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Donna Summer Passed Away Yesterday

We lost another one yesterday.  In case you didn’t hear, Donna Summer passed away yesterday after fighting lung cancer for several years. She was known as the Queen of Disco and had a great career in the late Seventies. She had four number one songs, “MacArthur Park” in 78, “Hot Stuff” in 79, “Bad Girls” in 79 and “No More Tears (Enough is Enough) which was a duet with Barbra Streisand also in 79. I heard her say on TV, “I’m been the Queen of Disco long enough, I think I should be promoted to Empress of Disco.” I consider disco a sub-culture of rock and roll and so I mourn the loss of Donna Summer.

Her first song, “Love to Love You Baby” has other words, but it’s hard to pay attention to anything but the title words. Some radio stations wouldn’t play the song because they thought it was too racy. Yet it went to number two for two weeks and started a career that kept her going until her death, yesterday.

Here is a video of one of her number one songs “Bad Girls”:

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Jim Lowe: Green Door

Today, May 7, is Jim Lowe’s birthday. He recorded one of my very favorite records from the Fifties, “Green Door”. I was about 15 when this song became a big hit in 1956, staying at the number one position on Billboard’s charts for three weeks. Jim Lowe was like several other singers who started out as disc jockeys and then turned to recording to diversify their career. J.P.Richardson (The Big Bopper) was another disc jockey who recorded briefly before he was killed in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Richie Valens.

The magic of “Green Door” lies in the piano. I have always believed the piano to be a great rock and roll instrument. Look at Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, both masters at rock and roll piano. I truly love to listen to “Green Door” and the piano solo toward the middle is my favorite part.

So, today, I want to say, Happy Birthday, Jim.

“Green Door”:

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Fats Domino, The Fat Man

Here is the introduction of my Kindle book about Fats Domino:

“I love the music of the Fifties. Anyone who reads this blog knows that. Actually, I love the music of the Sixties and Seventies, etc. as well, but the Fifties have always been my favorite. I hope that love comes through as I discuss one of the greats of that era, Fats Domino.

“The first musician to become a rock & roll icon solely on the strength of his music and talent and not because of some novelty or image was Fats Domino. It is said that Fats Domino put the rhythm in “rhythm and blues”.

“I have to admit, I’ve been fat most of my life. I was fat as a kid and the other kids made fun of me because of it. They made fun of my name, taking the “a” out of “Hoag”. But I lived with it and actually turned it into a positive thing. But that’s a story for another time.

“I liked most of the performers of the Fifties, but I really like Fats Domino. Other people who made records were these beautiful people who belonged on the cover of magazines. Fats wasn’t like that. He looked more like the people you see on the street, except for the cool rings he wore on his fingers. And could he play the piano. I saw him on TV and marveled the way he pounded the ivories and produced rock and roll that you could dance to or at least tap your feet to.

“During his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, Billy Joel mentioned that Fats Domino proved that the piano was a rock and roll instrument. I couldn’t agree more. When I grew up in the Fifties, I thought the most important instruments of rock and roll were the piano and the saxophone. The guitar didn’t really make its mark until later. But once it did, that was the instrument most performers used, even to this day.”

You can get the whole book here, if you have a Kindle.

Here is a video of Fats playing what is probably his biggest song “Blueberry Hill” This was done live at the “Legends of Rock & Roll” concert which was recorded in Italy in 1989. A great concert which features some people who are not performing anymore and some who are not here anymore like Ray Charles and James Brown.

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