Larry Donn
Larry Donn (born June 7, 1941 near Bono , Arkansas , as Larry Donn Gillihan ; † May 1, 2012 ) was an American rockabilly musician. Donn played with many stars in his career and was also active as a session musician.
Life
Childhood and youth
Larry Donn was born on a farm in Arkansas. Some of his relatives were also musicians - an uncle Donns played intermittently with Bob Wills in the 1940s . In his childhood he was mainly influenced by country music , which the family heard on the radio. From an early age he helped out on the farm and worked in the cotton fields. When he saw a concert by Sonny Burgess in a sports hall in 1955 , he was fascinated by rockabilly. He also got interested in Elvis Presley , who only gave one show in Bono.
Career
When Donn was recovering from a lawnmower accident in July 1957, he learned to play the guitar. Shortly afterwards he took part in a talent competition, where he took second place with the two Johnny Cash songs Home of the Blues and Give My Love to Rose and met the guitarist Benny Kuykendall, with his brother Scotty (bass) and Eddie Reeves ( Drums) he started a band. Together they took every opportunity to perform in Arkansas and Missouri .
In 1957, Donn befriended Billy Lee Riley and now changed his shows towards rockabilly, as his repertoire had previously consisted more of country. During this time he was heavily influenced by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins , Roy Orbison , Warren Smith and Ricky Nelson . In early 1958 he played with Bobby Brown for a short time , but returned to his old band after Brown went on tour in Canada . With this he took on shortly afterwards in the Sun Studio in Memphis , Tennessee , That's What I Call a Ball , which remained unpublished.
It wasn't until 1959 that Donn recorded That's What I Call a Ball together with Honey-Bun for Vaden Records . It became his first single. During this time Donn also played bass and piano on pieces by other Vaden musicians. However, Donn's single was not a hit and should remain his only release with Vaden.
In 1961 followed a second single for Ad-Bur, which was recorded together with Sonny Burgess and Tommy T. In the period that followed, he repeatedly published singles on small labels, which, however, received little attention. In the 1970s Donn worked a lot as a session musician and can be heard as a pianist on recordings by Kenny Owens . 1978 Donn and his band accompanied Billy Lee Riley on his Mojo album Vintage ; Donn also produced this album.
In the 1980s, Donn was rediscovered by the European rockabilly scene and has given concerts since then. From 1971 Donn also released albums - his last was released in 2007 with Burning! . Donn died on May 1, 2012.
Discography
Singles
| year | title | Label # | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | That's What I Call a Ball / Honey-Bun | Vaden 45-113 | |||
| 1960 | Girl Next Door / Today (with Sonny Burgess & Tommy T.) | Ad-Bur 100 | |||
| 1963 | I'll Never Forget You / One Broken Heart | Alley 1012 | |||
| 1972 | I Can't Get Her Face Out of My Mind / Old Crazy Sally | Rimrock 362 | |||
| 1978 | Tryin 'to Get to You / Just a Mand In a Honky Tonk Band | Shelby 1002 | |||
| 1989 | The Great American Superstar (Rockabilly Blues) / An Old Hillbilly Cat | Three Suns TS 1 | |||
| Unpublished titles | |||||
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Live recording | ||||
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Albums
- 1971: Larry Donn
- 1976: Thank You Music Lovers
- 1978: Lightning Strikes Again
- 1980: Rock-Rock-a-Billy (NL, White Label - with Sonny Burgess)
- 1995: That's What I Call a Ball (NL)
- 2000: The New Recordings
- 2007: Burning!
Individual evidence
Web links
- Entry into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
- Larry Donn Blog
- Live show for free download
- Discography with audio samples
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Donn, Larry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gillihan, Larry Donn (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rockabilly musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 7, 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | near Bono (Arkansas) |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 1, 2012 |