Billy Lee Riley
Encyclopedia
Billy Lee Riley was an American
rockabilly
musician, singer, record producer and songwriter. His most memorable recordings included "Rock With Me Baby," and "Red Hot".
, the son of a sharecropper, Riley learned to play guitar from black farm workers. After 4 years in the Army, Riley first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee
in 1955 before being lured to Sun Studios by Sam Phillips
. He recorded "Trouble Bound" for Jack Clement
and Slim Wallace. Sam Phillips obtained the rights and he released "Trouble Bound" b/w "Rock With Me Baby" on September 1, 1956 (Sun 245). His first hit was "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" b/w "I Want You Baby" released February 23, 1957 (Sun 260) with backing piano by Jerry Lee Lewis
, after which he recorded "Red Hot" b/w "Pearly Lee" released September 30, 1957 (Sun 277).
"Red Hot" was showing a lot of promise as a big hit record, but Sam Phillips pulled the promotion and switched it to "Great Balls Of Fire
" by Jerry Lee Lewis. Riley felt that his own chances of chart success were compromised by Phillips diverting resources to Lewis' career. He had other Sun recordings and they, likewise, did not have a lot of sales as his promotion had stopped. Like other artists such as Sonny Burgess
, Hayden Thompson, Ray Harris
and Warren Smith
, chart success largely eluded him.
Considered good looking and with wild stage moves, Riley had a brief solo career with his backing band "The Little Green Men". Riley and his Little Green Men were the main Sun studio band. They were Riley, Roland Janes, J.M. Van Eaton, Marvin Pepper, and Jimmy Wilson, later joined by Martin Willis.
In 1960, he left Sun, and started Rita Record label with Roland Janes. They produced the national hit record "Mountain Of Love" by Harold Dorman. He later started two other labels Nita and Mojo.
In 1962, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician with Dean Martin
, the Beach Boys, Herb Alpert
, Sammy Davis Jr. and others, as well as recording under various aliases.
In the early 1970s, Riley quit music to return to Arkansas
to begin his own construction business. In 1978 "Red Hot" and "Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll" were covered by Robert Gordon
and Link Wray
, which led to a one-off performance in Memphis in 1979, the success of which led to further recording at Sun Studio and a full-time return to performing.
Rediscovered by Bob Dylan
in 1992, who had been a fan since 1956, Riley played rock and roll
, blues
and country
-blues
.
His album Hot Damn! (Capricorn, 1997) was nominated for a Grammy Award
.
He was injured falling on a slippery department store floor in 2005, requiring two surgeries as a result. In 2006, he released a country CD, Hillbilly Rockin' Man.
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame
reported in summer 2009 that Riley was in poor health, battling stage four colon cancer. His last public performance came in June 2009 at the New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street in Memphis, when he took part in "Petefest 2009," honoring historian Pete Daniel, who had befriended Riley while helping launch the Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum
. Supported by a walker, Billy Lee rocked out on "My Gal" and other of his old hits. He succumbed to colon cancer on August 2, 2009, in Jonesboro, Arkansas
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
musician, singer, record producer and songwriter. His most memorable recordings included "Rock With Me Baby," and "Red Hot".
Biography
Born in Pocahontas, ArkansasPocahontas, Arkansas
Pocahontas is a city in Randolph County, Arkansas, United States, along the Black River. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, its population of the city is 6,765. The city is the county seat of Randolph County....
, the son of a sharecropper, Riley learned to play guitar from black farm workers. After 4 years in the Army, Riley first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
in 1955 before being lured to Sun Studios by Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
. He recorded "Trouble Bound" for Jack Clement
Jack Clement
Jack Henderson Clement is an American singer, songwriter, and a record and film producer.Raised and educated in Memphis, Jack Clement was performing at an early age...
and Slim Wallace. Sam Phillips obtained the rights and he released "Trouble Bound" b/w "Rock With Me Baby" on September 1, 1956 (Sun 245). His first hit was "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" b/w "I Want You Baby" released February 23, 1957 (Sun 260) with backing piano by Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, after which he recorded "Red Hot" b/w "Pearly Lee" released September 30, 1957 (Sun 277).
"Red Hot" was showing a lot of promise as a big hit record, but Sam Phillips pulled the promotion and switched it to "Great Balls Of Fire
Great Balls of Fire
"Great Balls of Fire" is a 1957 song recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer...
" by Jerry Lee Lewis. Riley felt that his own chances of chart success were compromised by Phillips diverting resources to Lewis' career. He had other Sun recordings and they, likewise, did not have a lot of sales as his promotion had stopped. Like other artists such as Sonny Burgess
Sonny Burgess
Albert Austin "Sonny" Burgess is an American rockabilly guitarist and singer....
