Junior Thompson

Jesse "Junior" Thompson (born January 25, 1937 in Lawrence County , Alabama , † August 28, 1978 ) was an American rockabilly musician. Thompson was one of the many rockabilly artists on Meteor Records .

Life

Childhood and youth

Born the youngest of five children, Jesse Thompson grew up in St. Joseph , Tennessee , where the family moved after he was born. He received his nickname "Junior" because he was the youngest member of the family. Thompson was a passionate basketball player in his youth, but music was his favorite hobby. He taught himself to play the guitar autodidactically, i.e. without knowledge of sheet music. Thompson lost his father in a car accident when he was ten; his brother also died in a car accident six years later.

Career

In 1954, he left school without a degree to roam the country with his band, The Mountain Rhythm Boys . In September 1955 they won a talent competition on the Florence radio station WJIOL , which led to appearances in Ernest Tubb's Midnight Jamboree on WSM . In Rick Hall's recording studio in Muscle Shoals , Thompson and his band made their first demo recordings. Since guitarist Jimmy Lovelace was distantly related to Sam Phillips , the owner of Sun Records in Memphis , they were given the opportunity to audition there. Phillips liked Thompson and the Mountain Rhythm Boys, but had enough to do with Carl Perkins and no time to worry about other artists, as Perkins had a number one with Blue Suede Shoes . Nevertheless, Phillips recommended the band to Les Bihari, the head of Meteor Records. After a short audition in January 1956, the two tracks Raw Deal / Mama's Little Baby were recorded.

The band then moved to Birmingham , where they worked with Happy Al Burns as Go Go Five . Another record was released in the same year. They were also members of the Dixie Hayride . In 1957, however, the band split; the former members continued to appear as The 5 Jets without Thompson . Thompson worked for the next few years as a session musician on various labels.

In the 1960s, he put music as a hobby and ran a men's clothing store. He also made up for his school leaving certificate, which he had not completed in 1954. Thompson worked on the side as a songwriter and gave appearances. In August 1978 he played with the country star George Jones at a concert in Florence.

Junior Thompson died of a heart attack on August 28, 1978, the day after his concert with Jones, at the age of 43.

Discography

year	title	Record company
1956	Raw Deal / Mama's Little Baby	Meteor Records
1956	Who's knocking? / How Come You Do Me?	Tune Records
1967	Jungle Girl / Sit By My Site	JJ'S Records
1968	Sally Ann From Paris, France / I'll Never Let You Go Little Darling	JJ'S Records
1968	Ooby Dooby / House Of Lost Lovers	JJ'S Records
1968	Jimmy Boy / Cry On My Shoulder	JJ's Records
1969	Big Black Spider / Pretty Blue Eyes	Badd Records

Web links

• Discography with audio samples