Little Willie John - Disc of the day

Little Willie John
The King Sessions 1958-1960

(Ace, 2005)

An R&B master goes pop, and invents ’60s soul.

Born William Edward John on 15 November 1937 in Cullendale, Arkansas, raised in Detroit and raised on gospel, Little Willie John was just 14 when he sang with Count Basie. Turning down an offer to tour with Dizzy Gillespie, John cut sides for the Prize and Rama labels, before signing with King Records at age 18. Between 1955 and 1957 his work for King pushed the late-’50s R&B template as far as it would go, his powerful yet sweet gospel-style tenor adding a plaintive high style to the gutbucket genre. John’s sides were hits and found fans in Sam Cooke, James Brown and Al Green. But due to his diminutive height (5’4”) and a taste for Mother Goldstein concord grape wine, John had a fierce temper that failed to dissipate once fame hit. He was a short guy with money making it bit at the music theatres. He started carrying a knife and a gun. But the music carried on getting better. This second release in Ace Records’ John trilogy is the missing link between ’50s R&B and ’60s soul, where tracks like the heartbreakingly beautiful Let Nobody Love You and his beautiful rendition of Conley and Robinson’s Cottage For Sale stand as some of the best examples of soul singing on record, in which all John’s pride, lust, braggadocio and groove is imbued with a profound sense of removed sadness that goes so much deeper than the insecurity of a little guy who wants to be tall. In 1964 John stabbed and killed a man following a show in Seattle. He was sent to Washington State Prison and died there, four years later. The official verdict was heart attack. Some say pneumonia. Others say he was murdered. In 1968 fellow King recording artist James Brown released a tribute album, Thinking of Little Willie John And A Few Nice Things. It breaks your heart.

Andrew Male

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 16/05/2008

Further Listening

Little Willie John – The Early King Sessions (Ace, 2002)

James Brown – Thinking Of Little Willie John And A Few Nice Things (King, 1968)

Bobby Bland – Two Steps From the Blues (Duke/MCA, 1961)

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