American Roots Music: Rock&Roll

     The American Roots I have decided to pick and research more on is Rock&Roll. I have always found this type of music to be very interesting. The four artists in the 1950s Rock&Roll that will be talked about in this blog are, Elvis Pressley, Chuck Berry, Rickey Nelson, and, Fats Domino. I decided to pick at least two people that everyone has heard of than two people might not have heard of. Rock&Roll started "directly from the rhythm and blues music of the 1940s, which itself developed from earlier blues, the beat-heavy jump blues, boogie-woogie, up-tempo jazz, and swing music." (wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_rock_and_roll). Rock&Roll started in Cleveland in the late 1940s early 1950s. 

    Starting off with the King of Rock&Roll, Elvis Presley. Elvis was born in 1935 in the town of Tupelo, Mississippi. He was an only child, only because his twin brother was stillborn. Elvis and his parents ended up moving to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948. Elvis graduated from Humes High school during the year 1953. A few fun facts about Elvis would be that he starred in thirty three very successful movies. He has sold over one billion records. Elvis had 14 Grammy Nominations but has only won three awards. (https://www.graceland.com/biography) So when people talk about Rock & Roll most people would think of Elvis Presley, since he is the king of it. I know when I think of Elvis the first song that pops into my head is “Hound Dog”. I am not really sure why that is, but it is a pretty great song and it is one of his more famous songs. Another really famous Elvis song would be “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. I have noticed that this song has been making more of an appearance on Tik Tok. I think it is a very sweet and cute love song. I personally think I would want it to be played at a wedding. 

    The next Rock & Roll artist is Chuck Berry. Chuck was born in 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents were actually the grandchildren of people who were enslaved. His mother was one of the first black women of her generation to obtain a college education. Chuck's father was a carpenter as well as a deacon at the Antioch Baptist Church. When Chuck was born “St. Louis was a sharply segregated city.” “The neighborhood was so segregated that Berry had never even encountered a white person until the age of three when he saw several white firemen putting out a fire.” Chuck was so afraid of them because of their white skin, but his father assured him that is just their natural skin color, day and night. In 1944, Chuck and some of his friends dropped out of high school, at the age of 17. They decided to go on a road trip to California. An interesting story “They had gone no farther than Kansas City when they came across a pistol abandoned in a parking lot and, seized by a terrible fit of youthful misjudgment, decided to go on a robbing spree.” This ended up with the three of them all having to go to jail for tens  years, even though they were all minors. (https://www.biography.com/musicians/chuck-berry) Now some popular songs of Chuck Berry’s would be “You Never Can Tell”. Now I personally did not realize that this song was sung by Chuck Berry. But I do find myself randomly listening to it. I think I will more than likely listen to it even more now. 

    Our next Rock & Roll artist is Ricky Nelson. Ricky was born in 1940, in Teaneck, New Jersey. “At age 17, in 1957, he recorded a hit version of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’.” I personally have not heard of either artist so I thought I should cover both to gain more knowledge on both of them. I also thought it was pretty cool that Ricky made his own version of Fats Dominos's “I’m Walkin’”. (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rick-Nelson) Now Ricky already had some background on being more in the spotlight. His family was passionate about music and acting. Ricky has had a total of 53 songs of his being placed on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’. He was known to be a teen sensation. At one point he was ranked forty nine for being listed on the TV Guide’s 50 greatest actors. (https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ricky-nelson-9098.php) While I was researching Ricky Nelson, I knew I was going to have to listen to some of his songs. So while I was listening to some I came across one song in particular that caught my attention, mainly because of the beat that it has. The song is “Travelin’ Man”. I think when I am listening to music with my grandfather I might have to turn this song on.

    Our very last artist for Rock & Roll is Fats Domino. Now While I was looking up interesting and popular Rock & Roll artists in the 1950’s his name really stuck out to me. Fats Domino was born in 1928, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the youngest of eight children in a very musical family. A very interesting fact is Fats learned French before he spoke any English. When Fats was seven he learned how to play the piano. This introduced him to the New Orleans music scene. At the age of 14 Fats dropped out of High School to pursue his musical dreams. “Domino started playing piano for the well-known New Orleans bass player and band leader Billy Diamond”. In the year 1949 Fats was making a name for himself and drawing in his own crowds. (https://www.biography.com/musicians/fats-domino) So a very interesting fact I learned about Fats Domino is that he had eight children and all of their names began with the letter A. Another fact would be Fats was 77 when Hurricane Katrina hit, and he lost his gold and platinum discs. (https://musicalinstrumenthire.com/fats-domino-interesting-facts/#:~:text=Fats%20Domino%20had%20eight%20children,with%20the%20letter%20A!!&text=Fats%20Domino%20lived%20in%20New,he%20was%2077%20years%20old.) While I was looking for a song to listen to by Fats I wanted to find a very cute and upbeat song. I think I found just that. The song that is both popular and very cute is “Whole Lotta Loving”. 

                                                                     Citations

A&E Networks Television. (n.d.). Chuck Berry Biography. Biography.com. Retrieved April 1, 2023, from https://www.biography.com/musicians/chuck-berry 

A&E Networks Television. (n.d.). Fats Domino. Biography.com. Retrieved April 1, 2023, from https://www.biography.com/musicians/fats-domino 

Biography. Graceland. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2023, from https://www.graceland.com/biography 

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Ricky Nelson. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 1, 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rick-Nelson 

 Origins of rock and roll. (2023, March 15). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_rock_and_roll 

Thompson, R. (2019, November 6). Fats domino - some interesting facts. Musical Instrument Hire Co. Retrieved April 1, 2023, from https://musicalinstrumenthire.com/fats-domino-interesting-facts/#:~:text=Fats%20Domino%20had%20eight%20children,with%20the%20letter%20A!!&text=Fats%20Domino%20lived%20in%20New,he%20was%2077%20years%20old 

Who was Ricky Nelson? everything you need to know. Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2023, from https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ricky-nelson-9098.php