Artist:Rosco Gordon
Song:Booted
Album:No More Doggin'
Rosco Gordon scored a couple of R&B hits in the early 50s. By the early 60s Gordon was so disenchanted that he quit the music business. No less an authority than Island Records founder Chris Blackwell credits Gordon as a big influence on Jamaican music. He was born Apr. 10, 1928 in Memphis the youngest of eight children. He learned to play piano from his sister who took lessons. Gordon was involved with The Beale Streeters which included Johnny Ace, Bobby "Blue" Bland and B.B. King. In 1950, Gordon won a talent contest. The host of the show Rufus Thomas invited Gordon to come on his WDIA radio show. Gordon soon had his own show. Station manager David Mattis introduced Gordon to Sun Studios owner Sam Phillips. Meanwhile Ike Turner got Gordon to record Saddled the Cow (and Milk the Horse) for Modern Records' RPM label which reached #9 on the R&B Singles chart. Booted was the second single and it topped the R&B Singles chart. Phillips licensed the record to Chess to get national distribution. The third single No More Doggin' reached #2. Gordon also recorded for Duke and VeeJay. The 1960 VeeJay single Just a Little Bit reached #2 on the R&B Singles chart. You can get all of Gordon's 50s recordings on this budget comp. Gordon quit the music business in 1962 after winning a Queens, NY laundry business in a poker game. It looks like his wife wanted him to stay home. Gordon recorded occasionally but wouldn't return to touring until his wife died in 1984. He died on July 11, 2002 at age 74. Chris Blackwell credits Gordon's music as an influence on the creation of ska when Jamaican musicians heard his music in the late 50s. Here's a video of Booted by Rosco Gordon.
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