Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was born on the 9th of April 1932, in Tiptonville, Tennessee. He grew up as the son of poor sharecroppers named Louise and Buck Perkins. From the age of six, he worked long hours in cotton fields alongside his family whether school was in session or not. The boys grew up hearing Southern gospel music sung by white friends in church and by black field workers in the cotton fields. On Saturday nights Perkins would listen to the Grand Ole Opry broadcast from Nashville on his father's radio.
Roy Acuff's broadcasts inspired Perkins to ask his parents for a guitar. Since they could not afford to buy one, his father made one from a cigar box and a broomstick. Eventually, a neighbor sold his father a worn-out Gene Autry guitar. Perkins could not afford new strings, and when they broke, he had to retie them. The knots cut his fingers when he would slide to another note, so he began bending the notes, stumbling onto a type of blue note.
Perkins taught himself parts of Acuff's Great Speckled Bird and The Wabash Cannonball having heard them played on the Opry. He also has cited Bill Monroe's fast playing and vocals as an early influence. Perkins also learned from John Westbrook, an African-American field worker in his 60s who played blues and gospel music on an old acoustic guitar. Westbrook advised Perkins to Get down close to it. You can feel it travel down the strangs, come through your head and down to your soul where you live.
In July 1954, Perkins and his wife heard a new release of Blue Moon of Kentucky by Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black on the radio. As the song faded out, Perkins said, There is a man in Memphis who understands what we are doing. I need to go see him. According to another telling of the story, it was Valda who said that he should go to Memphis.
Perkins successfully auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in early October 1954. Movie Magg and Turn Around were released on the Phillips-owned Flip label on the 19th of March 1955. Turn Around became a regional success, and Perkins was booked to appear along with Elvis Presley at theaters in Marianna and West Memphis, Arkansas. Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two were the next Sun musicians to be added to the shows.
Also in the autumn of 1955, Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes, inspired by seeing a dancer get angry with his date for scuffing up his shoes. Several weeks later, on the 19th of December 1955, Perkins and his band recorded the song during a session at Sun Studio in Memphis. Phillips suggested changes to the lyrics Go cat go, and the band changed the end of the song to a boogie vamp.
Sun released Blue Suede Shoes on the 1st of January 1956 and it became a massive chart success. In the United States, it reached number one on Billboard magazine's country music chart. It also reached number two on the Billboard Best Sellers popular music chart. On February 11, Presley performed it on CBS-TV's Stage Show.
After playing a show in Norfolk, Virginia, on the 21st of March 1956, the Perkins Brothers Band headed to New York City for a March 24 appearance on NBC-TV's Perry Como Show. Shortly before sunrise on March 22, on Route 13 between Dover and Woodside, Delaware, their vehicle hit the back of a pickup truck and went into a ditch containing about 12 inches of water.
Holland had to pull Perkins, unconscious, from the water. Perkins had sustained three fractured vertebrae in his neck, a severe concussion, a broken collar bone, and lacerations all over his body. Perkins remained unconscious for an entire day. The driver of the pickup truck, Thomas Phillips, a 40-year-old farmer, died when he was thrown into the steering wheel.
Jay Perkins had a fractured neck and severe internal injuries. Later he developed a malignant brain tumor, and died in 1958. On March 23, Presley's band members Bill Black, Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana visited Perkins on their way to New York to appear with Presley. Fontana recalled Perkins saying, You looked like a bunch of angels coming to see me.
Blue Suede Shoes had sold more than 500,000 copies by March 22, and Sam Philips had planned to celebrate by presenting Perkins with a gold record on The Perry Como Show. While Perkins recuperated from his injuries, Blue Suede Shoes reached number one on regional pop, R&B, and country charts.
Perkins returned to live performances on the 21st of April 1956 beginning with an appearance in Beaumont, Texas, with the Big D Jamboree tour. Before he resumed touring, Sam Phillips arranged a recording session at Sun with Edd Cisco filling in for the still-recuperating Jay. By mid-April, they recorded Dixie Fried, Put Your Cat Clothes On, Wrong Yo-Yo, You Can't Make Love to Somebody, Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby, and That Don't Move Me.
