Roy Hall (musician, 1922)
Roy Hall (born May 7, 1922 in Big Stone Gab , Virginia , as James Faye Hall , † March 3, 1984 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was an American country and rockabilly musician and pianist . He co-wrote Jerry Lee Lewis ' hit Whole Lotta Shakin 'Goin' On , among others .
Life
Childhood and youth
Roy Hall was born in Virginia. As a child he learned to play the piano from his mother , for which he obviously had great talent. By the age of eleven, he was playing so well that he was performing in the Bristol , Tennessee area. During this time he was influenced by the blues musician Willie Perryman , called Piano Red , with whom he played in his spare time. Piano Red was known for its excessive drinking; Hall took on this trait in his youth.
Beginnings
Around 1933 he met the famous country musician Uncle Dave Macon , who took him into his backing band. He toured all over the USA and got the chance to play on the Grand Ole Opry , America's most successful radio show, at an early age. He was already a well-known musician in Roanoke , Virginia , and in 1943 he became a member of the Hall Brothers . These originally consisted of the brothers Clayton and Saford Hall and Roy Hall . The latter, however, died in a car accident and now James Faye Hall replaced the late Hall. At the same time, he also took the name Roy Hall . A short time later he founded his own band, the Cohutta Mountain Boys , whose name he took from the Cohutta area in the Appalachians .
Career
In 1949 they got the opportunity to record their first records in Detroit , Michigan . Her debut single was released on Bullet Records , while Dirty Boogie , which was a hillbilly boogie song, became a local hit on Detroit Fortune Records . But then there followed less successful years in which he worked as a background musician, including for Tennessee Ernie Ford , traveled through Tennessee and Kentucky or played as a pianist in his after-work pub "Musicians Hideaway" in Nashville. Here he met the young Jerry Lee Lewis in 1954, who would later make a career as a rock'n'roll musician with Sun Records . Hall was also impressed by his virtuoso piano playing and he got Lewis a job in his pub.
His unsuccessfulness ended with country singer Webb Pierce , who hired him as a musician. In 1955 he got a record deal with Decca Records . One of his singles there was the self-written title Whole Lotta Shakin 'Goin' On , which was later recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis and became a hit. Hall continued to release records and performed with musicians such as Marty Robbins and Hawkshaw Hawkins . But in 1956 his record deal ran out; later he continued to play with Webb Pierce and kept releasing records - to no avail.
Roy Hall died on March 3, 1984 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Discography
| year | title | Record company |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Mule Boogie / Old Folks Jamboree | Bullet Records |
| 1950 | Ain't You Afraid / Turn My Picture To The Wall | Bullet Records |
| 1951 | Dirty Boogie / No Rose Of San Antone | Fortune Records |
| unknown | Oakie Doaks / Dirty Boogie | Fortune Records |
| unknown | Never Marry A Tennessee Gal / We Never Get Too Big To Cry | Fortune Records |
| 1953 | Going Down The Road Feelin 'Bad / Jealous Love | Fortune Records |
| 1955 | Whole Lotta Shakin 'Goin' On / All By Myself | Decca Records |
| 1956 | See You Later, Alligator / Don't Stop Now | Decca Records |
| 1956 | Blue Suede Shows / Luscious | Decca Records |
| 1956 | Diggin 'The Boogie / Three Alley Cats | Decca Records |
| 1956 | Corrine, Corrine / Don't Ask Me No Questions | Decca Records |
| 1960 | One Monkey Can't Stop The Show / Flood Of Love | Pierce Records |
| 1965 | Three Alley Cats / Bed Spring Motel (23rd Spring Street) | Fortune Records |
| 1965 | Dig, Everybody, Dig The Boogie / Go Go Little Queenie! | Fortune Records |
|
Decca Records (not released) | |
|
Sun Records (not released) |
literature
- Nick Tosches: Unsung Heroes of Rock'n'Roll. Da Capo Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-306-80891-9 , p. 109 ff.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hall, Roy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hall, James Faye |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American country and rockabilly singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 7, 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Big Stone Gap , Virginia |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 3, 1984 |
| Place of death | Nashville , Tennessee |