This popped up in my news feed and I wanted to share. As a student of Rock, this is one of those lost elements that many don't think about.
Otis Blackwell would be 95 years old today. He passed in 2002 at the age of 71... But why should we care?
Otis is responsible for writing some of the biggest hits at the birth of Rock'N'Roll.
His career began at 21 when he won an Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem which, in turn, led to his first recording contract. In 1953, he scored his first hit with Daddy Rolling Stone, a song which would later be recorded and performed by the likes of The Who, David Bowie, and The Flaming Lips.
However, it wasn't as a performer where he had the most significant impact. It was as a writer. Over Otis' career, he penned over a thousand songs, tallying near 200 million worldwide record sales. Some of his earliest hits as a songwriter include Fever, Don't Be Cruel, Great Balls of Fire, All Shook Up and Return To Sender. Artists who recorded his music include not just the obvious Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, but Frank Valli, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Carl Perkins, Peggy Lee, and many others.
From Wikipedia:
For his efforts, Otis has been recognized by induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and he received the Ahmet Ertegun Award in the Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame.
In all of this, one of the most important elements which needs to be recognized is that Otis was a part of how Rock'N'Roll transitioned from what was dubbed "Black Music" at the time to widening the audience and creating mass acceptance of Rock in the greater picture of pop culture. Artists like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis who performed music that might never have gotten into circulation were just as important as they were some of the white faces bridging the racial divide.
We should never forget how racially divided we were in the 50's and that, like Jazz, Rock music grew out of a divided world to ultimately become one of the greatest forms of expression we know.
And Otis Blackwell was a part of that.
americansongwriter.com
Otis Blackwell would be 95 years old today. He passed in 2002 at the age of 71... But why should we care?
Otis is responsible for writing some of the biggest hits at the birth of Rock'N'Roll.
His career began at 21 when he won an Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem which, in turn, led to his first recording contract. In 1953, he scored his first hit with Daddy Rolling Stone, a song which would later be recorded and performed by the likes of The Who, David Bowie, and The Flaming Lips.
However, it wasn't as a performer where he had the most significant impact. It was as a writer. Over Otis' career, he penned over a thousand songs, tallying near 200 million worldwide record sales. Some of his earliest hits as a songwriter include Fever, Don't Be Cruel, Great Balls of Fire, All Shook Up and Return To Sender. Artists who recorded his music include not just the obvious Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, but Frank Valli, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Carl Perkins, Peggy Lee, and many others.
From Wikipedia:
For his efforts, Otis has been recognized by induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and he received the Ahmet Ertegun Award in the Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame.
In all of this, one of the most important elements which needs to be recognized is that Otis was a part of how Rock'N'Roll transitioned from what was dubbed "Black Music" at the time to widening the audience and creating mass acceptance of Rock in the greater picture of pop culture. Artists like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis who performed music that might never have gotten into circulation were just as important as they were some of the white faces bridging the racial divide.
We should never forget how racially divided we were in the 50's and that, like Jazz, Rock music grew out of a divided world to ultimately become one of the greatest forms of expression we know.
And Otis Blackwell was a part of that.
Born on This Day in 1932, One of the Most Important Pioneers of Early Rock and Roll Who Inspired Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley
Otis Blackwell was born on this day, February 16, 1931, in Brooklyn. His legacy as one of rock and roll's finest songwriters lives on.
americansongwriter.com
