Big John Greer was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 tenor saxophonist and vocalist, best known for his recordings from 1949 to 1955, which included "Got You On My Mind" and "Bottle It Up And Go."

Born John Marshall Greer in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, he was a friend of Henry Glover

Henry Glover

Henry Glover was an American songwriter, arranger, record producer and trumpet player. In the music industry of the time, Glover was one of the more successful, and influential, black executives. He gained eminence in the late 1940s, primarily working for the independent King label...

 from childhood, and both attended college at Alabama A&M

Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University

Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, also known as Alabama A&M University or AAMU, is a public, historically black university, Land-grant university located in Normal, Madison County, Alabama....

 together. Glover was playing in Lucky Millinder

Lucky Millinder

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an American rhythm and blues and swing bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful...

's band when Bull Moose Jackson

Bull Moose Jackson

Benjamin Clarence "Bull Moose" Jackson was an American blues and rhythm and blues singer and saxophonist, who was most successful in the late 1940s.-Career:...

 left the group in 1948; Glover suggested that Greer be chosen as Jackson's replacement. Greer played with Bob Shad

Bob Shad

Bob Shad was an American music producer and record label owner. He produced the first album by Big Brother and the Holding Company...

 and appeared on Millinder's RCA

RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

 recordings until 1950, when Millinder signed to King Records

King Records (USA)

King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...

. Greer stayed with RCA and played with Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley...

 and Jackson among others. He sang lead vocals on his biggest hit, 1952's "Got You On My Mind". In 1954 he switched to Groove Records

Groove Records

Groove Records was founded by Billboard reporter Bob Rolontz in 1953 as a rhythm and blues label. The label tried hard to break into the R&B market. Piano Red was its first hit but Mickey and Sylvia was its first big seller. The label also recorded King Curtis, Arthur Crudup, Brook Benton and...

, but did not make much impact on the American record chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

s there; in 1955 he finally signed with King, but only recorded for them for about a year. Greer also worked with Hal Singer

Hal Singer

Harold Joseph "Hal" Singer is an American R&B and jazz bandleader and saxophonist.-Biography:Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Singer studied violin as a child but, as a teenager, switched to clarinet and then tenor saxophone, which became his instrument of choice...

 and Bill Doggett

Bill Doggett

Bill Doggett was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist. He is best known for his tracks, "Honky Tonk" and "Hippy Dippy", and variously working with The Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan.-Biography:William Ballard Doggett was born in...

.

By 1957, Greer had developed extended troubles with alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

, and he moved back to his home town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he died in 1972 at age 48.

Discography

• When the Roses Bloom in Lovers' Lane (Groove, G-0016)
• Too Long (Groove, G-0016)