Vincent Eugene Craddock was born on the 11th Febraury 1935 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Today would have been Gene's 80th birthday.
Gene Vincent died on the 12th of October 1971 a week earlier and it would have been exactly a year before I was born.
Growing up as a kid in the 70's and 80's with my Dad being into 50's Rock n Roll Gene Vincent's voice could be heard regularly pouring out of the windows of our end of terrace Dagenham house. Most of my mates would comment and wonder what that old shit my dad was playing was, I used to get a bit of a stick but I didn't know any better I had been brought up with this music since I was a babe in arms and to be fair I placed it a lot higher up the musical ladder than some of the stuff my mates were listening to. People of my age look back now and say the 80's was a poor decade for music, personally I wouldn't have known as I wasn't listening to it. The thing is growing up listening to music that was 20 or 30 years old when I first heard it has probably given me the appreciation for music I have today.
My Mum and Dad were big Elvis fans and still are but for my Dad out of all the artists records he had and believe me he had a hell of a lot Gene Vincent was by far his favourite. He still says that even now when he hears Be Bop A Lula it makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up like it was the first time he heard it.
For me the thing that stands out with Vincent's music is the energy, especially in the very early stuff with the Blue Caps. If you listen to songs like "Who Slapped John", or "Hold Me, Hug Me, Rock Me" or even "Jumps, Giggles and Shouts" where you can hear all the screaming and shouting going on in the background it sounds like some wild party condensed into 2 minutes of sound. At times it sounds like their jumping about and pulling each other off the ceiling. Crazy, unique sound that wouldn't be out of place in the ancient ruins of King Louis palace in Disney's Jungle Book, although it was recorded a good 11 years before of course.
It wasn't just Gene's rasping, rocking voice for the rock n roll songs he had the diversity in his voice to make your heart melt with his beautiful ballads. "Important Words", "Now Is The Hour" and of course probably the best ballad I have ever heard "Peace Of Mind". Even the earlier love songs like "I Sure Miss You" leave a lump in the throat.
In a way Vincent was very lucky to always have some very good musicians to add their own unique sound to his fantastic voice. In the early days of the Blue Caps he had the guitar talents of Cliff Gallup who's new and exciting way of playing guitar complimented Gene's vocals so well.
Famously in March of 1958 Vincent's good friend, stable buddy and brother from another Mother Eddie Cochran sat in on one of Gene's recording sessions and decided to lend some big bass vocals to such songs as "Get It", "Lovely Loretta", Teenage Partner" and the aforementioned "Now Is The Hour" and "Peace of Mind".
In 1957 Gene had the backing vocals of Elvis Presley backing group The Jordanaires helping him out on one of my favourite songs the very moody "Five Days". In the late fifties he worked with guitarist Jerry Lee Merritt, who in numerous songs of that time Gene would shout "Oh Jerry" or "Go Jerry" it seemed to replace the raucous screaming from the early days of the Blue Caps.
He worked with many session musicians of the time including Joe Brown, Chas Hodges, Yakety Sax composer Boots Randolph and even Georgie Fame.
Gene had quite a turbulent career in music his good friend Eddie Cochran died in a car crash in 1960 in England. Gene was a passenger in the car with Eddie and Eddie's wife Sharon Sheeley. Gene escaped the crash with a badly busted leg but I think he lost a massive part of his life that day. Gene had commented after the crash that losing Eddie was like losing a brother.
Gene continued making music and touring the world right up until his death. I remember watching a documentary about a tour he did about a year before his death and although he still had the willingness and without still had the stage presents and his great voice he couldn't command the respect he more than deserved, he didn't have the money to pay for a hotel room until he was paid for the gig he just played. The touring and drinking eventually took its toll when Gene Vincent died at the very young age of 36 of a bleeding ulcer in October 1971.
It's been said that Gene Vincent was a bit of a wild man, a bit of a womaniser and a big drinker in his lifetime. I say nobody's perfect, but when it comes to a true Legend of Rock n Roll music then Gene is right up there at the very, very top. One of the greatest of all time who deserves much more credit than he ever got in his short lifetime.
Happy birthday Gene Vincent!!
Long may your music inspire!!
http://youtu.be/BQg9Gfmsg7U Be Bop A Lula
http://youtu.be/BQg9Gfmsg7U Baby Blue
http://youtu.be/vAz0XgKFHWw Peace Of Mind
http://youtu.be/K8WdGneKY5g Who Slapped John
http://youtu.be/K8WdGneKY5g She Little Sheila
