The Four Preps met at Hollywood High School. Their first chart single was Dreamy Eyes, just prior to Christmas of 1956. Besides 26 Miles (Santa Catalina) in 1958,…
Browsing: Music – 1950s
The Voice. The Sultan of Swoon. The Chairman of the Board. Old Blue Eyes. The Greatest Singer of the Popular Song. The provider, according to…
Nicknamed ‘The Young Sinatra’ and ‘Golden Boy’ in his hey-day, Frankie Avalon was born Frankie Avallone of Italian stock, in Philadelphia on 18 September 1940. He…
Frankie Laine was born to Sicilian immigrant parents in Chicago’s Little Italy on 30 March 1913. Ever since his recording of That’s My Desire burst onto the scene…
One day in 1955, Richard ‘Ritchie’ Barrett – the lead singer of New York City group, The Valentines – heard The Premiers, a young multi-racial…
Frank Fruim Abelson was born in Liverpool on 3 February 1928 to a family of Russian Jewish descent. He attended the Lancaster College of Art…
Freddy Cannon was born Frederick Anthony Picariello in Boston (USA) on 4 December 1940. Signed by producers/songwriters Frank Slay and Bob Crewe to Swan Records…
Garry Mills was born on 13 October 1941 in West Wickham, Kent, and – encouraged by his father who was a former semi-professional singer himself…
Vincent Eugene Craddock was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1935. After dropping out of South Norfolk High School at the age of 15, he lied…
One of the great lost blues figures, New Orleans’ Guitar Slim (real name Eddie Jones) was an electric guitar pioneer. He was also a flashy…
Guy Mitchell was born Albert Cernik in 1927 and recorded for King Records as Al Grant. When he signed with Columbia Records, label president Mitch…
Robert Percell Ferguson was born on 9 May 1929 in Charleston County, South Carolina. He was the eleventh of twelve children. His Baptist preacher father,…
Hank Ballard (real name John Henry Kendricks) was born in Detroit on 18 November 1927. When he was seven he was sent to Bessemer, Alabama…
Hiram King “Hank” Williams was born in Alabama and began playing guitar at the age of eight. As a teenager, he led his own country…
Harry Belafonte was born in New York City on 1 March 1927 of a Jamaican mother and a Martinique father. He was taken as a…
Chester Arthur Burnett was born in Mississippi on 10 June 1910 and began singing the blues while working on a plantation, after being thrown out…
The Impalas formed in 1958 in Brooklyn, New York, with Tony Carlucci singing first tenor, Lenny Renda singing second tenor, and Richard Wagner singing baritone. They…
The Ink Spots were the inspiration for many black vocal groups of the 1950s – for The Ink Spots were black but had hits in…
When Jack Scott first appeared on the rock’n’roll scene in the late fifties, he immediately demonstrated a highly individual and powerful style – like Bo…
Jack Leroy “Jackie” Wilson, Jr. (born in Detroit on 9 June 1934) was an African-American singer who played an important part in the transition of…