Otis Blackwell

Few 1950s rock & roll tunesmiths were as prolifically talented as Otis Blackwell. His immortal compositions include <a href="spotify:artist:3mOiEPe870jJrahcf2TPYZ">Little Willie John</a>'s "Fever," <a href="spotify:artist:43ZHCT0cAZBISjO8DG9PnE">Elvis Presley</a>'s "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up," <a href="spotify:artist:2zyz0VJqrDXeFDIyrfVXSo">Jerry Lee Lewis</a>' "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless," and <a href="spotify:artist:7ydcRbgt0yM9etADb1Ackp">Jimmy Jones</a>' "Handy Man" (just for starters).

Though he often collaborated with various partners on the thriving '50s New York R&B scene (Winfield Scott, Eddie Cooley, and <a href="spotify:artist:7hEzN2btrREEsBbqEF1l9b">Jack Hammer</a>, to name three), Blackwell's songwriting style is as identifiable as that of <a href="spotify:artist:5v8WPpMk60cqZbuZLdXjKY">Willie Dixon</a> or <a href="spotify:artist:3oL5CpaC5cBSVmERMXuV7d">Jerry Leiber</a> & <a href="spotify:artist:1wsgQOJMWtqd2GF0sGSRUm">Mike Stoller</a>. He helped formulate the musical vocabulary of rock & roll when the genre was barely breathing on its own.

Befitting a true innovator, Blackwell's early influences were a tad out of the ordinary. As a lad growing up in Brooklyn, he dug the Westerns that his favorite nearby cinema screened. At that point, <a href="spotify:artist:0m7gTbaLi5fM22MiRaRf7G">Tex Ritter</a> was Otis Blackwell's main man. Smooth blues singers <a href="spotify:artist:21uawITknPcgjwdJuvpcGE">Chuck Willis</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1UedlcCVqk3Zjq2UQocScS">Larry Darnell</a> also made an impression. By 1952, Blackwell parlayed a victory at an Apollo Theater talent show into a recording deal with veteran producer Joe Davis for RCA, switching to Davis' own Jay-Dee logo the next year. He was fairly prolific at Jay-Dee, enjoying success with the throbbing "Daddy Rollin' Stone" (later covered by <a href="spotify:artist:67ea9eGLXYMsO2eYQRui3w">the Who</a>). From 1955 on, though, Blackwell concentrated primarily on songwriting (Atlantic, Date, Cub, and MGM later issued scattered Blackwell singles).

"Fever," co-written by Cooley, was Blackwell's first winner (he used the pen name of John Davenport, since he was still contractually obligated to Jay-Dee). Blackwell never met <a href="spotify:artist:43ZHCT0cAZBISjO8DG9PnE">Elvis</a> in person, but his material traveled a direct pipeline to the rock icon; "Return to Sender," "One Broken Heart for Sale," and "Easy Question" also came from his pen. <a href="spotify:artist:6PyZY3e7wgYgRdegqvqhSo">Dee Clark</a> ("Just Keep It Up" and "Hey Little Girl"), <a href="spotify:artist:61VpPyyJn2bitby8tbafzT">Thurston Harris</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4dUwbgj6jgmsBTRxVuCLEP">Wade Flemons</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4WL6MC4jDW7w7K9hfc4MVS">Clyde McPhatter</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2ttm3uT0N1RN7vwKv1pQgh">Brook Benton</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3plJVWt88EqjvtuB4ZDRV3">Ben E. King</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1FqqOl9itIUpXr4jZPIVoT">the Drifters</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0EodhzA6yW1bIdD5B4tcmJ">Bobby Darin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0j4ZVeMLH38uXEup39Hjvb">Ral Donner</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5VAHm7V5mnsxvQrWw3KHmx">Gene Vincent</a>, and plenty more of rock's primordial royalty benefited from Blackwell's compositional largesse before the British Invasion forever altered the Brill Building scene.

In 1976, Blackwell returned to recording with a Herb Abramson-produced set for Inner City comprised of his own renditions of the songs that made him famous. A 1991 stroke paralyzed the legendary song scribe, but his influence remained so enduring that it inspired Brace Yourself!, an all-star 1994 tribute album that included contributions by <a href="spotify:artist:65Gh3BfK84aTIugiRCgLBA">Dave Edmunds</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:388Y4nUQbYSyonhNlBEypT">Joe Ely</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7FxMjqH6DH056sdsstGeVl">Deborah Harry</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2ozLlEZTdSV3pjHgWwZMsi">Chrissie Hynde</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0vYQRW5LIDeYQOccTviQNX">Kris Kristofferson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6c8INA1EQQe9TkukfEdiCA">Graham Parker</a>, and bluesman <a href="spotify:artist:5MPJKwuEzyWgfueKrogllD">Joe Louis Walker</a>. He died on May 6, 2002 in his Nashville home. ~ Bill Dahl, Rovi