Tommy Tucker (blues musician)

Tommy Tucker , actually Robert Higginbotham (born March 5, 1933 in Springfield (Ohio) , † January 22, 1982 in Newark , New Jersey ) was an American blues singer and pianist .

Career

Not much is known about the life of the blues singer and pianist Tommy Tucker. Tommy Tucker was the cousin of Joan Higginbotham , an astronaut who was aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in December 2006 .

He learned the piano from 1941 and joined the Bobby Wood Orchestra, which in 1953 gave rise to the Doo Wop formation Cavaliers. In Woods Band he met the trumpeter Clarence LeVille, with whom he founded a house band at the Farm Dell Club in Dayton / Ohio in 1951 . They accompanied blues greats like Big Maybelle , Billie Holiday , Little Walter , Jimmy Reed , Little Willie John and Amos Milburn . He then changed groups frequently, appearing in 1955 with LeVille at the Belvaderes, with whom he then also played with the Dusters in 1956. Two unsuccessful singles from each of these formations were the result. 1957 Tucker joins the house band of The Frolic Night Club in Springfield / Ohio.

Together with Atlantic Records owner Ahmet Ertegün , he wrote the song My Girl (I Really Love Her So) , which he released as a soloist in 1961, without success.

Only hit

Tommy Tucker high-heel sneakers

Tucker's only and biggest hit was his own composition and later Mods anthem Hi Heel Sneakers with the distinctive slide guitar work in the bottleneck style by Welton "Dean" Young, who had already worked with Tucker in the 1950s. After the release of the Jimmy Reed-like style on the Chess Records subsidiary label Checker Records on January 13, 1964, the title made it to 11th place in the pop charts and, with around 200 versions, was one of the most covered songs. The recording was probably produced by Herb Abramson in 1962, when the A-1 recording studios were founded . Long Tall Shorty , written by Don Covay and Herb Abramson, was the unsuccessful follow-up hit from May 1964, covered by the Kinks (on the LP of the same name from October 2, 1964). Abramson also produced That's Life for his own festival label in 1966 , but couldn't stop Tucker's artistic decline.

At the end of the 1960s he settled as a real estate agent in East Orange (New Jersey) and returned to the recording studio in 1974, where old rocker Bo Diddley accompanied him on albums such as Mother Tucker and The Rocks is My Pillow - the Cold Ground is My Bed . The albums failed as did most of the singles before.

Tommy Tucker, whose stage name goes back to a professional football player, must not be confused with rockabilly singer Tommy Ray Tucker. Tommy Tucker died on January 22, 1982 from inhaling toxic fumes.

Discography Singles (selection) with release date

• The Belvaderes: Don't Leave Me To Cry / I Love You (Hudson # 4), 1955
• The Dusters: Give Me Time / Sallie Mae (with Jimmy Binkley's Orchestra) (Arc # 3000), 1956

Tommy Tucker:

• My Girl (I Really Love Her So) / Rock 'N' Roll Machine (as Tee Tucker) (Atco # 6208), October 1961
• Hi Heel Sneakers / I Don't Want 'Cha (Watcha Gonna Do) (Checker # 1067), January 1964
• Long Tall Shorty / Mo 'Shorty (Checker # 1075), May 1964
• Alimony / All About Melanie (Checker # 1112), June 1965
• Chewin 'Gum / (All My Life) I've Been A Fool (Checker # 1133), January 1966
• That's Life / That's How Much I Love You Baby (Festival # 704), 1966
• Sitting Home Alone / I'm Shorty (Checker # 1178), 1967
• A Whole Lot Of Fun Before The Weekend Is Done / Real True Love (Checker # 1186), 1967

Discography LPs (selection)

• Tommy Tucker: "Hi-Heel Sneakers and Long Tall Shorty" (Checker 2990)
• Tommy Tucker: "Mother Tucker" (Red Lightnin '022)
• Tommy Tucker: "The rocks is my pillow - The cold ground is my bed" (Red Lightnin '037)

literature

• Gérard Herzhaft: Encyclopedia of the Blues. Hannibal Verlag, St. Andrä / WIERT 1998, ISBN 3-85445-132-6 , p. 214.

Web links

• Literature by and about Tommy Tucker in the catalog of the German National Library