Big Joe Turner - Career, Quotation, Most Famous Recordings

Jazz vocalist, born in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. A major influence on blues and rock musicians, he began as a blues-shouting bartender and came to prominence at the ‘Spirituals to Swing’ concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938. He teamed with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson until 1955 and appeared in many jazz all-star contexts thereafter.

Big Joe Turner
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Background information
Birth name	Joseph Vernon Turner Jr
Born	May 18, 1911
Origin	Kansas City, Kansas
Died	November 24, 1985
Genre(s)	Blues
Years active	1920's - 1980's
Label(s)	Atlantic Records Various
Associated acts	Pete Johnson Count Basie Orchestra
Website	* www.hoyhoy

Big Joe Turner (born Joseph Vernon Turner Jr., May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri.

Career

Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", Turner's career as a performer stretched from the 1930s, into the 1980s.

Known variously as The Boss of the Blues, and Big Joe Turner (due to his 6'2", 250+ lbs stature), Turner was born in Kansas city and first discovered his love of music through involvement in the church.

His partnership with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson proved fruitful, and together they headed to New York City in 1936 where they appeared on a bill with Benny Goodman, but as Turner recounts, "After our show with Goodman, we auditioned at several places, but New York wasn't ready for us yet, so we headed back to K.C.".

Due in part to their appearance at Carnegie Hall, Turner and Johnson scored a major hit with "Roll 'Em, Pete", which Turner recorded many times under various names over the years.

Turner continued to record blues with small combos on several record labels, particularly National Records and also appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Although the version of the song by Bill Haley and his Comets, with the suggestive lyrics incompletely cleaned up, was a bigger hit, many listeners sought out Turner's version and were introduced thereby to the whole world of rhythm and blues.

After a number of hits in this vein, Turner left popular music behind and returned to his roots as a singer with small jazz combos, recording numerous classic albums in that style in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966, Bill Haley helped revive Turner's career by lending him the Comets for a series a popular recordings in Mexico (apparently no one thought of getting the two to record a duet of "Shake, Rattle and Roll", as no such recording has yet surfaced).

Quotation

Roll 'em boy, Gonna jump for joy Yeah man, happy as a baby boy My baby just brought me a brand new choo-choo toy "Roll 'Em, Pete" -- by Joe Turner and Pete Johnson

Most Famous Recordings

"Roll 'Em, Pete" - 1938; available in many versions over the years "Chains Of Love" - 1951 * "Honey Hush" - 1953 * "Shake, Rattle and Roll" - 1954 "Flip Flop And Fly" - 1955 * "Cherry Red" - 1956 "Corrine, Corrina" - 1956 * "Wee Baby Blues" - 1956; a song Turner had been singing since his Kingfish Club days "Midnight Special" - 1957

Tracks marked as * were million selling discs.