This was the first ever Doo Wop #1 in the USA, and it also made The Platters the first R&B vocal group to have a #1 on the Pop charts. The music was not known as “Doo Wop” at the time -- it was categorized as Rock or R&B. Around 1970, Gus Gossert, who was an oldies DJ on WCBS in New York City, started using the term “Doo Wopp” to describe this type of music. Gossert didn’t come up with the term however -- a record collector named Stan Krause did, who helped produce Gossert’s shows and gave him song information to use on the air.

That was Alan Freed who introduced them, who was  commonly referred to as the “father of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Alan was the music promoter and DJ who introduced the term “Rock ‘n’ Roll” into common public use.

Before any success or recognition, in 1952, the original group consisted of Alex Hodge, Cornell Gunter, David Lynch, Joe Jefferson, Gaynel Hodge.

By 1953, The Platters original members David Lynch (second tenor) and Alex Hodge (baritone), added Tony Williams (tenor), and Herb Reed (bass), and were signed by manager Buck Ram to Federal Records. Ram made the addition of female vocalist Zola Taylor. Ram had originally met the Platters while they were working as parking lot attendants.

What changed their fortunes boils down to one very important name: their mentor, manager, producer, songwriter, and vocal coach, Buck Ram. Ram took a standard doo wop vocal group and turned them into stars — one of the most enduring and lucrative groups of all time.

After getting them out of a contract with Federal Records, Ram placed them with the burgeoning national independent label Mercury Records (at the same time he brought over the Penguins following their success with “Earth Angel”), automatically getting them into pop markets through the label’s distribution contacts alone. Then Ram started honing in on the group’s strengths and weaknesses. The first thing he did was put the lead-vocal status squarely on the shoulders of lead tenor Tony Williams. Williams’ emoting power was turned up full blast with the group (now augmented with Zola Taylor) working as very well-structured vocal support framing his every note.

The group quickly became a pop and R&B success, eventually earning the distinction of being the first black act of the era to top the pop charts. Considered the most romantic of all the doo wop groups, hit after hit came tumbling forth in a seemingly effortless manner: “Only You”, “My Prayer”, “Twilight Time”,  (Jerome Kern’s)”Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and “Harbor Lights”.

Ram had the Platters record “Only You” during their first session for Mercury. Released in the summer of 1955, it became the group’s first Top Ten hit on the pop charts and topped the R&B charts for seven weeks. The follow-up, “The Great Pretender”, with lyrics written in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas by Buck Ram, exceeded the success of their debut and became the Platters’ first national #1 hit. “The Great Pretender” was also the act’s biggest R&B hit, with an 11-week run atop that chart. In 1956, the Platters appeared in the first major motion picture based around rock and roll, Rock Around the Clock, and performed both “Only You” and “The Great Pretender”.

The Platters also differed from most other groups of the era because Ram had the group incorporated in 1956. Each member of the group received a 20% share in the stock, full royalties, and their Social Security was paid. As group members left one by one, Ram and his business partner, Jean Bennett, bought their stock, which they claimed gave them ownership of the “Platters” name. A court later ruled, however, that a sham was used by Mr. Ram to obtain ownership in the name “Platters”, and the issuance of stock to the group members was “illegal and void” because it violated California corporate securities law.

In 1961, Williams struck out on his own. By the decade’s end, the group had disbanded, with various members starting up their own version of the Platters. Decades of competing versions ensued, until original member Herb Reed finally won a series of court cases. Reed, who died in 2012, restarted the group and patterned them on the original, and a version is still touring currently.

The original (successful) group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in its inaugural year of 1998. In 2004, “The Great Pretender” was voted 360th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone.

Hits: 41

“Who Do You Love” was written by American rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley. Recorded in 1956, it is one of his most popular and enduring works. The song represents one of Bo Diddley’s strongest lyrical efforts and uses a combination of hoodoo-type imagery and boasting. It is an upbeat rocker, but the original did not use the signature Bo Diddley beat rhythm.

