April 9: "The King of Rockabilly" Carl Perkins was born on this date in 1932...

... he died on January 19, 1998.


Called "the King of Rockabilly," Carl Perkins has been inducted into the Rock and Roll, the Rockabilly, and the Nashville Songwriters Halls of Fame. he is also a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient. His best known song of course, is "Blue Suede Shoes."

Perkins was the son of poor sharecroppers near Tiptonville, Tennessee. He grew up hearing Southern gospel music sung in church, and by field workers when he worked in the cotton fields at age six.

During spring and autumn, the school day would be followed by several hours of work in fields. During the summer, workdays were 12–14 hours, "from can to can't." Carl and his brother Jay together would earn 50 cents a day. With all family members working and not having any credit, there was enough money for beans and potatoes, some tobacco for Carl's father Buck, and occasionally the luxury of a five-cent bag of hard candy.

During Saturday nights Carl would listen to the radio with his father and hear the Grand Ole Opry, and Roy Acuff's broadcasts on the Opry inspired him to ask his parents for a guitar. Carl's father fashioned one from a cigar box and a broomstick. When a neighbor in tough straits offered to sell his dented and scratched Gene Autry model guitar with worn-out strings, Buck purchased it for a couple of dollars.

For the next year Carl taught himself parts of Acuff's "Great Speckled Bird" and "The Wabash Cannonball," which he had heard on the Opry. He also cited the fast playing and vocals of Bill Monroe as an early influence.

Carl began learning more about playing his guitar from a fellow field worker named John Westbrook who befriended him. "Uncle John," as Carl called him, was an African American in his sixties who played blues and gospel on his battered acoustic guitar. Because Carl couldn't afford new strings when they broke, he retied them.
 

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When he was 14, using the simple chord progression common to country songs of the day, he wrote "Let Me Take You To the Movie, Magg" The song convinced Sam Phillips to sign Perkins to his Sun Records label.

Perkins and his brother Jay had their first paying job as entertainers at the "Cotton Boll" tavern. As their popularity grew, the Perkins Brothers began playing other taverns. Carl persuaded his brother Clayton to play the bass fiddle to complete the sound of the band.

Perkins began performing regularly on WTJS-AM in Jackson during the late 1940s as a sometime member of the Tennessee Ramblers. Perkins successfully auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records during early October 1954, and "Movie Magg" and "Turn Around" were released on the Phillips-owned Flip label the following March with "Turn Around" becoming a regional success.

With the song getting airplay across the South and Southwest, Perkins was booked to appear along with Elvis Presley at theaters in Marianna and West Memphis, Arkansas.

Another Perkins' tune, "Gone Gone Gone," released in October 1955 by Sun, was also a regional success. It was backed by the more traditional "Let The Juke Box Keep On Playing," complete with fiddle, "Western Boogie" bass line, steel guitar and weepy vocal.

That same autumn, Perkins wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" after seeing a dancer in a tavern get angry with his date for scuffing up his blue suede shoes. Several weeks later, on December 19, 1955, Perkins and his band recorded the song during a session at Sun Studio in Memphis. Phillips suggested changes to the lyrics ("Go, cat, go") and the band changed the end of the song to a "boogie vamp."

Released on January 1, 1956, "Blue Suede Shoes" was a massive chart success. In the United States, it scored No. 1 on Billboard magazine's country music charts - his only song to reach No. 1 - and No. 2 on Billboard's Best Sellers popular music chart. On March 17, Perkins became the first country artist to score No. 3 on the rhythm & blues charts.

During 1958, Perkins moved to Columbia Records where he recorded songs such as "Jive After Five," "Rockin' Record Hop," "Levi Jacket (And a Long Tail Shirt)," "Pop, Let Me Have the Car," "Pink Pedal Pushers," "Anyway the Wind Blows," "Hambone," "Pointed Toe Shoes," and "Sister Twister."

During May 1964, Perkins toured England along with Chuck Berry. On the last night of the tour, Perkins attended a party that turned out to be for him, and ended up sitting on the floor sharing stories, playing guitar, and singing songs while surrounded by The Beatles. Ringo Starr asked if he could record "Honey Don't." "Man," answered Perkins, "go ahead, have at it."

The Beatles ended up recording "Matchbox," "Honey Don't" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" recorded by Perkins but adapted from a song originally recorded by Rex Griffin during 1936. After a long legal struggle with Sam Phillips over royalties, Perkins gained ownership of his songs during the 1970s.

In 1981, Perkins recorded the song "Get It" with Paul McCartney, providing vocals and playing guitar with the former Beatle. This recording was included on the chart-topping album Tug Of War released in 1982.

