Piano Red
Encyclopedia
William "Willie" Lee Perryman (October 19, 1911 – July 25, 1985), usually known professionally as Piano Red and later in life as Dr. Feelgood, was an American blues
musician
, the first to hit the pop music
charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played in the barrelhouse
blues style (a loud percussive type of blues piano suitable for noisy bars or taverns). His performing and recording careers emerged during the period of transition from completely segregated
"race music", to "rhythm and blues
", which was marketed to white audiences. Some music historians credit Perryman's 1950 recording "Rocking With Red" for the popularization of the term rock and roll in Atlanta. His simple, hard-pounding left hand and his percussive right hand, coupled with his cheerful shout, brought him considerable success over three decades.
, Georgia, where his parents Ada and Henry Perryman sharecropped
. He was part of a large family, though sources differ on exactly how many brothers and sisters he had. Perryman was an albino
African American, as was his older brother Rufus, who also had a blues piano career as "Speckled Red
".
When Perryman was six years old, his father gave up farming and moved the family to Atlanta to work in a factory. Not much is known about Perryman's education or early life, but he recalled that his mother bought a piano for her two albino sons. Both brothers had very poor vision, an effect of their albinism, so neither took formal music lessons, but they developed their barrelhouse
style through playing by ear. Perryman sometimes recalled imitating Rufus's style after watching him play, but it is doubtful that his brother was a major influence. Rufus, nineteen years older than Perryman, left Georgia in 1925 and did not return until a 1960 visit. Another influence that Perryman cited in interviews was Fats Waller
, whose records his mother brought home. Other influences were likely the local blues pianists playing at "house" or "rent" parties, which were common community fund-raisers of that era.
By the early 1930s, Perryman was playing at house parties, juke joints, and barrelhouses in Georgia, Alabama
, and Tennessee
. He developed his percussive playing style and harsh singing style to compensate for the lack of sound systems and to overcome the noise of people talking in venues. He worked these circuits with other Georgia bluesmen, including Barbecue Bob
, Charlie Hicks
, Curley Weaver
, and "Blind Willie" McTell.
Perryman married in the early 1930s, and he and his wife Flora had two daughters. He obtained seasonal employment performing in Brevard
, North Carolina, a mountain resort town, and commuted back and forth between there and Atlanta. The Brevard job brought him before white audiences; by 1934 he had also begun to play at white clubs in Atlanta. In Atlanta he would play at a white club until midnight and then head over to an African American club, where he would play until 4 am. Perryman developed a repertoire of pop standards, which were more popular among the white audiences, while continuing his blues sets in the African American clubs.
Around 1936 he began to be billed as 'Piano Red', and made his first recordings with McTell in Augusta for Vocalion Records
, although these were never released. He also began working as an upholsterer, a trade which he occasionally maintained through later years.
In 1950, after spending the previous 14 years upholstering and playing music on weekends, Perryman recorded "Rockin' with Red" and "Red's Boogie" at the WGST radio studios in Atlanta for RCA Victor
. Both songs became national hits, reaching numbers five and three respectively on the Billboard
R&B
chart, and "Rockin' with Red" has since been covered
many times under many titles. This success, along with further hits "The Wrong Yo Yo" (allegedly written by Speckled Red), "Laying The Boogie" and "Just Right Bounce", allowed him to resume an active performing schedule. He also recorded sessions in New York City and Nashville
during the early 1950s.
During the mid-1950s Perryman also worked as a disc jockey
on radio stations WGST and WAOK in Atlanta, broadcasting 'The Piano Red Show' (later 'The Dr. Feelgood Show') directly from a small shack in his back yard. A young James Brown
made an appearance on his show in the late 1950s. Perryman's involvement had him appearing on a flatbed truck in many parades, which led to his song "Peachtree Parade". From the mid-1950s until the late 1960s, he recorded for several record label
s, including Columbia
, for whom he made several records, Checker
, for whom he recorded eight sides with Willie Dixon
on bass
, and Groove Records
, a subsidiary of RCA Victor, producing the first hit for that label.
