Born in Memphis,
Tennessee and one of nine children, Bill Blackplayed bass with guitarist Scotty Moore while Elvis
Presley
played rhythm guitar and sang "That's All Right (Mama)"
in a
Sun Studios session in Memphis that is considered a
seminal
event in the history of Rock and Roll.
In the early-1950s, the Black family
lived in Lauderdale Courts
housing complex in Memphis. Several of the Black children
attended
Humes High School at the same time as Elvis
Presley
although Bill had already left home for the army by this
time.
Ken R. Black, the youngest of the Black children,
associated
with Elvis who was a year behind him at Hume.
Bill Black went on to play
double bass on early Presley
recordings including "Good Rockin' Tonight",
"Heartbreak
Hotel", "Baby Let's Play House", "Mystery
Train", "That's
All Right (Mama)", "Hound Dog", and
eventually became
one of the first bass players to use the Fender Precision
Bass
guitar in popular music on "Jailhouse Rock" in
the late 1950s.
Bill, Scotty, Elvis and drummer
D.J. Fontana toured extensively
during Presley's early career. Bill was an extrovert and
often
"clowned" and did comedy during the live shows.
Bill and Elvis
had a couple of comedy routines together that they would
slipinto the live show from time to time. Bill's on stage
personality
was a sharp contrast to the introverted stage presence of
Scotty Moore. This balance seemed to be the perfect fit
for the
Presley performances.
Bill's personality would often
"warm" the audience to the band
in the early live shows. Elvis' unusual and very active
stage
presence was not always easily accepted. Bill's comedic
personality would often relax the audience and win them
over
to their side.
Black continued to work with
Presley until 1958, leaving his
band in large part due to disputes over financial terms.
He andguitarist Scotty Moore had taken one-quarter of the
royaltiesat the outset of Presley's career, but even after Presley
had
rocketed to stardom with RCA starting in 1956, Colonel
Tom
Parker had them on a mere 200 dollars/week wage. Although guitarist Scotty Moore
would eventually work with
Presley again, Black never did, joining a Memphis group
that
evolved into Bill Black's Combo in 1959. Their
instrumental "Smokie," released late that year, made the Top
Ten. Bill Black's Combo stuck to the
formula of "Smokie" for many
of their subsequent singles: a basic shuffle beat, simple
bluesy
R&B riffs, and some rinky-dink organ and smoky
saxophonelines on top. They weren't too imaginative, but they were
quite
successful, placing eight singles in the Top 40 between
1959
and 1962, including "White Silver Sands",
"Josephine", "Don't
Be Cruel", "Blue Tango", and "Hearts
of Stone". Their sales
were greatly boosted by the suitability of their
instrumental rock
for background music at bars, clubs, and diners, with
many of
their discs placed in jukeboxes.
Black died of a brain tumor in
1965 at the age of thirty-nine
and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis,
Tennessee.
Elvis received criticism for not attending his funeral;
however
Elvis believed that his presence would turn the funeral
into a
media frenzy. He decided instead to visit the family
privately
after the service to express his condolences.
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