Wynonie Harris (Born 24/08/1915, Died 14/06/1969)

Highly intelligent, he initially attended Creighton University as a pre-med student in the mid 1930s; it was here he initially discovered his life long passion for the blues and by 1938 he was already establishing a reputation as a blues performer in his local town. He was also a seasoned hoofer, drummer and comedian (a regular all round entertainer!) by the time he left Omaha for Los Angeles in 1940. His first real break came when he joined the Lucky Millender Orchestra as lead vocalist in Chicago in 1944. By 1945, after a disagreement over the financial arrangements, he was back in LA and going solo.

His early solo hits included 'Wynonie's Blues', 'That's The Stuff You Gotta Watch', 'Playful Baby' and 'Young and Wild' for the Philo, Apollo and Bullet labels before he established himself with King Records in 1947.
Apparently a touch arrogant, it's said that many found him more than a little brash and cocky. But he was good, he knew what he was worth and he wasn't prepared to accept second best. Apparently, a teenage Roy Brown watched Harris perform live and claimed that was "exactly how I want to sing the blues". Ironic therefore that the Roy Brown composition 'Good Rockin' Tonight' became Wynonie's biggest hit (in 1948) only after Harris had originally rejected the song.

After the significant breakthrough of the 'Good Rockin' Tonight' release, Harris was rarely out of the R&B charts over the next few years. Most of his King releases were about sex ('I Like My Baby Puddin', 'All She Wants To Do Is Rock', 'Sittin' On It All The Time', 'Lovin' Machine' etc. etc.) and they were some of the most boldly suggestive recordings of the period.
Artistically, he was worth more than a novelty tag however, and he displayed a fine sense of comic timing on such material as 'I Feel Old Age Coming On' and 'Grandma Plays The Numbers' - a stylistic variation close to unique amongst the blues shouters of the period. He wasn't a bad songwriter either and certainly had an ear for potential hit material. In all, he had 13 big hits up until 1952.
From 1952 onwards, the hits began to dry up, although the quality of Harris's recordings remained consistently high. However, as Wynonie stayed true to his blues muse throughout stints with Atco, Roulette and Cadet, changing tastes and a smoother, less suggestive sound began to dominate the R&B charts.

It didn't end well for Harris - up until the early 1960s, he ran an after hours club from an apartment in Brooklyn but he then moved back to LA and the lavish lifestyle became a distant memory. He did a few local gigs for little money and he also recorded some excellent sides for Chess in 1964 (unreleased at the time) but there was no national recognition. He eventually died from throat cancer in 1969, robbing the world of a larger than life R&B pioneer with an ego that matched his not inconsiderable talents.

Interestingly and perhaps typically, when he was at at the height of his powers trade publications and the music press of the time denounced his music as vulgar - now they refer to the recordings of "Mr Blues", quite rightly, as classics of the genre. It has even been said that Harris's intense reworking of 'Good Rockin' Tonight' started the whole "rocking blues" craze and that, without this particular record, rock and roll would never have developed in the way that it did.