1955 R&B Crosses Over – The Architects of Rock & Roll

In 1955 the popular music of the day wasn’t rock & roll. By far, the popular artists of the day ruled with hits like The McGuire Sister’s “Sincerely” or Perez Prado’s “Cherry Pink & Apple BlossomWhite”, Les Baxter’s “Unchained Melody”, Bill Hay’s and his “The Ballad of Davy Crocket”, or Mitch Miller’s “Yellow Rose of Texas”.Pop out numbered rock & roll in number one hits eleven to one “Rock Around the Clock”.

However,

The year of 1955 started out with Ray Charles and his first gospel R&B crossover hit “I’ve Got A Woman” an R&B #1 on January 22nd.  This song, in particular, is very important in rock & roll. It demonstrates the use of suggestive or “secular” lyrics to a gospel beat in full swing.

The Penguins had a major genre defining song with “Earth Angel” breaking through the pop barrier on the Billboard top ten at #8 on February 5th;

The Wrens a local Bronx group had a regional hit with “Come Back My Love” early in 1955… as did LaVerne Baker with “Tweedle Dee” starting as an R&B #4  on January 15 and eventually breaking through to Billboard’s #14 spot on April 2nd – 4/2/1955;

Fats Domino continued to roll out all that heavy R&B which would eventually be called rock & Roll with “Thinking of You (Oh Mother Do)” hitting an R&B #14 on February 12th…

…while a Los Angeles local group Don Julian & The Meadowlarks had a hit with “Heaven and Paradise“;

 

As Bill Haley & the Comets “Rock Around The Clock” slowly continued to climb up the charts he had a double hit with “Birth of the Boogie” a #17 March 19th and B-Side “Mambo Rock” hitting an #18 on the Billboard charts March 5th;

Bo Diddley raised eyebrows with his latin tinged “Bo Diddley” rhythm an recorded an R&B hit that eventually went number one in August 7th, also in August was Fats Domino’s crossover hit and all around iconic rock & roll song ,”Ain’t It a Shame (Ain’t That a Shame)“, which went to #10 on August 27th after being an R&B #1 hit since May 14th;

Bill Haley & the Comets finally got there Number one billboard chart and basically opening the flood gates to other rock & roll artists with the quintessential “Rock Around the Clock” hitting the top of the charts on July 9th and also managing to get on the R&B charts at  #3 on June 11th

The Drifters continued a streak with the song “Hot Ziggity” released in Aug 1955 as Chuck Berry’s rock & roll classic “Maybellene” broke through Billboard at #5 on Sept 10th after hitting number one on the  R&B Charts in August 6th;

 

Elvis Presley released “That’s All Right” on July 19th which didn’t hit the charts until way after it was released becoming “Rolling Stone Magazines #113 on the 2010 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”, Boyd Bennett had a hit with “Seventeen” at #5 on September 3rd.

Bill Haley & the Comets “Razzle Dazzle” hit #15 on July 23rd and Bo Diddley B-side to Bo Diddley’s first single “I’m A Man” would become one of the quintessential rock & roll songs of 1955. The Drifters had another hit ” Everybody’s Laughing” also  released in Aug with Chuck Berry  R&B hit “Wee Wee Hours” hitting number 10 on  9/10/1955. Also in September was Fats Domino and his number one R&B hit “All By Myself” on the 17th;

The R&B Vocal group The Heartbeats from Jamica, Queens had a regional hit with “Crazy For You” in September while the b-side of Elvis’s July single “Blue Moon of Kentucky” gained popularity;

 

The Drifters released the number one R&B classic “Adorable” on November 5th while the Platters released the quintessential rock & Roll classic “Only You” becoming a breakthrough #5 hit for 7 weeks also on November 5th, after being a R&B #1 hit since July 30th;

The Robins or the soon to be Coasters released Dec 3rd the #10 R&B hit “Smokey Joe’s Café” which hit #79 on the billboard charts on December 10th. Bill Haley with “Burn That Candle” hit #9 on both the billboard and the R&B charts October 19th while Bo Diddley with the Moonglows gave the R&B chart a #11 in July 16th with “Diddley Daddy“;

Chuck Berry had a further hit on October 29th with “Thirty Days” an R&B #2 hit rocker while The Valentines had a New York regional hit with “Lily Maebelle“.

November had four great hits with Fats Domino’s “Poor Me (It’s Hard to Sell)” an R&B #1 – 11/26/1955, The El Dorados with “At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)” breaking through to #17 on 11/12/1955 as a R&B #1 hit September 24th and Tennessee Ernie Ford’s big hit “Sixteen Tons” a #1 billboard Hit on 11/26/1955;

 

Bill Haley & the Comets had a sleeper B-side hit with “Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie” eventually hitting #23 on November 19th, The Drifters had a #5 R&B hit with “Steamboat” December 12th and  Fats Domino had another R&B hit with #6 “I Can’t Go On (Rosalie)” early December 3rd;

The year was ended with Little Richard’s and Rock & Roll classic “Tutti Frutti” an R&B #2 hit released November 26th and breaking on through at #17 on the billboard charts on Febuary 4th 1956 and The Platters with the super ballad “Great Pretender” reaching number one on the R&B charts on December 17th and eventually reaching number one on February 18th 1956 on the Billboard charts for 7 weeks.

 

For further Albums and Compilations try:

 

Fats Domino – Fats Domino Jukebox: 20 Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits: Walking To New Orleans

The Drifters – The Drifters All Time Greatest Hits (1959-1965) , Let The Boogie Woogie Roll: (1953-1958) , Up On The Roof: The Best Of The Drifters  and Under The Boardwalk: The Drifters

Bill Haley & The Comets – Rock Around The Clock , 20th Century , From The Original Master Tapes , Portrait of An Artist and Behind The Legend

Chuck Berry – The Definitive Collection, 20th Century Masters , Gold , The Great 28 and Johnny B. Goode: His Complete 50’s Chess Recordings

Bo Diddley – The Chess 50th Anniversary Collect, The Chess Box , 20th Century Masters and Ride On The Chess Masters 1960-1961

Little Richard – Georgia Peach, The Essential Little Richard, Here’s Little Richard and The King of Rock & Roll: The Complete Reprise Recordings

Ray Charles – The Atlantic Years , Forever , The Genius Of , Genius Loves Company and Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959)

The Platters – All Time Greatest Hits, 20th Century Masters, The Magic Touch Anthology, The Very Best Of and and 20 Greatest Hits

Elvis Presley – The Essential, ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits, If I Can Dream: Elvis with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Complete Million Dollar Quartet, That’s The Way It Is (Deluxe) and Elvis 75′ Good Rocking Tonight 

Doo-Wop Classics Vol 1, Doo-Wop Classics Vol 2, Doo-Wop Classics Vol 3, Doo-Wop Classics Vol 4, Doo-Wop Classics Vol 5, Doo-Wop Classics Vol 6