Big Joe Turner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Big Joe Turner
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Turner performing, 1973
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph Vernon Turner Jr. |
| Also known as | Joe Turner |
| Born | May 18, 1911 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | November 24, 1985 (aged 74) Inglewood, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1920s–1980s |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | Pete Johnson, Count Basie Orchestra |
Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (born May 18, 1911 – died November 24, 1985) was an American singer from Kansas City, Missouri. Many people say that rock and roll music would not exist without him. He became most famous for his rock-and-roll songs in the 1950s, especially "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Big Joe Turner had a very long career, performing from the 1920s all the way into the 1980s.
In 1987, Turner was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They called him the "brawny voiced 'Boss of the Blues'".
Contents
Big Joe Turner's Musical Journey
Early Life and Start in Music
Joseph Vernon Turner Jr. was born on May 18, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri. When he was four years old, his father died in a train accident. Joe started singing in his church and on street corners to earn money.
At age fourteen, he left school to work in Kansas City's nightclubs. He first worked as a cook, then became a singing bartender. People knew him as "The Singing Barman". He performed at clubs like the Kingfish Club and the Sunset. At the Sunset, he became a regular performer with his music partner, boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson. Turner even wrote a song called "Piney Brown Blues" for the club's manager, Piney Brown. He sang this song throughout his career.
Kansas City clubs often faced police visits back then. Turner said that the club owners always had people ready to help the musicians. They would sign some papers and then go right back to performing until morning.
Teaming Up with Pete Johnson
Working with Pete Johnson was a big success for Turner. In 1936, they went to New York City and performed with famous musicians like Benny Goodman. However, New York wasn't quite ready for their style yet, so they returned to Kansas City.
In 1938, a talent scout named John Hammond saw them. He invited them back to New York for his From Spirituals to Swing concerts at Carnegie Hall. These concerts helped introduce jazz and blues music to many more Americans.
Because of their performance at Carnegie Hall, Turner and Johnson had a huge hit song called "Roll 'Em Pete". This song used many traditional blues lyrics. Turner recorded "Roll 'Em Pete" many times over the years with different musicians.
From 1939 to 1950
In 1939, Turner and Johnson started performing regularly at Café Society, a New York City nightclub. They shared the stage with other famous artists like Billie Holiday. Some of Turner's most popular songs from this time were "Cherry Red", "I Want a Little Girl", and "Wee Baby Blues". He recorded "Cherry Red" in 1939. The next year, he recorded "Piney Brown Blues" with Johnson on piano.
In 1941, he moved to Los Angeles and performed in Duke Ellington's show Jump for Joy. He played a singing policeman in one part of the show. Los Angeles became his home for a while. In 1945, Turner and Pete Johnson opened their own bar in Los Angeles called the Blue Moon Club.
Also in 1945, he signed a record deal with National Records. His first hit song for them was "S.K. Blues". He also recorded "My Gal's a Jockey" and "Around the Clock" that same year. Turner stayed with National Records until 1947.
Big Joe Turner was very important in the growth of R&B music. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says that Turner and Louis Jordan helped create R&B in the 1940s. They made many great R&B songs.
Turner made many albums with Johnson and other jazz musicians. He also performed with the Count Basie Orchestra. Throughout his career, Turner helped music change from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues and then to rock and roll. He was very good at singing traditional blues songs. At Kansas City jam sessions, he could sing with other musicians for hours.
Big Success in the 1950s
In 1951, while performing with the Count Basie Orchestra, he was noticed by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun. They signed him to their new record company, Atlantic Records. Turner recorded many hit songs for them, including the famous blues songs "Chains of Love" and "Sweet Sixteen". In his songs, he often shouted to the band members, like in "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" where he says, "That's a good rockin' band!" His songs became very popular on the rhythm-and-blues charts. Some of his songs were so bold that some radio stations didn't play them, but they were very popular on jukeboxes.