“Who Do You Love” was recorded in Chicago on March 24, 1956, one year after recording the self-titled “Bo Diddley”, his debut single. Bo Diddley uses his characteristic sound processing effects, including echoey vocal and tremolo-laden rhythm electric guitar. Jody Williams (Joseph Leon Williams) answers the vocal lines with prominent, distinctive overdriven guitar fills and a solo. In naming Jody Williams to its list of “35 Blues Guitarists Who Definitely Started It All”, Spin magazine adds, “His solo on Diddley’s ‘Who Do You Love’ is a lesson in evil”. Clifton James plays the drums and percussionist Jerome Green adds maracas.

The idea came to him in Kansas City, where he heard a group of children trying to out-brag one another using a particular rhythm. “It was like an African chant, and I wanted words that would suit it”, Bo Diddley recalled.

Inspired by Muddy Waters 1954 hit “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”, as was his hit “I’m A Man” the next year, he wanted to outdo songwriter Willie Dixon’s lyrical swagger:

I’m telling this chick … how bad I am, so she can go tell the cat she’s hanging with, “this dude is something else.” That’s what it kinda meant, cat ridin’ rattlesnakes and kissin’ boa constrictors and stuff.

He also sings about a skull, a tombstone, a graveyard, and a scream in the night to convey a sense of foreboding. The use of the homonym “who do” is an allusion to “hoodoo”, a Louisiana/Mississippi folk magic belief that events can be influenced by its use. However, Bo Diddley uses imagery more common to the American Southwest, combined with exaggerated bravado. He explained that the first line,

I got forty-seven miles of barbed wire”, came quickly, “but I couldn’t get a rhyme for it. I thought of car tires and mule trains, and I couldn’t get anything to fit. Then one day I said ‘use a cobra snake,’ and my drummer, Clifton James, added ‘for a necktie'”. These are directed at a female he is trying to woo – “who do you love, me or him”. The lyrics confirm the effect: “Arlene took me by my hand, she said ‘oo-ee daddy I understand’, who do you love?

Musically, “Who Do You Love” is an uptempo song centered on one chord (A♭) with guitar flourishes that complement the vocals. It has a strong rhythm, but unlike later interpretations, it does not use the typical Bo Diddley beat. Instead, the song uses a “modified cut shuffle beat” or 2/4 time, giving it an almost rockabilly feel, similar to Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene”.

Bo Diddley revolutionized the texture of pop music. He put the rhythm in the foreground, stripping away the rest, and customized the space with tremolo, distortion, echo and reverb, to say nothing of maracas. The way he chunked on the lower strings was a primary model for what was later known as rhythm guitar. He had lots of space to fill up with his guitar, because his records had no piano and no bass. Which also meant no harmonic complications. Hanging on a single tone, never changing chords — the writer Robert Palmer called that the “deep blues,” something that reached from Chicago back to the front-porch style of Mississippi and Louisiana. Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters recorded one-chord songs before Bo Diddley did, but he made them central to his repertoire.

“Who Do You Love” is listed at 132 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. A member of both the Blues and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, Diddley received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, as well as a Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

The song has been interpreted and recorded by numerous musicians in different styles, often adding a Bo Diddley beat. Popular renditions include those by Ronnie Hawkins and George Thorogood, with charting singles by the Woolies, Tom Rush, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Juicy Lucy.

Hits: 45

“Not Fade Away” is a song credited to Buddy Holly (originally under his first and middle names, Charles Hardin) and Norman Petty (although Petty’s co-writing credit is likely to have been a formality) and first recorded by Holly and his band, the Crickets (Joe Mauldin on bass, Jerry Allison on drums, Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar). Until the end of his career, Holly recorded with his group, The Crickets, but he set up a deal with their record company, Decca Records, to release some songs under his name and have others credited to the group. This was credited to The Crickets and released on the Brunswick subsidiary. Songs credited to Buddy Holly came out on Coral Records. Drummer Jerry Allison played a cardboard box for percussion on this. He’d heard Buddy Knox’ drummer do the same on “Party Doll.”