Signed to Okeh Records
in 1961, Perryman began using the name Dr. Feelgood and the Interns, releasing several hits, including the much-covered "Doctor Feelgood". The persona was one he had initially adopted on his radio shows. The new career was short-lived, though, and Piano Red was never able to regain his former stature. In 1964, The Beatles
recorded a cover of the b-side
of "Doctor Feelgood," titled "Mr. Moonlight
" (written by Roy Lee Johnson
). It appeared on the album Beatles for Sale
in the United Kingdom and on the Beatles '65
album in the United States. In 1966, The Lovin' Spoonful
recorded his song "Bald Headed Lena" on their second album, Daydream
.
Perryman continued to be a popular performer in Underground Atlanta
, and had several European tours late in his career, including appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival
, Berlin Jazz Festival, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
's inauguration, and on BBC Radio
. During this time, he was befriended by Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, and Paul McCartney, and Pete Ham of Badfinger wrote a song in his honor.
Muhlenbrink's Saloon closed in 1979 and Perryman found himself without a regular job. That lasted until 1981, when he was hired to perform five nights a week at The Excelsior Mill in Atlanta. In 1984, he asked co-owner Michael Reeves to arrange a live recording and Reeves arranged for a mobile recording in October of that year.
Perryman was diagnosed with cancer
that same year and died in July 1985 at Dekalb General Hospital in Decatur, Georgia. Among those who attended his funeral were the Governor of Georgia and the Mayor of Atlanta.
The tapes from the Excelsior Mill remained in Reeves's possession for twenty-five years. In April 2010, he formed a partnership with author and producer David Fulmer to release a CD of the recording until the title The Lost Atlanta Tapes. The CD was released by Landslide Records on August 17, 2010.
is a British pub rock
band which was formed in 1971. The name of the band, Dr. Feelgood, is slang
for heroin, or for doctor
s who are prepared to overprescribe drug
s. Piano Red's song
"Dr Feelgood" was covered
by several UK beat groups including Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, who used it as the b-side to their 1964 single
, "Always and Ever", from where it was chosen by the band.
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...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, the first to hit the pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played in the barrelhouse
Barrelhouse
Barrelhouse can refer to:*A "juke joint", a bar or saloon. Originates from the storage of barrels of alcohol.*An early form of jazz with wild, improvised piano, and an accented two-beat rhythm ....
blues style (a loud percussive type of blues piano suitable for noisy bars or taverns). His performing and recording careers emerged during the period of transition from completely segregated
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
"race music", to "rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
", which was marketed to white audiences. Some music historians credit Perryman's 1950 recording "Rocking With Red" for the popularization of the term rock and roll in Atlanta. His simple, hard-pounding left hand and his percussive right hand, coupled with his cheerful shout, brought him considerable success over three decades.
Life
Perryman was born on a farm near HamptonHampton, Georgia
Hampton is a city in southwestern Henry County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,987. Census Estimates for 2005 show a population of 4,743. Hampton mailing addresses also dip into eastern Clayton County and northern Spalding County.The Atlanta Motor...
, Georgia, where his parents Ada and Henry Perryman sharecropped
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land . This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of...
. He was part of a large family, though sources differ on exactly how many brothers and sisters he had. Perryman was an albino
Albinism
Albinism is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin...
African American, as was his older brother Rufus, who also had a blues piano career as "Speckled Red
Speckled Red
Speckled Red was born Rufus Perryman in Monroe, Louisiana. He was an American blues and boogie-woogie piano player and singer, most noted for his recordings of "The Dirty Dozens", with exchanges of insults and vulgar remarks that have long been a part of African American folklore.The family moved...
".