, Hayden Thompson, Ray Harris
Ray Harris
Ray Harris was an American rockabilly musician and songwriter. He formed a band with Wayne Powers, and wrote the songs "Come On, Little Mama" and "Greenback Dollar, Watch and Chain". He eventually recorded these at Sun Records with Sam Phillips. He has also produced artists at Hi Records...
and Warren Smith
Warren Smith (singer)
Warren Smith was an American rockabilly and country music singer and guitarist.-Biography:Smith was born in Humphreys County, Mississippi to Iola and Willie Warren Smith, who divorced when he was young...
, chart success largely eluded him.
Considered good looking and with wild stage moves, Riley had a brief solo career with his backing band "The Little Green Men". Riley and his Little Green Men were the main Sun studio band. They were Riley, Roland Janes, J.M. Van Eaton, Marvin Pepper, and Jimmy Wilson, later joined by Martin Willis.
In 1960, he left Sun, and started Rita Record label with Roland Janes. They produced the national hit record "Mountain Of Love" by Harold Dorman. He later started two other labels Nita and Mojo.
In 1962, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician with Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, the Beach Boys, Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert
Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
, Sammy Davis Jr. and others, as well as recording under various aliases.
In the early 1970s, Riley quit music to return to Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
to begin his own construction business. In 1978 "Red Hot" and "Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll" were covered by Robert Gordon
Robert Gordon (musician)
Robert Gordon is an American rockabilly musician. Gordon rose to fame performing in several genres including alternative rock, punk rock, and rock and roll.- Early days:...
and Link Wray
Link Wray
Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer....
, which led to a one-off performance in Memphis in 1979, the success of which led to further recording at Sun Studio and a full-time return to performing.
Rediscovered by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
in 1992, who had been a fan since 1956, Riley played rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, 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...
and country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
-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...
.
His album Hot Damn! (Capricorn, 1997) was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
.
He was injured falling on a slippery department store floor in 2005, requiring two surgeries as a result. In 2006, he released a country CD, Hillbilly Rockin' Man.
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
reported in summer 2009 that Riley was in poor health, battling stage four colon cancer. His last public performance came in June 2009 at the New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street in Memphis, when he took part in "Petefest 2009," honoring historian Pete Daniel, who had befriended Riley while helping launch the Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum
Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum
The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum is a music museum located at 191 Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum tells the critical story of the musical pioneers who overcame racial and socio-economic obstacles to create the music that changed the cultural complexion of the world.-Collection and...
. Supported by a walker, Billy Lee rocked out on "My Gal" and other of his old hits. He succumbed to colon cancer on August 2, 2009, in Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro is a city in and one of the two county seats of Craighead County, Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 US Census, the population of the city was 67,263. A college town, Jonesboro is the largest city in northeastern Arkansas and the fifth most populous city in the state...
.
Selected albums
- Harmonica & the Blues, Crown, 1962
- Big Harmonica Special, Mercury, 1964
- Harmonica Beatlemania, Mercury, 1965
- Whiskey a Go Go Presents, Mercury, 1965
- Funk Harmonica, GNP, 1966
- In Action, GNP, 1966
- Southern Soul, Mojo, 1968; reissued, Cowboy Carl, 1981
- Legendary Sun Performers: Billy Lee, Charly, 1977
- Sun Sound Special: Billy Lee Riley, Charly, 1978
- Vintage, Mojo, 1978
- 706 Reunion, Sun-Up, 1992
- Blue Collar Blues, Hightone, 1992
- Classic Recordings 1959–1960, Bear Family, 1994
- Rockin' Fifties, Icehouse, 1995
- Hot Damn!, Capricorn, 1997
- Very Best of Billy Lee Riley: Red Hot, Collectables, 1998
- Shade Tree Blues, Icehouse, 1999
- One More Time, Sun-Up, 2002
- Hillbilly Rockin' Man, Reba Records, 2003
Discography
Sources
- Billy Lee Riley Contemporary Musicians. Ed. DeRemer, L., Vol. 43. Thomson Gale, 2004. eNotes.com. 2006.
- Escott, C. & Hawkins, M. Catalyst – The Sun Records Story; London 1975.
- Evans, P., Futterman, S. et al. (1995) “The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll”, Fireside, New York. p. 835. ISBN 0-684-81044-1
- Andreas Weigel: Billy Lee Riley "Trouble Bound" Portrait.
- Gray, M. The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, New York / London 2006. p. 575f.
- Hardy, Phil/Laing, Dave: Encyclopedia of Rock 1955–1975, London 1977, p. 78.
- Pareles, J. & Romanowski, P. (1983) The Rolling Stone Encyclopaedia of Rock & Roll, Summit Books, New York, p 470. ISBN 0-671-43457-8
- LexGo