The song’s popularity has only intensified through the versions of other high-powered rock and roll acts such as The Everly Brothers, The Rolling Stones, James Taylor, and The Grateful Dead.

The Grateful Dead performed “Not Fade Away” 530 times in their career; it was their seventh most-performed song.

The cover by the Rolling Stones was one of their first hits. Recorded in January 1964 and released by Decca Records on February 21, 1964, with “Little by Little” as the B-side, it was their first Top 10 hit in Great Britain, reaching number three. In March 1964, it was also the band’s first single released in the United States, on the London Records label with “I Wanna Be Your Man” as the B-side (It had been briefly preceded by “I Wanna Be Your Man” with “Stoned” as the B-side, but this was quickly withdrawn).

Here they are on the Mike Douglas show, with a bit of silliness to begin:

Their manager, Andrew Oldham, was convinced the Stones would be successful after hearing what they did with this. Said Oldham:

Although it was a Buddy Holly song, I considered it to be like the first song Mick and Keith wrote, in that they picked the concept of applying that Bo Diddley thing to it. The way they arranged it was the beginning of the shaping of them as songwriters. From then on they wrote. At that time, Mick, Keith, and I lived together. They were into the last half bottle of wine and going through, it was one of those magical moments. When Keith played that to me in the front room you could actually HEAR the record in that room. What basically made the record was that whole Bo Diddley acoustic guitar thrust. You heard the whole record in one room. We gotta record it! But there’s no way if someone had just said coldly, Right, let’s do “Not Fade Away” that we would have wanted to do it without hearing the way that Keith was playing it on the guitar. Keith just did it. And that was that. To me, they wrote the song. It’s a pity we couldn’t have gotten the money.

Charlie Watts:
We did it with a Bo Diddley beat, which at the time was very avant garde for a white band to be playing Bo Diddley’s stuff. It was a very popular rhythm for us in clubs; looking at it from the drumming point of view. So we did it in this slightly different way than Buddy Holly did it.” Phil Spector is credited with playing maracas on the record but in fact he was playing an empty cognac bottle with a 50 cent piece.

Bill Wyman:
The rhythm thing was formed basically around the Buddy Holly thing. We brought the rhythm up and emphasized it. Holly had used that Bo Diddley trademark beat on his version, but because he was only using bass, drums and guitar, the rhythm element is sort of a throwaway. Holly played it lightly. We just got into it more and put the Bo Diddley beat up front.

In 2004, this song was ranked number 107 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. The Crickets’ recording never charted as a single.

Hits: 59

The Penguins were an American doo-wop group of the 1950s and early 1960s, who formed in 1954 with members Cleveland Duncan (lead vocal), Curtis Williams (tenor vocal), Dexter Tisby (baritone vocal), and Bruce Tate (tenor vocal).

Duncan and Williams were former classmates at Fremont High School in Los Angeles, California, and Williams had become a member of The Hollywood Flames. In late 1953, they decided to form a new vocal group, and added Tisby and Tate. What inspired their name, says Cleve, was Willie the Penguin, the cartoon logo character in Kool mentholated cigarette ads. This was a time when many young black vocal groups, inspired by late-’40s proto-doo-wop groups The Orioles and The Ravens, named themselves after birds. “What was more cool than a penguin?” Cleve says now, with a smile.

Williams and Gaynel Hodge were previously members of The Hollywood Flames, where they began writing “Earth Angel” with mentor Jesse Belvin, also a Fremont High graduate.

I was singing at a talent show at the California Club on Santa Barbara Avenue” says Cleve, “and Curtis Williams came up afterward and wanted to know if I’d form a group with him.” Curtis Williams had recently left The Hollywood Flames, with whom he had recorded a couple of singles. “So Curtis got [baritone] Bruce Tate from his high school [Jefferson] and I got [tenor] Dexter Tisby from my high school [Fremont]. We learned a few songs, got on some talent shows, sang in some clubs. Then Ted Brinson heard us and got involved.

