Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner (Joseph Vernon Turner Jr., Kansas City, Missouri, May 18, 19… Read Full Bio ↴Big Joe Turner (Joseph Vernon Turner Jr., Kansas City, Missouri, May 18, 1911 – Inglewood, California, November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter.
Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", Turner's career as a performer stretched from the 1920s into the 1980s.
(for stride pianist Joseph H. Turner (3.11.07-21.7.90) > Joe Turner)
Known variously as The Boss of the Blues, and Big Joe Turner (due to his 6'2", 300+ lbs stature), Turner was born in Kansas City and first discovered his love of music through involvement in the church. Turner's father was killed in a train accident when Joe was only four years old. He began singing on street corners for money, leaving school at age fourteen to begin working in Kansas City's club scene, first as a cook, and later as a singing bartender. He eventually became known as The Singing Barman, and worked in such venues as The Kingfish Club and The Sunset, where he and his piano playing partner Pete Johnson became resident performers. The Sunset was managed by Piney Brown. It featured "separate but equal" facilities for white patrons. Turner wrote "Piney Brown Blues" in his honor and sang it throughout his entire career.
At that time Kansas City was a wide-open town run by "Boss" Tom Pendergast. Despite this, the clubs were subject to frequent raids by the police, but as Turner recounts, "The Boss man would have his bondsmen down at the police station before we got there. We'd walk in, sign our names and walk right out. Then we would cabaret until morning".
His partnership with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson proved fruitful. Together they headed to New York in 1936, where they appeared on a bill with Benny Goodman, but as Turner recounts, "After our show with Goodman, we auditioned at several places, but New York wasn't ready for us yet, so we headed back to K.C.". Eventually they were spotted by the talent scout, John H. Hammond in 1938, who invited them back to New York to appear in one of his "From Spirituals to Swing" concerts at Carnegie Hall, which was instrumental in introducing jazz and blues to a wider American audience.
Due in part to their appearance at Carnegie Hall, Turner and Johnson scored a major hit with "Roll 'Em Pete". The track contained one of the earliest recorded examples of a back beat. It was a song which Turner recorded many times, with various combinations of musicians, over the ensuing years.
In 1939, along with boogie players Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, they began a residency at Café Society, a club in New York City, where they appeared on the same bill as Billie Holiday and Frank Newton's band. Besides "Roll 'Em, Pete", Turner's best-known recordings from this period are probably "Cherry Red", "I Want A Little Girl" and "Wee Baby Blues".
In 1941, he headed to Los Angeles where he performed in Duke Ellington's revue Jump for Joy in Hollywood. He appeared as a singing policeman in a sketch called "He's on the Beat." Los Angeles became his home base for a time, and in 1944 he worked in Meade Lux Lewis's Soundies musical films. Although he sang on the soundtrack recordings, he was not present for the filming, and his vocals were mouthed by comedian Dudley Dickerson for the camera. In 1945 Turner and Pete Johnson opened their own bar in Los Angeles, The Blue Moon Club.
Turner made lots of records, not only with Johnson but with the pianists Art Tatum and Sammy Price and with various small jazz ensembles. He recorded on several record labels, particularly National Records, and also appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra. In his career, Turner successively led the transition from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues, and finally to rock and roll. Turner was a master of traditional blues verses and at the legendary Kansas City jam sessions he could swap choruses with instrumental soloists for hours.
In 1951, while performing with the Count Basie Orchestra at Harlem's Apollo Theater as a replacement for Jimmy Rushing, he was spotted by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün, who signed him to their new recording company, Atlantic Records. Turner recorded a number of hits for them, including the blues standards, "Chains of Love" and "Sweet Sixteen". Many of his vocals are punctuated with shouts to the band members, as in "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" ("That's a good rockin' band!", "Go ahead, man! Ow! That's just what I need!" ) and "Honey Hush" (he repeatedly sings "Hi-yo, Silver!", probably in reference to The Treniers singing the phrase in their Lone Ranger parody "Ride, Red, Ride"). Turner's records shot to the top of the rhythm-and-blues charts; although they were sometimes so earthy that some radio stations wouldn't play them, the songs received heavy play on jukeboxes and records.
Turner hit it big in 1954 with "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which not only enhanced his career, turning him into a teenage favorite, but also helped to transform popular music. The song is fairly raw, as Turner yells at his woman to "get outa that bed, wash yo' face an' hands" and comments that she's "wearin' those dresses, the sun comes shinin' through!" He sang the number on film in the 1955 theatrical feature Rhythm and Blues Revue.
