From 1953, Sun # 181, Rufus 'Hound Dog' Thomas, '(The Answer To Hound Dog) Bear Cat', featuring Joe Hill Louis on guitar.
'Big Mama' Thornton had released 'Hound Dog' on Don Robey's Peacock label ou... View MoreFrom 1953, Sun # 181, Rufus 'Hound Dog' Thomas, '(The Answer To Hound Dog) Bear Cat', featuring Joe Hill Louis on guitar.
'Big Mama' Thornton had released 'Hound Dog' on Don Robey's Peacock label out of Houston. A mere few weeks later, SUN Records owner, Sam Phillips, had heard the song and had immediately rewritten the lyrics to express a man's point of view. He had called Rufus Thomas, a Dee Jay over at WDIA ('The Negros Radio Station'), and asked if he would like to sing it.
Phillips, however, had left the chord structure and melody fully intact. Don Robey, therefore, had brought a lawsuit against Phillips and sued him. Sam was already on shaky financial ground, and this lawsuit had brought him to near bankruptcy, forcing him to sell Elvis Presley's contract to RCA Victor for a mere $35,000.
Incidentally, the phrase, 'The Answer To Hound Dog', was deleted from all subsequent pressings leaving the title as simply, 'Bear Cat'.
Generally, the only single you find of The Johnny Otis Show is 'Hand Jive', which, incidentally, is NOT a reference to masturbation. That's what a group of would be 'Facebook Fact-Checkers' wanted peo... View MoreGenerally, the only single you find of The Johnny Otis Show is 'Hand Jive', which, incidentally, is NOT a reference to masturbation. That's what a group of would be 'Facebook Fact-Checkers' wanted people to believe.
Johnny Otis was born December 28, 1921 as Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes. He had passed away January 12, 2012. He was a multi-faceted man whose talents included being an American singer, musician, composer, arranger, bandleader, talent scout, disc jockey, record producer, television show host, artist, author, journalist, minister, and impresario. He was a strong influence in Rhythm & Blues and Rock and Roll.
He had personally discovered MANY future artists including, Jackie Wilson, Little Esther Phillips, Johnny Ace, Hank Ballard (of The Midnighters), Etta James, the R&B group The Robins (later changing their name to The Coasters), Little Willie John, and Big Mama Thornton. He has been referred to as 'The Godfather of Rhythm & Blues'. I find it sad that "Willie And The Hand Jive" is the only song this multi-talented man really known for, and in such a nefarious way.
He was born in Vallejo, California, to Greek immigrant parents. His father, a Mare Island longshoreman and grocery store owner, his mother.. a painter. He had grown up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Berkeley, California, where his father owned his grocery store. Johnny had chosen to live his professional and personal life as a member of the African-American community.
He had once written, 'As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black'. And on that note, let me say this: many of my neighbors are Hispanic, and I have Black friends. NEVER HAD AN ISSUE WITH ANY OF THEM. The only people I HAVE had issues with .. were WHITE. It was on May 2, 1941 that Johnny had married Phyllis Walker. He was 19, she was 18.
She was of African American and Filipino descent, and they had known one another since childhood. This was back when interracial marriages were illegal. In spite of deep objections from his mother, they had eloped and married in Reno Nevada, where interracial marriages were accepted.
They had four children: two sons, Shuggie Otis and Nicholas Otis both of whom became musicians, two daughters, Janice and Laura. Johnny and Phyllis also raised Lucky Otis, Shuggie's son. Johnny, in 1955, had hosted a television show, The Johnny Otis Show, and became an influential disc jockey in Los Angeles, with a program on radio station KFOX in Long Beach. It was during this time, Otis had also started his own label, Ultra Records, which he had later changed to DIG after the first five singles.
Otis was also the founder and minister at the New Landmark Community Gospel Church, which held Sunday services in Santa Rosa, California. The church had closed in 1998. Johnny Otis had died of natural causes on January 17, 2012, in the Altadena area of Los Angeles. He had died three days before Etta James, whom he had discovered in the early 1950s. He is interred with his wife at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California.
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