Turner had huge success in 1954 with "Shake, Rattle and Roll". This song made him a favorite among teenagers and helped change popular music forever. He sang it in the 1955 movie Rhythm and Blues Revue.
Even though Bill Haley & His Comets had a version of the song that sold more copies, many listeners looked for Turner's original version. This helped introduce them to rhythm and blues music.
Other successful songs from this time included "The Chicken and the Hawk", "Flip, Flop and Fly", "Hide and Seek", "Morning, Noon and Night", and "Well All Right". He appeared on the TV show Showtime at the Apollo and in the movie Shake Rattle & Rock! (1956).
The song "Corrine, Corrina" was another big seller in 1956. Besides his rock songs, he also released the album Boss of the Blues in 1956. His last hit song, "(I'm Gonna) Jump for Joy", reached the US R&B chart in May 1958.
In 1957, he toured Australia with Bill Haley and the Comets, LaVern Baker, and Freddie Bell and the Bellboys.
Returning to Blues and Jazz
After his big success in popular music, Turner went back to singing with smaller jazz groups. He recorded many albums in this style during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966, Bill Haley helped Turner's career by letting him record with his band, the Comets, in Mexico. In 1977, Turner recorded a cover of Guitar Slim's song, "The Things That I Used to Do".
He performed at many music festivals and recorded for Norman Granz's Pablo Records. He also worked with Axel Zwingenberger. Turner even took part in a "Battle of the Blues" with Wynonie Harris and T-Bone Walker.
In 1965, he toured England with trumpeter Buck Clayton. Part of a concert was shown on BBC television. He also toured Europe with the Count Basie Orchestra.
Turner won several awards during his career. He won the Esquire magazine award for best male singer in 1945. He also won the Melody Maker award for best "new" vocalist in 1956. In 1965, he won the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer.
In 1983, two years before he passed away, Turner was added to the Blues Hall of Fame. That same year, he released the album Blues Train with the band Roomful of Blues. Turner was also featured with Count Basie in the Kansas City jazz movie The Last of the Blue Devils (1979).
Later Life and Passing
Big Joe Turner died from heart failure in November 1985, at age 74. He had been dealing with arthritis, a stroke, and diabetes. His funeral included musical performances by Etta James and Barbara Morrison. He was buried in Gardena, California.
In 1987, after his death, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Tributes and Legacy
The New York Times music critic Robert Palmer described Turner's voice as "rich and grainy as a section of saxophones". When Turner died, the British music magazine NME called him "the grandfather of rock and roll".
The Blues Hall of Fame says that Turner was "a king of the jump blues genre". They also called him "a boogie woogie belter" and a "respected performer in jazz circles".
Musician Dave Alvin wrote a song about an evening he spent with Turner, called "Boss of the Blues". Dave and his brother Phil Alvin later covered four of Turner's songs on their album Lost Time. The Alvin brothers met Turner in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Phil Alvin even opened for Turner a few times with his first band. Turner continued to guide the Alvin brothers until he died in 1985.
The movie The Buddy Holly Story mentions Turner, Little Richard, and Fats Domino as big influences on Buddy Holly.
Most Famous Recordings
- "Roll 'Em Pete" (1938) – This song has many versions. It was used in the opening scene of Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X.
- "Chains of Love" (1951) – This was Turner's first song to sell a million copies.
- "Honey Hush" (1953) – This was Turner's second song to sell a million copies.
- "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (1954) – A very famous song that helped define rock and roll.
- "Flip, Flop and Fly" (1955) – This song also sold a million copies over the years.
- "Cherry Red" (1956)
- "Corrine, Corrina" (1956) – His fourth song to sell a million copies. It reached number 41 on the Billboard chart.
- "Wee Baby Blues" (1956) – A song Turner had been singing since his early days.
- "Love Roller Coaster" (1956)
- "Midnight Special" (1957)
Images for kids
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Turner performing, 1973
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Turner performing in the 1955 film Rock 'n' Roll Revue