When Perryman was six years old, his father gave up farming and moved the family to Atlanta to work in a factory. Not much is known about Perryman's education or early life, but he recalled that his mother bought a piano for her two albino sons. Both brothers had very poor vision, an effect of their albinism, so neither took formal music lessons, but they developed their barrelhouse
Barrelhouse
Barrelhouse can refer to:*A "juke joint", a bar or saloon. Originates from the storage of barrels of alcohol.*An early form of jazz with wild, improvised piano, and an accented two-beat rhythm ....
style through playing by ear. Perryman sometimes recalled imitating Rufus's style after watching him play, but it is doubtful that his brother was a major influence. Rufus, nineteen years older than Perryman, left Georgia in 1925 and did not return until a 1960 visit. Another influence that Perryman cited in interviews was Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
, whose records his mother brought home. Other influences were likely the local blues pianists playing at "house" or "rent" parties, which were common community fund-raisers of that era.
By the early 1930s, Perryman was playing at house parties, juke joints, and barrelhouses in Georgia, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. He developed his percussive playing style and harsh singing style to compensate for the lack of sound systems and to overcome the noise of people talking in venues. He worked these circuits with other Georgia bluesmen, including Barbecue Bob
Barbecue Bob
Robert Hicks, better known as Barbecue Bob was an early American Piedmont blues musician. His nickname came from the fact that he was a cook in a barbecue restaurant. One of the two extant photographs of Bob show him playing his guitar while wearing a full length white apron and cook's hat.-Early...
, Charlie Hicks
Charlie Hicks
Charlie Hicks , also known as "Charlie B," is a former American broadcaster familiar to listeners in radio markets throughout the southeastern United States. He worked in the field for 55 years.Hicks got his start in 1954 as a late night disc jockey at WHBT in Harriman, Tennessee, when he was 16...
, Curley Weaver
Curley Weaver
Curley James Weaver was an American blues musician, also known as Slim Gordon.-Early years:He was born in Covington, Georgia, United States, and raised on a farm near Porterdale...
, and "Blind Willie" McTell.
Perryman married in the early 1930s, and he and his wife Flora had two daughters. He obtained seasonal employment performing in Brevard
Brevard, North Carolina
Brevard is a town in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States. The 2005 population estimate by the United States Census Bureau was 6,643. It is the county seat of Transylvania County....
, North Carolina, a mountain resort town, and commuted back and forth between there and Atlanta. The Brevard job brought him before white audiences; by 1934 he had also begun to play at white clubs in Atlanta. In Atlanta he would play at a white club until midnight and then head over to an African American club, where he would play until 4 am. Perryman developed a repertoire of pop standards, which were more popular among the white audiences, while continuing his blues sets in the African American clubs.
Around 1936 he began to be billed as 'Piano Red', and made his first recordings with McTell in Augusta for Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
, although these were never released. He also began working as an upholsterer, a trade which he occasionally maintained through later years.
In 1950, after spending the previous 14 years upholstering and playing music on weekends, Perryman recorded "Rockin' with Red" and "Red's Boogie" at the WGST radio studios in Atlanta for RCA Victor
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...
. Both songs became national hits, reaching numbers five and three respectively on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart, and "Rockin' with Red" has since been covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
many times under many titles. This success, along with further hits "The Wrong Yo Yo" (allegedly written by Speckled Red), "Laying The Boogie" and "Just Right Bounce", allowed him to resume an active performing schedule. He also recorded sessions in New York City and Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
during the early 1950s.
During the mid-1950s Perryman also worked as a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
on radio stations WGST and WAOK in Atlanta, broadcasting 'The Piano Red Show' (later 'The Dr. Feelgood Show') directly from a small shack in his back yard. A young James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
made an appearance on his show in the late 1950s. Perryman's involvement had him appearing on a flatbed truck in many parades, which led to his song "Peachtree Parade". From the mid-1950s until the late 1960s, he recorded for several record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s, including Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, for whom he made several records, Checker
Checker Records
Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.The label...
, for whom he recorded eight sides with Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
on bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, and 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...