“Earth Angel” was recorded as a literal garage demo—it was recorded in a home garage at the Los Angeles home of Ted Brinson (a relative of Dootsie Williams, who was a big band veteran and performs bass guitar on the track). The garage was used as the primary recording space of Dootsie Williams for all of his Dootone artists.

The drums were muffled with pillows so as to not overwhelm the vocals. A neighbor’s pet dog stopped many takes by barking.
Everytime the dog barked next door, I’d have to go out and shut him up, and then we’d do another take.

remembered Williams. Williams performs piano on the track, with Preston Epps on bongos (though this unconfirmed), as well as an unknown drummer.

Before his death in 1991, Walter “Dootsie” Williams, owner of Dootone Records, recalled that he first heard about The Penguins from Brinson.

He had a backyard studio over on 30th Street between Arlington and Western that was very economical, so I recorded there. My stuff was mostly songwriters demos then. They’d pay me $300 and I’d record their song. So I heard the group and liked them.

But Dootsie Williams’ was first and foremost a music publisher, and what drew him to The Penguins was that they had brought him a couple of original songs called “Earth Angel” and “Hey, Senorita” (formerly “Esa Chiquita’).

He recorded both songs as demos at Brinson’s studio sometime in the late summer of 1954, and then got an unexpected amount of local airplay.

Williams carried a rough acetate dub with him to Dolphin’s of Hollywood All Night Record Shop, a local record store, to gauge shop owner John Dolphin’s opinion. Dolphin broadcast a late-night rhythm and blues broadcast from his store, and KGFJ disc jockey Dick Hugg was sitting in. Hugg played both sides of the single, and by the next morning, requests began coming in for the song. As a result, Williams abandoned an idea to overdub additional instrumentation and began immediate manufacturing of the 7″ single to issue it as soon as possible. Still convinced “Hey Señorita” would be the hit, it was pressed to the A-side; disc jockeys soon began flipping the record in favor of “Earth Angel”.

The demand for “Earth Angel” nearly bankrupted Dootone, because he had to keep pressing new records even though distributors across the country weren’t paying him for copies already sold. Producer Walter Williams ran out of label paper, leading the single to be pressed on multiple colored labels. It made its first appearance in Billboard as a territorial hit for Los Angeles, becoming the second best-selling R&B single in Los Angeles for the second week of October 1954. It climbed to number one for the city by November 13, after which it began to grow in popularity in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Nashville. “Earth Angel” became the first independent label release to appear on Billboard‘s national pop charts, where it peaked within the top 10. It was a big hit on the magazine’s R&B charts, where it remained number one for several weeks.

The Penguins’ only hit, it eventually sold in excess of 10 million copies. The original recording of the song remained an enduring hit single for much of the 1950s, and it is now considered to be one of the definitive doo-wop songs. In 2005, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, deeming it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important.”

The Penguins toured back east, appeared at the Apollo Theater and at Alan Freed’s Brooklyn Paramount rock ‘n’ roll shows, and performed for a national audience on “The Ed Sullivan Show. During this period they enjoyed the status of hitmakers, sharing the stage with greats like Louis Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. But despite some good recordings, they couldn’t come up with a successful follow-up to “Earth Angel.

Though competent, their 1957-58 recordings lacked the old fire of the earlier Dootone and Mercury sides, and none of them sold. Demoralized, The Penguins broke up. Cleve Duncan tried something different by recording one single with sisters Gladys and Vesta White (The Radiants), but it likewise went nowhere.

Forming a new Penguins in the early 60’s as a trio – Cleve, baritone Walter Saulsberry and tenor/bass Glen Madison (formerly of The Delcos) they recorded a couple more singles for local labels to capitalize on the dance crazes of the early ’60s. Since then this Penguins lineup has been steadily performing around the country (and occasionally overseas), and Cleve Duncan still sounds pretty much the same as he did that day in Ted Brinson’s garage. As soon as he opens his mouth to sing “Earth Angel,” the last 45 years just fall away.