Perkins' last album, Go Cat Go!, was released during 1996, and featured new collaborations with many artists, including George Harrison, Paul Simon, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, and Bono. It was released by the independent label Dinosaur Records. His last major concert performance was the Music for Montserrat all-star charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on September 15, 1997.

Perkins died four months later, on January 19, 1998 at the age of 65 in Jackson, Tennessee from throat cancer after suffering several strokes.

During 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Perkins number 69 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.




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April 8: Belgium singer, major world songwriter Jacques Brel was born on this date in 1929...

... he died on October 9, 1978 when he was 49 years-old. 


Jacques Romain Georges Brel was born in Schaarbeek, Belgium, a district of Brussels, but lived half of his life in Paris. He went on to sell over 25 million records worldwide, including over 12 million albums and singles in France and Belgium. In French-speaking countries, Brel is also remembered as an actor and director.

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Although Jacques Brel's family spoke French, they were of Flemish descent, with some of the family originating from Zandvoorde, near Ieper. Brel came to consider himself a francophone Fleming.

Brel's father was co-owner of a cardboard factory and Brel started working there when he was young. Not wishing to follow in his father's footsteps, he showed an interest in culture pursuits, instead, joining the Catholic-humanist youth organisation Franche Cordée, where he sang and acted. At Franche Cordée he met Thérèse Michielsen ('Miche'). They married in 1950.


In the early 1950s Brel achieved minor success in Belgium singing his own songs and a 78rpm record was released. From 1954 Brel pursued an international singing career. He quit his job and moved to Paris, where he stayed at the Hotel Stevens and gave guitar lessons to pay his rent.

Jean Villard Gilles recognized his talent and hired him immediately for his cabaret "Chez Gilles." Later on, Gilles' successful song / poem La Venoge inspired Brel to write Le Plat Pays. He continued to write music and sing in the city's cabarets and music-halls. In January 1955 he supported in the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels the performances of the Belgian pop and variety pioneer Bobbejaan Schoepen. By 1956 he was touring Europe and he recorded the song "Quand on n'a que l'amour" that brought him his first major recognition.

Under the influence of his friend Georges Pasquier ('Jojo') and pianists Gérard Jouannest and François Rauber, Brel's style changed. He was no longer a Catholic-humanist troubadour, but sang grimmer songs about love, death, and the struggle that is life. The music became more complex and his themes more diverse, exploring love ("Je t'aime," "Litanies pour un Retour"), society ("Les Singes," "Les Bourgeois," "Jaurès"), and spirituality ("Le Bon Dieu," "Dites," "Si c'était Vrai," "Fernand").

His work was not limited to one style. He was as proficient in funny compositions ("Le Lion," "Comment Tuer l'Amant de sa Femme...") as in more emotional ones ("Voir un Ami Pleurer," "Fils de...," "Jojo.")

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Brel did occasionally included parts in Dutch as in "'Marieke," and also recorded Dutch versions of a few songs such as "Le Plat Pays" (Mijn vlakke land), "Ne me quitte pas" (Laat Me Niet Alleen), "Rosa," "Les Bourgeois" (De Burgerij) and "Les paumés du petit matin" (De Nuttelozen van de Nacht).

He starred in the musical L'Homme de la Mancha (Man of La Mancha) which he also translated into French and directed. As an actor he gained fame playing opposite Lino Ventura in L'Emmerdeur and L'aventure, c'est l'aventure. In 1969 he took the lead role opposite Claude Jade in Mon oncle Benjamin.  Le Far West, a comedy which he directed, co-wrote and appeared in, competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973.

In 1977 he returned to Paris and recorded his well-received final album. He died in Bobigny in the suburbs of Paris, of lung cancer when he was 49 years-old. He is buried in the Marquesas Islands.

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Brel's songs are not especially well known in the English-speaking world except in translation and through the interpretations of other singers, including Scott Walker and Judy Collins.

Others who have sung his work in English include Karen Akers, Marc Almond, Momus/Nick Currie, Beirut, Bellowhead, David Bowie, Ray Charles, John Denver, The Dresden Dolls, Gavin Friday, Alex Harvey, Terry Jacks, Barb Jungr, The Kingston Trio, Jack Lukeman, Amanda McBroom, Rod McKuen, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Spencer Moody, Camille O'Sullivan, Dax Riggs, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Dusty Springfield, Andy Williams, Sandler and Young, Nirvana, Dave Van Ronk, Shirley Horn, Brian Molko and James Dean Bradfield and Barbra Streisand.

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An American musical revue of his songs, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, which debuted in 1968, has played around the world since. The opening song of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is "Les Flamandes," translated by Shuman and Blau as "Marathon," which is a charming encapsulation of the United States in the 20th century (mentioning, among others, Charles Lindbergh and Sacco and Vanzetti) but it bears no relationship to the original French lyrics of the song, a tongue-in-cheek assessment of the Flemish.

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