Wilbert Harrison
Wilbert Harrison (born January 5, 1929 in Charlotte , North Carolina , † October 26, 1994 in Spencer , North Carolina) was an American musician and singer.
Career
His first single was This Woman Of Mine / The Letter (Rockin '# 526) from 1953, the A-side used the same melody as the 1952 song KC Lovin', composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller . It followed in One year later, Nobody Knows My Troubles / Gin And Coconut Milk (Deluxe # 6031), before recording with the Savoy Records label on August 20, 1954 . In this first session, Don't Drop It / The Ways Of A Woman (Savoy # 1138) was created, and another eight singles followed at Savoy by early 1959 under producer Fred Mendelsohn. The high-quality instrumental accompaniment by Mickey Baker and Kenny Burrell (guitar) and Buddy Lucas (saxophone) did not help to get Harrison's records into the charts . In early 1959, he asked label owner Herman Lubinsky if he could record Kansas City . This sent him to Bobby Robinson, the owner of the small label Fury Records .
Million seller
Bobby Robinson and Harrison produced the rockabilly- style Kansas City / Listen, My Darling (Fury # 1023), recorded at New York's Bell Sound Studios for a mere $ 40 studio cost. Kansas City was the cover version of the 12-bar blues , written in 1952 by the most successful rock & roll writing team, Leiber / Stoller and first interpreted by Little Willie Littlefield .
The recording session with Harrison took place on February 25, 1959, he was accompanied by the guitarist "Wild" Jimmy Spruill with a barbed-wire-sharp guitar solo and King Curtis (tenor saxophone), Harrison played the piano. The song was written in less than half an hour towards the end of the recording session. After its release on March 23, 1959, the title made it to the pop hit parade on April 13, 1959, where it was number one for two weeks and even seven weeks in the rhythm & blues charts from May 18, 1959. He was able to prevail against four simultaneously released versions of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters , a re-release of Littlefield's Original, Rocky Olson and Ronald & The Rebels. By late 1959, Harrison's version had sold over three million copies.
After Harrison's version marketed so successfully, he was sued by Savoy Records for $ 1 million in damages for breach of contract because Harrison still had a valid record deal with Savoy Records . The court ruled that Fury Records would not be allowed to release Harrison's records until the dispute was settled in 1961. Therefore there was no real follow-up single at Fury Records , as a replacement the small label Glades offered a single, which was unsuccessful. Lubinsky lost the trial, but Harrison had lost touch for good.
After many record labels, he ended up with Sue Records in 1969 , where his own composition Let's Work Together was released in December 1969 and reached number 20 on the pop charts. It was a remake of the 1962 Fury recording Let's Stick Together . The big hit was celebrated by the blues rock group Canned Heat when they climbed to number two in the British charts two months later. Bryan Ferry carried his version to number four in the British charts in June 1976 - again under the original title Let's Stick Together .
Wilbert Harrison died of a stroke at the age of 65 .
Discography (selection; date of recording in brackets )
- This Woman of Mine / The Letter (Rockin '# 526), 1953
- Savoy Records
- Women and Whiskey / Da Dee Ya Da (Wilbert Harrison & The Roamers), (# 1149), January 1955
- Florida Special / Darling, Listen to This Song (# 1164), (June 20, 1955) , 1955
- Confessin 'My Dream / The Way I Feel (# 1198), (July 9, 1956) , 1956
- My Love Is True / I Know My Baby Loves Me (# 1517), (June 4, 1957) , 1957
- Baby Don't You Know / My Love for You Lingers On (# 1531), (June 4, 1957) , 1958
- Don't Drop It / Baby Don't You Know (# 1571), (June 4, 1957) , 1959
- Fury Records
- Kansas City / Listen, My Darling (# 1023), (February 23, 1959 ) March 1959
- Glades Records
- Gonna Tell You a Story / Letter Edged in Black (# 603), 1959
- Fury Records
- Cheating Baby / Don't Wreck My Life (# 1027), 1959
- Goodbye Kansas City / 1960 (# 1028), 1960
- CC Rider / Why Did You Leave (# 1031), 1960
- Since I Fell for You / Little School Girl (# 1037), 1960
- The Horse / Da-De-Ya-Da (Anything for You) (# 1041), 1961
- Happy in Love / Calypso Dance (# 1047), 1961
- Drafted / My Heart Is Yours (# 1055), 1961
- Let's Stick Together / Kansas City Twist (# 1059), 1962
- Let's Stick Together / My Heart Is Yours (# 1063), 1962
- Wilbert Harrison and his Kansas City Playboys
- Off to School Again / Broke (Doc # 1001/2), 1962
- Wilbert Harrison
- Near to You / Say It Again (Sea Horn # 502), 1963
- New York World's Fair / Mama, Mama, Mama ( Constellation # 122), 1964
- Baby Move On / You're Still My Baby (Port # 3003), 1965
- Don't Take It so Hard / Sugar Lump (Port # 3009), 1965
- Please Forgive Me / Poison Ivy (Vest # 8006), 1966
- Clementine / Sentimental Journey (Dee-Su # 301), 1966
- No One's Love but Yours / Mini-Parade (Roulette # 4752), 1967
- Lawdy Miss Clawdy / The Whatchamacalla (Roulette # 4782), 1967
- Shoot You Full of Love / Louie, Louie (Juggernaut # 405), 1969
- Let's Work Together (Part 1) / Let's Work Together (Part 2) (Sue # 11), December 1969
- CC Rider / Since I Fell for You (Bell # 869), 1970
- My Heart Is Yours / Pretty Little Woman (Wet Soul # 4), 1970
- My Heart Is Yours / Pretty Little Women (SSS International # 830), 1970
- Get It While You Can / Amen (Hot Line # 101), 1972
- Kansas City / Listen My Darling (Eric # 161), 1973
swell
- ^ Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits , 1985, p. 53
- ↑ John Broven, Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers , 2010, p 344
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Harrison, Wilbert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 5, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Charlotte , North Carolina , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 26, 1994 |
| Place of death | Spencer , North Carolina , USA |