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Earth Angels: The Short Lives and Controversial Deaths of Three R&B Pioneers
Bergsman, Steve (2023)

Texas A&M University Press
paperback , 248 pages , 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm , 0.422 kg
ISBN-10: 1-64843-125-9 , ISBN-13: 978-1-64843-125-8

Category: Elvis related books / Johnny Ace
Language: English
Description: Recording and performing in the early 1950s, Jesse Belvin, Guitar Slim, and Johnny Ace produced at least thirteen top-25 hits between the three of them. All but forgotten in the annals of rock 'n' roll, these artists have influenced musicians as varied as Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and generations of soul singers. Their songs have been covered by artists like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Luther Vandross, and Paul Simon. In this book the author affords readers a view of the lives and careers of three influential artists who left us much too soon. Bergsman notes in his introduction that this lack of notoriety is partly due to their untimely deaths. Jesse Belvin (1932-1960), a crooner whose "Goodnight My Love" became the closing theme to famed disc jockey Alan Freed's radio shows, was killed in a head-on collision along with his wife just after performing at the first racially integrated concert in Little Rock, Arkansas; he was 27. Guitar Slim (1926-1959), whose million-selling song "The Things I Used to Do" has been re-recorded by both Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, died in New York City at the age of 32 due to pneumonia that was possibly induced by alcoholism. Johnny Ace's (1929-1954) "Pledging My Love" spent ten weeks at the top position on Billboard's R&B chart. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 25. The author's meticulous research and entertaining narrative style seeks to restore the credit denied these artists by their untimely deaths.
Source: book back cover.
With Appendices on Selected R&B Hits 1952-1955 and Discography. List of (bibliographic) sources. Index.
Source(s): Cover, info and description : ElvisBooks

Wednesday, 14 February 2024 ; Elvis Presley: A Life in Books © 2002-2024