Rocket 88 - Music

Jackie Brenston Clarksdale Mississippi 15 August 1930 – 15 December 1979 Was An American Rhythm & Blues Singer Saxophonist And Songwriter Who Recorded With Ike Turner's Band The First Version Of The Proto-Rock And Roll Song “Rocket 88”. Returning To Clarksdale From Army Service In 1947 Brenston Learned To Play The Tenor Saxophone Linking Up With Ike Turner In 1950 As Sax Player And Occasional Singer In His Band. The Local Success Of Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhythm Prompted B.B. King To Recommend Them To Studio Owner Sam Phillips In Memphis Where The Band Made Several Recordings In Early March 1951 Including “Rocket 88” On Which Brenston Sang Lead And Which He Was Credited With Writing. Phillips Passed The Recordings On To Chess Records In Chicago Who Released "Rocket 88" As By "Jackie Brenston And His Delta Cats" Rather Than Under Turner’s Name. The Record Soon Reached # 1 On The R&B Charts. Because Of Its Theme Sound Success And Influence Across Different Markets It Has Often Been Suggested As The First Rock And Roll Record Although There Are Numerous Other Candidates. Phillips Used The Success Of The Record To Start Sun Records The Following Year. After One Further Recording Session Brenston And Turner Parted Company And Brenston Went On To Perform In Lowell Fulson’s Band For Two Years. He Returned To Play In Turner’s Band From 1955 To 1962. Although He Occasionally Sang With The Band Turner Apparently Forbade Him From Singing “Rocket 88”. By Now An Alcoholic Brenston Continued Playing In Local Bands. After A Final Recording Session With Earl Hooker In 1963 He Worked Occasionally As A Truck Driver Before A Fatal Heart Attack At The Age Of 49. read less

16 Similar Artists To Jackie Brenston And His Delta Cats - Frogtoon Music

The Nowhere Boys Billy Love Little Junior's Blue Flames Joe Hill Louis Billy "The Kid" Emerson Willie Mabon Joe Liggins Roy Milton Willie Nix Carl Mann Eddie Bond Joe Clay The Prisonaires Goree Carter Johnny Moore's Three Blazers Nappy Brown

"Rocket 88" is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951 (accounts differ). It is claimed by some, including Phillips — later to become owner of Sun Records, and pioneer rock and roll record producer — to be the "first rock and roll song". The original version of the 12-bar blues song was credited to "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", but that band did not actually exist. The song was put together by Ike Turner and his band in rehearsals at the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and recorded by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm. Jackie Brenston (1930-1979), who was a saxophonist with Turner, also sang the vocal on "Rocket 88", a hymn of praise to the joys of the Oldsmobile "Rocket 88", which had recently been introduced. Although Brenston was given writing credit rather than Turner, it is now agreed Brenston's contribution was overstated for financial reasons. The song was based on the 1947 song "Cadillac Boogie" by Jimmy Liggins. It was also preceded and influenced by Pete Johnson's "Rocket Boogie “88”", an instrumental, originally recorded for the Los Angeles-based Swing Time Records label in 1949. Working from the raw material of jump blues and swing combo music, Turner made it even rawer, starting with a strongly stated back beat by drummer Willie Sims, and superimposing Brenston's enthusiastic vocals, his own piano, and tenor saxophone solos by 17 year old Raymond Hill (later to be the father of Tina Turner's first child, before she married Ike). The song also features one of the first examples of distortion, or fuzz guitar, ever recorded, played by the band's guitarist Willie Kizart. The legend of how the sound came about says that Kizart's amplifier was damaged on Highway 61 when the band was driving from Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee, but Phillips liked the sound and used it. Robert Palmer has written that the amplifier "had fallen from the top of the car", and attributes this information to Sam Phillips. However, in a recorded interview at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, Ike Turner stated that the amplifier was in the trunk of the car and that rain may have caused the damage; he is certain that it did not fall from the roof of the car. Link Wray had a similar story. It was the second-biggest rhythm and blues single of 1951, reaching #1 in June for five weeks and much more influential than some other "first" claimants. Ike Turner's piano intro to the song was later used note-for-note by Little Richard in "Good Golly Miss Molly". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.