Matchbox became a rockabilly classic. It was recorded with Perkins on lead guitar and vocals, and then Sun studio piano player, Jerry Lee Lewis. Later that day, there was an impromptu session with Perkins, Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis informally referred to as the Million Dollar Quartet.
He released That's Right, co-written with Johnny Cash, backed with the ballad Forever Yours, as Sun single 274 in August, 1957. Neither side made it onto the charts.
In May 1964, Perkins toured Britain with Chuck Berry with the popular, young rock group, The Animals backing them. Perkins had been reluctant to undertake the tour, convinced that as forgotten as he had become in America, he would be even more obscure in the UK and did not want to be humiliated by drawing meager
audiences.
Berry assured him that they had remained much more popular in Britain since the 1950s than they had in the United States, and that there would be large crowds of fans at every show. On the last night of the tour, Perkins attended a party where he sat on the floor sharing stories, playing guitar, and singing songs while surrounded by the Beatles.
Ringo Starr asked if he could record Honey Don't. Perkins answered, Man, go ahead, have at it. The Beatles later recorded covers of Matchbox, Honey Don't and Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby, which Perkins adapted from a song originally recorded in 1936 by Rex Griffin which he added new music to.
Starr sang the lead on the first two, George Harrison sang a rare lead on the third. The Beatles also recorded two versions of Glad All Over in 1963.
The rockabilly revival of the 1980s helped bring Perkins back into the limelight. In 1981, Perkins recorded the song Get It with Paul McCartney. According to one source, he fully co-wrote the song with McCartney. This recording was included on the chart-topping album Tug of War, released in 1982.
During 1985, Perkins re-recorded Blue Suede Shoes
with Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats as part of the soundtrack for the film Porky's Revenge. In October 1985, Perkins performed on stage in London for a television special, Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session, with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Dave Edmunds, Lee Rocker, Rosanne Cash and Ringo Starr.
The show was taped live at the Limehouse Studios. It was broadcast on Channel 4 on the 1st of January 1986. Perkins sang 16 songs plus two encores. He and his friends ended the session by singing Blue Suede Shoes, 30 years after its writing, which brought Perkins to tears.
Perkins was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985. Wider recognition of his contributions to music came with his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
In 1989, Perkins co-wrote and played lead guitar on the Judds' number-one country hit, Let Me Tell You About Love. That same year, he signed a record deal with Platinum Records for the album Friends, Family, and Legends, featuring performances by Chet Atkins, Travis Tritt, Steve Wariner, Joan Jett, and Charlie Daniels.
During the production of
this album, Perkins was diagnosed with throat cancer. His last album, Go Cat Go!, released by the independent Dinosaur Records label in 1996, showcased Perkins singing duets with Bono, Johnny Cash, John Fogerty, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, and Ringo Starr.
His last major concert performance was the Music for Montserrat all-star charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on the 15th of September 1997, four months before his death. Perkins died on the 19th of January 1998, at the age of 65 at Jackson-Madison County Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee, from complications from several minor strokes the previous month.
Among the mourners at his standing room only funeral at Lambuth University were George Harrison, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wynonna Judd, Sam Phillips, Ricky Skaggs, Brian Setzer, Garth Brooks, and Billy Ray Cyrus.
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Common questions
When and where was Carl Perkins born?
Carl Lee Perkins was born on the 9th of April 1932, in Tiptonville, Tennessee. He grew up as the son of poor sharecroppers named Louise and Buck Perkins.
What happened to Carl Perkins during his tour in March 1956?
On the 22nd of March 1956, Carl Perkins vehicle hit a pickup truck on Route 13 between Dover and Woodside, Delaware. The accident left him unconscious with three fractured vertebrae, a severe concussion, and a broken collar bone while the driver Thomas Phillips died.
How did Carl Perkins influence The Beatles songwriting?
The Beatles recorded covers of Matchbox, Honey Don't, and Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby which Carl Perkins adapted from songs originally recorded by Rex Griffin. Ringo Starr asked if he could record Honey Don't and George Harrison sang a rare lead on the third track.
When did Carl Perkins die and what caused his death?
Carl Perkins died on the 19th of January 1998 at Jackson-Madison County Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee. His death resulted from complications from several minor strokes that occurred the previous month.
Which year was Carl Perkins inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Wider recognition of Carl Perkins contributions to music came with his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He had previously been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.