Hits: 57

The Everly Brothers were a country-influenced duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. They were professionals way before their teens, schooled by their accomplished guitarist father Isaac Milford “Ike” Everly, Jr, and singing with their family on radio broadcasts in Iowa.  Ike Everly had a show on KMA and KFNF in Shenandoah in the mid-1940s, first with his wife and then with their sons. The brothers sang on the radio as “Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil.” In the mid-’50s, they made a brief stab at conventional Nashville country.

The brothers toured with Buddy Holly in 1957 and 1958. According to Holly’s biographer Philip Norman, they were responsible for persuading Holly and the Crickets to change their outfits from Levi’s and T-shirts to the Everlys’ Ivy League suits. Don said Holly wrote and composed “Wishing” for them. “We were all from the South,” Phil observed of their commonalities. “We’d started in country music.”

In 1966 they recorded an album with the Hollies (who were probably more blatantly influenced by the Everlys than any other British band of the time). The album, “Two Yanks in England“, is  by The Everly Brothers while the backing band on most of the recordings is actually The Hollies, and eight of the twelve songs featured are credited to L. Ransford, the songwriting pseudonym of The Hollies’ Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Graham Nash. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are also purported to play on the record as session musicians. Also, in a recent interview with Nash on David Dye’s World Cafe, it is claimed Reggie Dwight (a.k.a. Elton John) played on the album.

In the late ’60s, they helped pioneer country-rock with the 1968 album Roots, their most sophisticated and unified full-length statement.

The decades of enforced professional togetherness finally took their toll on the pair in the early ’70s, which saw a few dispirited albums and, finally, an acrimonious breakup in 1973. They spent the next decade performing solo, which only proved — as is so often the case in close-knit artistic partnerships — how much each brother needed the other to sound his best. In 1983, enough water had flowed under the bridge for the two to resume performing and recording together. The tours, with a backup band led by guitarist Albert Lee, proved they could still sing well. The records (both live and studio) were fair efforts that, in the final estimation, were not in nearly the same league as their ’50s and ’60s classics.

Don Everly admitted that he had lived “a very difficult life” with his brother and that he and Phil had become estranged once again in later years, something which was mainly attributed to “their vastly different views on politics and life,” with the music being the one thing they shared closely, saying, “it’s almost like we could read each other’s minds when we sang.”

On January 3, 2014, Phil Everly died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chet Atkins, a friend of their father Ike, played guitar on this. Atkins, who died of cancer in 2001, was a world-famous musician who created a distinctive sound using a 3-fingered picking technique.

Some Boston radio stations banned this song because of the lyrics, which imply that the young couple spent the night together. At the time, staying out late with a girl was a little controversial.

The song was ranked at #318 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

This was written by the husband and wife team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote most of The Everly Brothers songs in the ’50s. This was a labor of love for the songwriting duo.

“We persevered with ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ for many hours,” Boudleaux recalled to Country Music People. “I started writing one night, kept trying to get my ideas down, but it just wouldn’t happen. Finally I woke Felice, who took one listen to what I had so far achieved and came up with the final touches that I couldn’t get.

“The Everlys liked the song, but like me had problems with getting it right in the studio. They worked a whole three-hour session on that one song and had to give up, they just couldn’t get it right. We all trooped back to the studio the next day and got it down first take. That’s the way it happens sometimes.”

The story of the Bryants began at an elevator in Milwaukee’s Schroeder Hotel. It was the spring of 1945 and the elevator operator was 19-year-old Matilda Genevieve Scaduto. While working, she struck up a conversation with a visiting musician from Georgia named Boudleaux Bryant. After five days, Boudleaux and Matilda ran off together.

