Billy “The Kid” Emerson

Biography

Slashing blues, infectious R&B, formulaic rock and roll & move, moving gospel — keyboardist Billy “A CHILD” Emerson played those interrelated designs throughout a lengthy profession that started in Florida and later on transported him as much as Memphis and Chicago. Emerson got already discovered his method around a piano when he moved into the Navy in 1943. Following the battle, he began experimenting Tarpon Springs, going to Florida A&M through the past due ’40s and early ’50s. He found his nickname while playing a joint in St. Petersburg; the golf club owner outfitted the music group up in cowboy duds that begged assessment with a particular murderous outlaw. A 1952-53 stint in the Atmosphere Force discovered Emerson stationed in Greenville, MS. That is where he fulfilled youthful bandleader Ike Turner, who whipped Emerson into form as an entertainer while he sang with Turner’s Kings of Tempo. Turner also got Emerson through the entranceway at Sunlight Information in 1954, playing acoustic guitar for the Kid’s debut waxing “No Teasing Around.” Emerson’s songwriting abilities made him a very important commodity around Sunlight — but even more as a supply for various other performers’ material down the road. His bluesy 1955 outing “When It Rains It Pours” elicited a cover from Elvis a couple of years afterwards at RCA, while Emerson’s “Crimson Sizzling hot” (a takeoff on a vintage cheerleader’s chant from Emerson’s college days) became a savage rockabilly anthem revived by Billy Lee Riley for Sunlight and Bob Luman on Imperial. After his “Small Great Healthy Thing” didn’t sell, Emerson exited Sunlight to indication with Chicago’s Vee-Jay Information in past due 1955. Despite first-rate offerings like the jumping “Every Girl I UNDERSTAND (Crazy ‘Bout Cars)” and a complicated “Don’t Begin Me to Laying,” national identification eluded Emerson at Vee-Jay as well. It was to Chess in 1958, documenting “Holy Mackerel Baby” as well as the uncommon novelty “Woodchuck” (a remake of a youthful Sunlight one) during his 12 months there. 45s for Mad, USA, M-Pac! (where he waxed the dance workout “The Whip”), and Constellation preceded the forming of Emerson’s own logo design, Tarpon, in 1966. Furthermore to Emerson’s very own stuff, Tarpon released Denise LaSalle’s debut one. A prolific article writer, Emerson penned music for Junior Wells, Willie Mabon, Wynonie Harris, and Pal Guy through the early ’60s, frequently together with Willie Dixon. When documenting possibilities slowed, Emerson performed jazzy R&B in lounges and supper night clubs (guitarist Lacy Gibson was an associate of his trio for some time). Emerson had taken Europe by shock with a powerful segment over the American Blues Legends 1979 tour. Recently, he’s rumored to get reverted to playing gospel in his indigenous condition of Florida. A large 33-monitor collection, Red Sizzling hot: SUNLIGHT Years, devoted to Emerson’s Sunlight years, but additionally including monitors from his stay on the Vee Jay and Chess brands, premiered by Bear Family members Records in ’09 2009.

Quick Facts