We are currently migrating our data. We expect the process to take 24 to 48 hours before everything is back to normal.
Billy Joe & The Checkmates

Artist

Billy Joe & The Checkmates

Last updated: 8 hours ago

b. Louis Bideu, 21 March 1919, El Paso, Texas, USA. Under the pseudonym Billy Joe Hunter he fronted this fictitious recording group. Bideau, or Lew Bedell as he was then known, started in showbusiness as a comedian and had his own radio show in New York in the mid-50s. In the early 60s he teamed up with noted arranger/composer Ernie Freeman, who had recently had a big hit with ‘Raunchy’. Together they wrote a catchy xylophone-led instrumental that they named ‘Percolator’, as it reminded them of the sound of coffee percolating. As it was early 1962, they added the almost obligatory word ‘Twist’ to the title and the record flew into the US Top 10. Maxwell House coffee used this perky tune for a US television commercial. Billie Joe continued to record charming instrumentals with titles such as ‘One More Cup’ and ‘Claire De Looney’, but never again achieved chart status.

Monthly Listeners

146

Followers

132

Top Cities

3 listeners
3 listeners
3 listeners
3 listeners

Related Artists

Jordan Ingman

Dante & The Evergreens

Dante & The Evergreens

Ernie Fields Orchestra

Ernie Fields Orchestra

The Rock A Teens

The Codas

The Codas

The Ken Mackintosh Orchestra

The Ken Mackintosh Orchestra

John Buck

John Buck

Moe Koffman Quartette

Laurie Johnson & His Orchestra

Laurie Johnson & His Orchestra

Jerry Smith

Jerry Smith

Nicky DeMatteo and The Sorrows

Frank Slay

Frank Slay