Posts by author
Jack Watkins
Ian Dury called Gene Vincent the first rock’n’roller to smash up hotel rooms. Mesmerising on stage, his recording legacy is greater than is often acknowledged… Gene Vincent is the rocker’s rocker.…
Bringing style and panache to hillbilly music, the Maddox Brothers And Rose’s rock-a-boogies have seldom been surpassed for riotous spontaneity… Country stars whose music anticipated early rock’n’roll continue to be…
In the late 1950s, various contenders vied for the title of homegrown king of rock’n’roll, including Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Cliff Richard and Billy Fury. But for a brief spell between 1957…
If there was ever such a thing as ‘lounge rock’, Louis Prima would be its inventor and chief purveyor. His performances with Keely Smith, Sam Butera and The Witnesses in…
Ray Campi was a star attraction at the first ever rock’n’roll weekender at Caister in 1979, and a much-loved figure on the European rockabilly circuit for years after… When punk…
One of 1955’s guaranteed hitmakers, Nudie-suited showman Webb Pierce found fame with the Louisiana Hayride before helping to launch the career of musicians such as Jimmy Day and Floyd Cramer…
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was the godfather of ghoul rock, but did his wild image hold him back? Vintage Rock examines his extraordinary talent… The rock act trading in theatrical gore…
Vintage Rock journeys back to the uniquely British phenomenon of the Skiffle Craze, a grassroots musical explosion of the 1950s that transformed coffee bars into stages for raw, energetic performance.…
In our lowdown on Billy Fury, we look at how one of the brightest lights in Larry Parnes’ stable of stars remains a true icon of British rock’n’roll, whose passion…
Although mainstream recognition only came with a run of countrypolitan ballads in his ‘Silver Fox’ phase in the mid-1970s, Charlie Rich was a widely respected artist and one of Sun’s…