For the next 30 years, as the husband and wife team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, they went on to become one of the most successful songwriting teams ever. They produced hits for Tony Bennett, Eddy Arnold, Ruth Brown, Roy Orbison, Carl Smith, Charley Pride, Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves, Leo Sayer, Christy Lane, Joe Stampley and Moe Bandy and -- most memorably -- the Everly Brothers. They wrote “Let’s Think About Lovin'” for Bob Luman, and Boudleaux co-wrote “My Last Date” with Skeeter Davis. Boudleaux had an instrumental hit called “Mexico.” There was “Rocky Top” for Buck Owens, “Raining In My Heart” for Buddy Holly and “Love Hurts” for Roy Orbison.

They wrote the songs “Bye Bye Love”,  “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” “Problems,” “Bird Dog,” “Poor Jenny” and “Like Strangers”  for the Everlys as well.

Altogether it’s estimated that the songs of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant have sold 300 million records. The couple has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the National Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Everly Brothers had 35 Billboard Top-100 singles, 26 in the top 40 and hold the record for the most Top-100 singles by any duo. In 1986, the Everly Brothers were among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were introduced by Neil Young, who observed that every musical group he had ever belonged to had tried, and failed, to copy the Everly Brothers’ harmonies. The brothers were inducted into the Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. In 1997, they were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.

Ed Note: The Grateful Dead did a version of this song, as well.

Hits: 31

“Why Do Fools Fall in Love” is a song that was originally a hit for early New York City-based rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers in January 1956. Frankie was 15 when he wrote and recorded this song.

In late 1955, The Teenagers (at that time calling themselves The Premiers) auditioned a song called “Why do Birds Sing So Gay?” for George Goldner, recording producer and owner of Gee Records. Herman Santiago, tenor of the group, had written the song based on a line from some love letters given to the guys by a tenant in bassist Sherman Garnes’ apartment building.

One of them featured the words “Why do birds sing so gay?,” which fit in with lyrics of other songs that Herman had been writing. So Herman worked with it, creating a song for Herman Santiago to lead, and adjusting the harmony to take advantage of Frankie Lymon’s high tenor/soprano. Along the way, Herman changed some of the lyrics.

During the audition Frankie’s voice stood out and, at Goldner’s suggestion, the lead in subsequent recording sessions was given to Frankie. Frankie did some improvising and re-created the melody to match his own style. According to Jimmy Merchant, what happened at the recording session was a combination of “Frankie’s singing ability coupled with George Goldner’s special ability to bring out the best in Frankie.”

TV Version:

Hits: 47

Big Mama (Willie Mae) Thornton was born in Ariton, Alabama, on December 11, 1926. She was exposed to music at a young age in the church where her father was a minister, and grew up singing in its choir, along with her mother and six siblings. Willie Mae also learned drums and harmonica, perhaps from a brother who was an outstanding player, later known as “Harp” Thornton. Her mother died young, when Thornton was only 14 years old, and Willlie Mae left school and got a job washing and cleaning spittoons in a local tavern.

In 1940 she left home and, with the help of Diamond Teeth Mary, music promoter Sammy Green soon discovered Thornton and recruited her to join his Atlanta-based Hot Harlem Revue. She remained with the group for seven years, contributing drum and harmonica parts to the show as well as vocals. In 1948, she settled in Houston, Texas, determined to advance her career as a singer. She would tour the southeast with the group for seven years.

Thornton relocated to Houston to get off the road and take advantage of their burgeoning club scene. There she met bandleader Johnny Otis and promoter Don Robey, who were impressed that in addition to singing she could play harmonica and drums. In 1951, she was signed to her first record contract by Peacock Records. A year later, she was headlining shows at the Apollo Theatre, where she first became known as ‘Big Mama’ (Thornton stood 6 feet tall and weighed over 300 pounds).

In 1953, she would release the biggest hit of her career – “Hound Dog”. In August 1952, at a recording session in southwest Los Angeles, she was approached by the young songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — soon to become rock & roll legends. They offered her a 12-bar blues vocal called “Hound Dog,” which she liked and paired on a single with her own “They Call Me Big Mama” on the B-side.

