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EUGENE VINCENT CRADDOCK aKa GENE VINCENT - Feb. 11, 1935
to Oct.12 1971 Gene Vincent only had one really big
hit, 'Be-Bop-a-Lula', which epitomized Rockabilly at its
prime in 1956 with its sharp guitar breaks, spare snare drums,
fluttering echo, and Vincent's breathless, sexy vocals. Yet his
place as one of the great early Rock n' Roll singers is secure,
backed up by a wealth of fine smaller hits and non-hits that rate
among the best rockabilly of all time. The leather-clad, limping,
greasy-haired singer was also one of the first of Rock n' Roll's
bad boys, lionized by romanticists of past and present generations
attracted to primitive, sometimes savage style and indomitable
Rockabilly spirit. Vincent was bucking the odds by entering
professional music in the first place. As a 20-year-old in the
Navy, he suffered a severe motorcycle accident.
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This almost resulted in
the full amputation of his leg.
After the accident he began
building a musical career, playing with Country bands in the
clubs, honky tonks and dancehalls around the
Norfolk, Virginia area. Demos cut at a
local radio station, fronting a band assembled around Gene by his
management, landed Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps a contract
at Capitol, which hoped they'd found competition for
Elvis Presley. The Blue
Caps were one of the greatest Rock bands of the '50s, anchored
at first by the stunning silvery, faster-than-light guitar leads
of Cliff Gallup. The slap-back echo of 'Be-Bop-a-Lula',
combined with Gene's swooping vocals, led many to mistake the
singer for Elvis when the record first hit the airwaves in
mid-1956, on its way to the Top 10. Brilliant follow-ups like 'Race
With the Devil', 'Bluejean Bop', and 'B-I-Bickey,
Bi, Bo-Bo-Go' failed to click, although these too
are emblematic of Rockabilly at its most exuberant and powerful.
By the end of 1956, The Blue Caps were beginning to undergo
the first of constant personnel changes that would continue
throughout the '50s, the most crucial loss being the departure of
Gallup. The 35 or so tracks he cut with the band, many of which
showed up only on albums or b-sides, were unquestionably Vincent's
greatest work. Vincent had his second and final Top 20 hit in 1957
with 'Lotta Lovin', which reflected his increasingly tamer
approach to production and vocals. He recorded often for
Capitol throughout the rest of the '50s, they were
respectable, occasionally exciting Rockabilly. He was
captured for posterity in of the
first Hollywood films to feature Rock n' Roll stars, 'The Girl
Can't Help It', which also included
Little
Richard and
Eddie
Cochran. A 1960 tour of
Britain brought tragedy when
Eddie Cochran,
who shared the bill on Vincent's U.K. shows, died in a car accident
that he was also involved in, though Vincent survived. Gene Vincent died at the age of 36, one of Rock's first mythic figures.
MP3 -
BeBop-a-Lula | 'God bless
Gene.' |
