Chapter 4: Important People in Early Rock and Roll

Question 1

“Big” Joe Turner

Answer 1

• 1911-1985
• jazz/blues singer
• “blues shouter”
• “Shake Rattle and Roll”

Question 2

Possible Origin of the term “rock and roll”

Answer 2

-Billy Ward and the Dominos “Sixty Minute Man” -1951 (about sex apparently 🤮)

Question 3

Bill Haley and His Comets

Answer 3

• Bill Haley (1925-1981)
• country guitarist/singer
• dropped country image and formed the Comets
• “Rock Around the Clock” (1953)
• “Shake Rattle and Roll” cover (1954)

Question 4

Elvis Presley

Answer 4

• 1935-1977
• honky-tonk + country + rhythm and blues = rockabilly
• lead guitar, rhythm guitar, stand up bass
• Sun Records
• “Good Rockin’ Tonight” (1954)
• moved to RCA, Colonel Tom Parker

Question 5

Carl Perkins

Answer 5

• 1932-1998
• wrote his own music (unlike Elvis Presley)
• “replacement” for Elvis at the Sun Records
• got injured in a car accident, destroying his performance career (he continued writing however)
• “Blue Suede Shoes”

Question 6

Jerry Lee Lewis

Answer 6

• “The Killer”
• 1935-now
• rockabilly pianist and singer
• scandalous personal life (fr)

Question 7

Roy Orbison

Answer 7

• 1936-1988
• “The Blue Angel”
• had stage fright so wore dark glasses while performing
• falsetto
• melancholy aura was the result of his wife and 2 sons dying
• The Traveling Wilburys (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty)

Question 8

Other notable rock pioneers

Answer 8

• Ritchie Valens (1941-1959)
• Eddie Cochran (1938-1960)
• Gene Vincent (1935-1971)

Question 9

Buddy Holly

Answer 9

• 1938-1959
• incredibly influential considering his short life (The Stones, Elvis Costello, Weezer, Eric Clapton)
• his band’s name “The Crickets” influenced The Beatles’ name

Question 10

The Everly Brothers

Answer 10

• country influenced
• performed on the radio as children
• smooth sound
• 2-part harmony
• “Bye Bye Love”

Question 11

Antoine “Fats” Domino

Answer 11

• 1928-2017
• pianist/singer from New Orleans
• popular with African American and white audiences

Question 12

Chuck Berry

Answer 12

• 1926-2017
• the “Godfather of Rock and Roll”
• influenced by blues (guitar), and country and western (voice)
• influenced Buddy Holly, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Carl Wilson
• “School Days”
• “Johnny Be Goode”

Question 13

Little Richard (Pennimen)

Answer 13

-1932-2020
-heavily influenced by Cab Calloway
-charismatic pianist and singer songwriter
“The Architect of Rock and Roll,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Tutti Frutti”
-left music to become a preacher
-returned intermittently to music in the 80’s
-influenced pretty much everyone