Earl Bostic

Saxophone maestro EARL BOSTIC trained at Xavier in music theory. 12 Clouds of Joy was first pro gig. Recorded with Lionel Hampton in ’39, formed band in ’45. Arranged for Whiteman, Prima, Krupa, Artie Shaw, Lionel Hampton. His jam-up and jelly tight band included Coltrane, Turrentine, Cozy Cole & Benny Golson. First black group to play Atlantic City Casino (Dance hall) in North Carolina. Toured the South in the 50s with Dinah Washington and Wini Brown. A genius honker who could slip a cool, danceable beat into the Star Spangled Banner or the Miranda warning.

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2011 Song Inductees

2011 Artist Inductees

Cool Stuff

Although Little Eva and Bobby Nunn teamed up for Doublecrossin Blues in 1949, it might have SHIRLEY & LEE who were the earliest example of a successful (boy-girl) duet. These two school friends enjoyed success in the 50s with Feel So...

Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records in 1950. “We became aware southern whites were buying our records. This happened long before kids in the north began to dig R&B. In May or June we always came out with what was known as a BEACH RECORD...

1951 HOT CHART’S top two songs were Sixty Minute Man by the Dominoes and Teardrops From My Eyes by Ruth Brown. Top artists were: Percy Mayfield, Dominoes, Clovers, Charles Brown, Johnny Otis, Mel Walker, Amos Milburn,...

In 1927 Al Jolsen starred in the first talkie-movie, THE JAZZ SINGER, which gave the world the gift of seeing and hearing a song spectacled on screen. And just as importantly, introduced black music to the white world.

ROCKING CHAIR released in 1932 by the Mills Brothers was said to include the first talking bass part. Their greatest hit came in 1942, Paper Doll. Sold 6 million copies. A Donut and a Dream is still a requested smoothie shag...

THE TWIST: Hank Ballard wrote and sung it but Chubby Checker from SC immortalized it to #1 in 1960 and danced it to #1 again in 1962. Never been done before or since. And he rode that twist angle all the way to the bank. He sang...

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THE FIVE ROYALES, kinda forgotten by most, still linger in the hearts of local jitterbugs and shaggers with: Crazy Crazy Crazy, Think, I like It Like That, I Know It’s Hard, You Didn’t Learn It At home and of course the...

Right after HE’S SO FINE, the smash hit by the Chiffons in 1963 hit #1, the song’s writer Ronnie Mack collapsed on the street and died shortly after. Years later his estate successfully sued George Harrison for knocking off...

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