 1956 debut single “Red-Headed Woman” backed with “We Wanna Boogie,” which remains one of the rawest and most electrifying releases in the label’s history.

In 1930 “The Singing Brakeman,” Jimmie Rodgers, releases “Blue Yodel #9,” a bit of bluesy braggadocio announcing his arrival in Memphis, as he strides the corner of Beale and Main streets.

Born Robert Calvin Brooks on Jan. 27, 1930, in tiny Rosemark, Tennessee, the singer who would come to be known as Bobby “Blue” Bland moved to Memphis as a teenager with his mother. It was in the Bluff City that Bland began a career that would ultimately see him honored and enshrined in the halls of multiple musical institutions: the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

April 5, 1931: The birthday of “Cowboy” Jack Clement in Memphis. Clement first made his mark as Sam Phillips’ right-hand man at Sun Records. He would record Jerry Lee Lewis’ biggest hits and pen several others for Johnny Cash, before becoming a major figure in country music.

Musician, radio deejay and station owner, cult TV star, wrestling promoter, nightclub impresario and record label head Eddie Bond is born in South Memphis on July 1, 1933. A rockabilly star in the ’50s, Bond gave early career boosts to everyone from guitar great Reggie Young — who began as a member of Bond’s backing group the Stompers — to Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, who got their start as the house band at Bond’s Diplomat Club. Bond earned his nickname as the “Tennessee Legend Maker” bringing the story of McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser to light and launching the career of wrestling royal Jerry “The King” Lawler.

In tiny Brookings, Arkansas, guitarist and producer Roland Janes is born on Aug. 20, 1933. Janes was at Jerry Lee Lewis’ side during the Killer’s greatest triumphs in the ’50s, he served as the linchpin for the Sun house band, and he played a crucial role in the growth of garage music in the ’60s with his own Sonic studio. For the last 30 years of his life, until his death in 2012, he was resident engineer and producer at Sam Phillips Recording Service.

His given name was John Henry Cannon, but the world knew him as Ace. One of Memphis’ great instrumental hit makers, a session man at Sun and a pillar of Hi Records, saxophonist Ace Cannon was born on May 5, 1934. Hailed as “The Godfather of the Sax,” Cannon cut 38 singles and 27 albums for South Memphis’ Hi label during the 1960s and 1970s. With hits like “Tuff” and “Blues (Stay Away From Me),” Cannon became one of the company’s signature stars.

We hope you enjoyed this walk from the past, more to come as we finish up our investigations of our rich musical history in 2 more posts before the end of May.