Brad Suggs

Brad Suggs (* 1933 in Raleigh , North Carolina as Luther Bradley Suggs ) is an American rockabilly musician and former A&R manager.

Life

Beginnings

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Born and raised in North Carolina, Suggs began his career in the late 1940s under the name "Pee Wee Suggs" as a guitarist in the Loden Family. There he played alongside Sonny James ', who was active as a fiddler in the group. In the early 1950s he became a member of Slim Rhodes ' band. At the same time, Rhodes made his first recordings with Sun Records . Suggs can be heard as guitarist on these recordings. In 1952, however, his career was interrupted when he was drafted into the army .

Career

When it was learned that two of his brothers had already been killed in Korea , Suggs was allowed to spend his military service in the States. After he was released, he played with Slim Rhodes again. With Rhodes he recorded the songs Don't Believe , Are You Ashamed Of Me and Bad Girl for the first time as a singer . However, when Rhodes toured with his band, Suggs stayed in Memphis as his wife was sick at the time and he didn't want to leave her alone. Without informing Sam Phillips , the owner of Sun, he contacted Les Bihari, the owner of Meteor Records . There he recorded his first two solo pieces, Bob Baby Bop and Charcoal Suit, with Smokey Joe Baugh on the piano , among others . His record release gave him the opportunity to perform with other Meteor artists. But unlike most rockabilly musicians of his time, Suggs switched to producer and became A&R manager at Meteor.

At the same time, however, he continued to play with Rhodes, who had returned and was able to work at Sun as a session musician. He can be heard on Warren Smith 's Ubangi Stomp and Jerry Lee Lewis ' Hillbilly Fever, for example . With a sub-label of Sun, Phillips Records, Suggs continued to release records, his last was released in 1961. In the same year he played as a background musician at Elvis Presley's Memphis concert on February 25th.

After his musical career, Suggs put the music in the background and worked from then on at Sears Roebuck . He only performed on weekends. Today retired Brad Suggs lives in Fort Lauderdale , Florida .

Discography

year	title	Record company
1955	Uncertain Love / Don't Believe *	Sun Records
1955	Are You Ashamed of Me / The House of Sin *	Sun Records
1956	Gonna Romp and Stomp / Bad Girl *	Sun Records
1956	Bob Crazy Bob / Charcoal Suit	Meteor Records
1959	706 Union / Low Outside	Phillips Int.
1959	Oh Wee / I Walk The Line	Phillips Int.
1960	Cloudy / Partly Cloudy	Phillips Int.
1961	Like, Catchin 'Up / Elephant Walk	Phillips Int.

^* These recordings were made under the name of Slim Rhodes. Suggs can only be heard here as a singer.

Web links

• Discography with audio samples