Little Willie John

He never received the accolades given to the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:6hnWRPzGGKiapVX1UCdEAC">Sam Cooke</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4WL6MC4jDW7w7K9hfc4MVS">Clyde McPhatter</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7GaxyUddsPok8BuhxN6OUW">James Brown</a>, but Little Willie John ranks as one of R&B's most influential performers. His muscular high timbre and enormous technical and emotional range belied his young age (his first hit came when he was 18), but his mid-'50s work for Syd Nathan's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22King%22">King</a> label would play a great part in the way soul music would sound. Everyone from <a href="spotify:artist:6hnWRPzGGKiapVX1UCdEAC">Cooke</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4WL6MC4jDW7w7K9hfc4MVS">McPhatter</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7GaxyUddsPok8BuhxN6OUW">Brown</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:1MJpO71ShS9nmFAbT6KM2n">Jackie Wilson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5xLSa7l4IV1gsQfhAMvl0U">B.B. King</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3dkbV4qihUeMsqN4vBGg93">Al Green</a> has acknowledged his debt to this most overlooked of rock and soul pioneers.

His debut recording, a smoking version of <a href="spotify:artist:0cilTln9dpUgfKhi52fqP2">Titus Turner</a>'s "All Around the World" from 1955, set the pattern for a remarkable string of hits: "Need Your Love So Bad," "Suffering with the Blues," "Fever," "Let Them Talk," and his last, "Sleep," from 1961. His version of "Fever" was copied note for note by <a href="spotify:artist:602DnpaSXJB4b9DZrvxbDc">Peggy Lee</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:43ZHCT0cAZBISjO8DG9PnE">Elvis Presley</a>, both of whom had bigger hits with it; John's version, however, remains definitive. His second hit, "Need Your Love So Bad," contains one of the most intimate, tear-jerking vocals ever caught on tape.

John had a volatile temper, fueled by a taste for liquor and an insecurity regarding his slight height (5 feet 4 inches). He was known to pack a gun and knife; in 1964, he stabbed a man and was sent to the Washington State penitentiary, where he died of pneumonia in 1968. <a href="spotify:artist:7GaxyUddsPok8BuhxN6OUW">James Brown</a> recorded a tribute album to John that year, and his material has been recorded by scores of artists from <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:08GQAI4eElDnROBrJRGE0X">Fleetwood Mac</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:5dr7fkIRO4K14g7U8SCue5">the Blasters</a>. Nevertheless, Little Willie John remains a stranger to most listeners and has never received the respect his talent deserves.

Little Willie John was one of the first artists featured in Rhino's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22King%22">King</a> reissues series. Fever was issued late in 1993, and the single-disc, 20-track anthology included such John releases as "Need Your Love So Bad," "Suffering with the Blues," and the title cut. ~ John Floyd, Rovi