Little Willie John (Born 15/11/1937, Died 26/05/1968)

He's never received the accolades given to the likes of Sam Cooke, Clyde McPhatter or James Brown, but Little Willie John ranks as one of R&B's most influential performers. For a while he really did stand tall in the R&B world of the 1950s, bringing an intensity to his vocal performances that few, if any, could match. He also achieved a fair degree of popular appeal, and had a number of million sellers (and a couple of pop hits) including 'Fever' and 'Talk To Me'. His muscular but quite high timbre and enormous technical and emotional range belied his early age (his first hit came when he was 18), but his mid-'50s work for Syd Nathan's King label would play a great part in the way soul music would develop. Everyone from Cooke, McPhatter and Brown to Jackie Wilson B.B. King and Al Green has acknowledged his debt to this most overlooked of rock and soul pioneers.

Born William Edward John, he moved with his family to Detroit when a youngster and, typical of the times, gained early singing experience with a gospel quintet (The United Four). By 1951, he was already featuring in local amateur shows on his own and when he was 16 he'd already cut his first record, a Christmas track that disappeared without trace.
He sang as a guest with a number of big bands before being taken on a permanent basis by Paul Williams. It didn't last long, Williams arguing that he couldn't handle the wayward streak that was, in the end, to prove Willie's downfall. Eventually, John secured a contract with King Records after being auditioned and signed by Henry Glover.

His debut recording, an original reworking of Titus Turner's 'All Around The World' from 1955, set the pattern for a remarkable string of hits. Turner's original was really a novelty item, but Willie turned it into a street wise bluesy ballad - he was always capable of putting his own stamp on everything he did and was to prove that conclusively over the next six or seven years. His versions of 'Need Your Love So Bad', 'Suffering With The Blues', 'Fever', 'Let Them Talk', and his last, 'Sleep', from 1961 all meant that other versions tended to suffer by comparison. His version of 'Fever' was copied note for note by Peggy Lee and Elvis Presley, both of whom had bigger hits with it; John's version, however, remains definitive. His second hit, 'Need Your Love So Bad', contains one of the most intimate, vocals ever caught on tape - he sounds truly desolate and you believe every word of the lyric.

John had a volatile temper, fuelled by a taste for liquor and an insecurity regarding his slight height (5 ft 4 in) - he was known to pack a gun and knife. In October 1964, he was working a weekend engagement in Seattle and he went to a private "after hours" party where, not untypically, he ended up in a brawl. Willie ended up knifing his adversary in the mêlée and was charged with murder. His confidence was such that he carried on working his club dates pending his trial and when he did come to court a reduced charge of manslaughter was accepted on the basis that Willie had responded to an initial attack from a bigger and stronger man. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, he was sentenced to 8 - 20 years imprisonment in the penitentiary in Walla Walla.
Perhaps his belligerence, which was undoubtedly part of his character, had something to do with the way he died. The death certificate listed a heart attack as the cause of death in May 1968 but there have been rumblings and rumours about what really happened ever since. James Brown recorded a tribute album to John that year, and his material has been recorded by scores of artists from Fleetwood Mac to the Blasters.

Nevertheless, Little Willie John remains unknown to many, even those with a real passion for R&B - and he's not really received the respect his talent deserves.
Little Willie John was one of the first artists featured in Rhino's King reissues series. "Fever - The Best Of Little Willie John" was issued late in 1993, and the single-disc, 20-track anthology included all the material you need to hear, pulling together as it does his glory years at King records. A note for UK R&B lovers - the Primer's has only ever seen this release on import in the UK shops but go to any internet CD store, including UK operations, and you should pick it up fairly easily at a fair price. This anthology demonstrates why he's still held in such high regard throughout the world of R&B and soul.
Henry Glover summed it up best and with a degree of objectivity when he said "He was a really, truly great singer. I would say that blues came so natural to him that he was just a master at that, and no one living that day could touch him. He was a typical R&B artist, egotistical.......Willie John was a headache. I think his whole short life explained the same."
He was posthumously inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1996.