In an interview with music critic Ralph Gleason, Thornton recalls, “They were just a couple of kids and they had the song written on the back of a paper bag.” Authorship of the song is a matter of dispute, however. Both Johnny Otis, who produced the track, and the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller have claimed credit for the song.

She added a few lyrics and toyed with the rhythm. The song would go on to top the rhythm and blues charts for nine weeks after its release. Her exuberant “Hound Dog,” laden with open sexual references, whoops, and barks, was released nationwide in 1953 and soon topped the R&B charts. Despite its sale of two million copies, Thornton received only $500, the flat fee for recording.

In contrast, Elvis Presley’s 1956 version:

Which was heavily refined for mainstream audiences, brought him both fame and considerable financial reward.

Thornton originally recorded her next most popularly known song, “Ball ‘n’ Chain” for Bay-Tone Records in the early 1960s, “and though the label chose not to release the song…they did hold on to the copyright” — which meant that Thornton missed out on the publishing royalties when Janis Joplin recorded the song later in the decade. However, there are released versions of the song by Big Mama.

It was not until Janis Joplin covered Thornton’s “Ball ‘n’ Chain” that it became a hit. Thornton did not receive compensation for her song, but Joplin gave her the recognition she deserved by having Thornton open for her. Joplin found her singing voice through Thornton, who praised Joplin’s version of “Ball ‘n’ Chain”, saying, “That girl feels like I do.” Janis’ famous performance at the 1967 Monterey pop festival stunned the audience and brought her to the wider attention of the music world.

Thornton subsequently received greater recognition for her popular songs, but she is still underappreciated for her influence on the blues, rock & roll and soul music. Thornton’s music was also influential in shaping American popular music. The lack of appreciation she received for “Hound Dog” and “Ball ‘n’ Chain” as they became popular hits is representative of the lack of recognition she received during her career as a whole.

Thornton was found dead at age 57 by medical personnel in a Los Angeles boarding house on July 25, 1984. She died of heart and liver disorders due to her longstanding alcohol abuse. She had lost 255 pounds (116 kg) in a short time as a result of illness, her weight dropping from 350 to 95 pounds (159–43 kg).

During her career, Thornton was nominated for the Blues Music Awards six times. In 1984, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In addition to “Ball ‘n’ Chain” and “They Call Me Big Mama,” Thornton wrote twenty other blues songs. Her “Ball ‘n’ Chain” is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”.

Hits: 44

“Good Golly, Miss Molly” was  recorded in 1956 by Little Richard and released in January 1958. The song, a jump blues, was written by John Marascalco and producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell.  Although it was first recorded by Little Richard, Blackwell produced another version by The Valiants, who imitated the fast first version recorded by Little Richard, not released at this time. Although the Valiants’ version was released first in 1957, Little Richard had the hit, reaching #4.

The song by Little Richard is ranked #94 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Like all his early hits, it quickly became a rock ‘n’ roll standard and has subsequently been covered by hundreds of artists.

Little Richard first heard the phrase “Good golly, Miss Molly” from a Southern DJ named Jimmy Pennick. He modified the lyrics into the more suggestive. “Good golly, Miss Molly/You sure like to ball.”

Little Richard himself later claimed that he took the music from Ike Turner’s piano intro to Jackie Brenston’s influential 1951 rock and roll song “Rocket 88”, and used it for “Good Golly, Miss Molly”.

“I always liked that record,” Richard recalled, “and I used to use the riff in my act, so when we were looking for a lead-in to ‘Good Golly, Miss Molly’, I did that and it fit.”

Little Richard’s publisher sued Creedence Clearwater Revival over their song “Travelin’ Band,” which they claimed lifted from “Molly.”  Instead of the result of the gift of a diamond ring being “When she hugs me, her kissin’ make me ting-a-ling-a-ling,” John Fogerty sang, “Would you pardon me a kissin’ and a ting-a-ling-a-ling?” A settlement was reached with Creedence giving up some of their royalties.

Hits: 52