I Remember Chuck Willis/The King of the Stroll

I admit it; before rock and roll exploded with Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, etc. I was aware of the pre-rock bluesmen and R&B singers and groups courtesy of WDIA, Memphis, TN., still in business today, BUT until the dance called the Stroll came along, I had never heard of Chuck Willis. I have since heard those songs and they are worth owning, but my focus here is on this package of his hits during the years he was "King of the Stroll". His "C.C. Rider" is the definitive version of a song recorded by many other artists over the years. I still have an original vinyl 45 with "What Am I Living For?" b/w "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes" and acquired a reissue of "Betty and Dupree" after that.They really evoke memories for me. Conway Twitty, in his rock and roll years, recorded "What Am I Living For?" and also a cover of "Oh, What a Dream" which Chuck Willis wrote. (Ruth Brown earlier recorded it). The Stroll King also wrote "Feel So Bad" covered so well in a 1961 version by Elvis Presley. The original years of early rock and roll were not over when Chuck Willis died of an inflammation of the abdominal cavity called peritonitis. He had just turned thirty. This package of songs is a big part of his legacy and I recommend it.

Take your pick from the above title, as Chuck Willis was known by both descriptions. Both are accurate.

In retrospect it's kind of strange when you compare the reactions to a series of tragic events involving recording artists. Buddy Holly dies a premature death at age 23 in 1959 and it's immediately dubbed "the day the music died." Chuck Willis passes away at age 30 on the operating table on April 10, 1958 from a perforated ulcer - and it's barely noticed or remembered.

Eddie Cochran manages to put all of seven songs into the Top 100 on the pop singles charts, only three of which were Top 40, is killed in a 1960 car crash at age 22, and he's inducted into the R&R Hall Of Fame in 1987, primarily because he was regarded as a "prime influence" on many to follow. So too was Gene Vincent [in 1998, some 27 years after his death in 1971 at age 36 he was also brought into the Hall of Fame] who had the same number of Top 40 hits and just six Top 100.

But Chuck Willis, with 14 charted R&B hits, five of which also made the pop charts, four in the Top 40, and who is the father of The Stroll, one of the most popular dance crazes of the late 1950's, is not yet in the Hall. What's wrong with this picture?

In this 25-selection compilation which pulls together two of his vinyl LPs, Collectables amply demonstrates why he should be considered as they present his nine Atlantic hits AND their B-sides, along with some of his better album cuts.

His first at Atlantic, billed to Chuck Willis & His Band, and with the vocal backing of The Cookies, was It's Too Late, but it only registered on the R&B charts, rising to # 3 in the summer of 1956 b/w Kansas City Woman. The same applied to his next hit which came late in that year, but this time both sides charted as Juanita, again with The Cookies backing, made to to # 7 R&B while the B-side, Whatcha' Gonna Do When Your Baby Leaves You, settled in at # 11.

But then came his seminal cover of the 1925 Ma Rainey classic, See See Rider Blues, which, re-titled C.C. Rider and backed by the Jesse Stone orchestra, went all the way to # 1 R&B and # 12 Billboard Pop Top 100 in spring 1957 b/w Ease The Pain. This, in fact, is the tune that inspired The Stroll dance craze that soon followed.

Nothing else he did would make the charts for the better part of a full year, but in early 1958 Betty And Dupree fit right into the craze when, again with the Stone orchestra, it peaked at # 15 R&B/# 33 Top 100 in February b/w My Crying Eyes.

By April he was dead, and within a month his first posthumous hits began climbing the charts as the prophetic double-sided hit What Am I Living For?/Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes rose to # 1 R&B/# 9 Top 100 and # 9 R&B/# 24 Top 100, both with the backing of Reggie Obrecht & His Orchestra. Early that fall My Life topped out at # 12 R&B/# 46 Billboard Pop Hot 100 b/w Thunder And Lightning, and in December he had his final hit with one of my Chuck Willis favourites, Keep A-Driving, which settled at # 19 R&B b/w You'll Be My Love.

Although not billed as such, this is a perfect "best Of" in every sense of the word and definitely not to be missed. In addition to perfect sound quality you also get the original LP liner notes written by Jack Walker (for the I Remember Chuck Willis album) and Guy Remark for The King Of The Stroll LP). AND if you want his first five hits for Columbia's Okeh subsidiary, registered from 1952 to 1954, they're ALL on the CD Let's Jump Tonight - The Best Of Chuck Willis. If you can find a copy it makes a perfect duo.

Purchased this CD because I wanted music to learn how to do the Stroll with. The Stroll is done at a dance I attend.

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