, a subsidiary of RCA Victor, producing the first hit for that label.
Signed to Okeh Records
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
in 1961, Perryman began using the name Dr. Feelgood and the Interns, releasing several hits, including the much-covered "Doctor Feelgood". The persona was one he had initially adopted on his radio shows. The new career was short-lived, though, and Piano Red was never able to regain his former stature. In 1964, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
recorded a cover of the b-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of "Doctor Feelgood," titled "Mr. Moonlight
Mr. Moonlight (song)
"Mr. Moonlight" is a song written by Roy Lee Johnson, best known for being covered by The Beatles on the 1964 albums Beatles for Sale in the United Kingdom and Beatles '65 in the United States.-Different versions:...
" (written by Roy Lee Johnson
Roy Lee Johnson
Roy Lee Johnson is an American R&B and soul songwriter, singer and guitarist. He is best known for his composition "Mr. Moonlight", which has been covered by many artists, including The Beatles....
). It appeared on the album Beatles for Sale
Beatles for Sale
Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released in late 1964 and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. The album marked a minor turning point in the evolution of Lennon and McCartney as lyricists, John Lennon particularly now showing interest in...
in the United Kingdom and on the Beatles '65
Beatles '65
Beatles '65 is The Beatles' fifth Capitol release, but seventh American album. It was released in mono and stereo versions. The album was also issued in Germany on the Odeon label....
album in the United States. In 1966, The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
recorded his song "Bald Headed Lena" on their second album, Daydream
Daydream (Lovin' Spoonful album)
Daydream is the second album by The Lovin' Spoonful, released in 1966. It features two hits, the title track, which reached No. 2 in the U.S. Billboard Top 40 charts, and "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" Daydream is the second album by The Lovin' Spoonful, released in 1966. It features two hits, the...
.
Perryman continued to be a popular performer in Underground Atlanta
Underground Atlanta
Underground Atlanta is a shopping and entertainment district in the Five Points neighborhood of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States, near the intersection of the east and west MARTA rail lines. First opened in 1969, it takes advantage of the viaducts built over the city's many railroad tracks...
, and had several European tours late in his career, including appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
, Berlin Jazz Festival, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...
's inauguration, and on BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
. During this time, he was befriended by Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, and Paul McCartney, and Pete Ham of Badfinger wrote a song in his honor.
Muhlenbrink's Saloon closed in 1979 and Perryman found himself without a regular job. That lasted until 1981, when he was hired to perform five nights a week at The Excelsior Mill in Atlanta. In 1984, he asked co-owner Michael Reeves to arrange a live recording and Reeves arranged for a mobile recording in October of that year.
Perryman was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
that same year and died in July 1985 at Dekalb General Hospital in Decatur, Georgia. Among those who attended his funeral were the Governor of Georgia and the Mayor of Atlanta.
The tapes from the Excelsior Mill remained in Reeves's possession for twenty-five years. In April 2010, he formed a partnership with author and producer David Fulmer to release a CD of the recording until the title The Lost Atlanta Tapes. The CD was released by Landslide Records on August 17, 2010.
Legacy
Dr. FeelgoodDr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood may refer to:In music:*Dr. Feelgood , an album by American band Mötley Crüe**"Dr. Feelgood" , a single and the title track from that album*"Dr. Feel Good", a song by Travie McCoy on the album Lazarus...
is a British pub rock
Pub rock (UK)
Pub rock was a rock music genre that developed in the mid 1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, pub rock was a reaction against progressive and glam rock. Although short-lived, pub rock was notable for rejecting stadium venues and for returning live rock to the small pubs and...
band which was formed in 1971. The name of the band, Dr. Feelgood, is slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
for heroin, or for doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s who are prepared to overprescribe drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s. Piano Red's song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
"Dr Feelgood" was covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by several UK beat groups including Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, who used it as the b-side to their 1964 single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Always and Ever", from where it was chosen by the band.