Although the cover version of the song by Bill Haley and His Comets, with the risqué lyrics incompletely cleaned up, was a bigger hit, many listeners sought out Turner's version and were introduced thereby to the whole world of rhythm and blues. Elvis Presley showed he needed no such introduction. His version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" combined Turner's lyrics with Haley's arrangement, but was not successful as a single.
In addition to the rock 'n' roll songs, he found time to cut the classic Boss of the Blues album.
After a number of hits in this vein, Turner left popular music behind and returned to his roots as a singer with small jazz combos, recording numerous albums in that style in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966, Bill Haley helped revive Turner's career by lending him the Comets for a series of popular recordings in Mexico (apparently no one thought of getting the two to record a duet of "Shake, Rattle and Roll", as no such recording has yet surfaced). In 1977 he recorded a version of Guitar Slim's song, "The Things I Used to Do".
In the 1960s and 1970s he was reclaimed by jazz and blues, appearing at many festivals and recording for the impresario Norman Granz's Pablo label, once with his friendly rival, Jimmy Witherspoon. He also worked with the German boogie-woogie pianist Axel Zwingenberger.
It is a mark of his dominance as a singer that he won the Esquire magazine award for male vocalist in 1945, the Melody Maker award for best 'new' vocalist in 1956, and the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer in 1965. His career thus stretched from the bar rooms of Kansas City in the 1920s (at the age of twelve when he performed with a pencilled moustache and his father's hat), on to the European jazz music festivals of the 1980s.
In 1983, only two years before his death, Turner was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
He died in Inglewood, California in November 1985, at the age of 74 of a heart attack, having suffered the earlier effects of arthritis, a stroke and diabetes. Big Joe Turner was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Tribute
The late, New York Times music critic Robert Palmer, said: "...his voice, pushing like a Count Basie solo, rich and grainy as a section of saxophones, which dominated the room with the sheer sumptuousness of its sound.
Most famous recordings
"Roll 'Em, Pete" - 1938; (available in many versions over the years. Used for the million-dollar first scene in Spike Lee's film, Malcolm X).
"Chains Of Love" - 1951 † (this was Turner's first million seller. The song was written by 'Nugetre' (words) - Ahmet Ertegün, Van Wallis (music), and the disc reached the million by 1954).
"Honey Hush" - 1953 †
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" - 1954
"Flip Flop And Fly" - 1955 † (has sold a million through the years. The song was written by Charles Calhoun and Turner, although credited to the latter's wife, Lou Willie Turner).
"Cherry Red" - 1956
"Corrine, Corrina" - 1956 † (the fourth million seller...with adaption by J. Mayo Williams, Mitchell Parish and Bo Chatmon in 1932. This disc was #41, and spent 10 weeks in the Billboard chart).
"Wee Baby Blues" - 1956; (a song Turner had been singing since his Kingfish Club days)
"Love Roller Coaster" 1956
"Midnight Special" - 1957
Tracks marked as † were million selling discs.
Select discography
Big Joe Rides Again (1956)
The Boss of the Blues (1956)
Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 1 (1969)
Texas Style (1971)
Flip, Flop & Fly (1972)
Life Ain't Easy (1974)
The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (1974)
Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", Turner's career as a performer stretched from the 1920s into the 1980s.
(for stride pianist Joseph H. Turner (3.11.07-21.7.90) > Joe Turner)
Known variously as The Boss of the Blues, and Big Joe Turner (due to his 6'2", 300+ lbs stature), Turner was born in Kansas City and first discovered his love of music through involvement in the church. Turner's father was killed in a train accident when Joe was only four years old. He began singing on street corners for money, leaving school at age fourteen to begin working in Kansas City's club scene, first as a cook, and later as a singing bartender. He eventually became known as The Singing Barman, and worked in such venues as The Kingfish Club and The Sunset, where he and his piano playing partner Pete Johnson became resident performers. The Sunset was managed by Piney Brown. It featured "separate but equal" facilities for white patrons. Turner wrote "Piney Brown Blues" in his honor and sang it throughout his entire career.
At that time Kansas City was a wide-open town run by "Boss" Tom Pendergast. Despite this, the clubs were subject to frequent raids by the police, but as Turner recounts, "The Boss man would have his bondsmen down at the police station before we got there. We'd walk in, sign our names and walk right out. Then we would cabaret until morning".
His partnership with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson proved fruitful. Together they headed to New York in 1936, where they appeared on a bill with Benny Goodman, but as Turner recounts, "After our show with Goodman, we auditioned at several places, but New York wasn't ready for us yet, so we headed back to K.C.". Eventually they were spotted by the talent scout, John H. Hammond in 1938, who invited them back to New York to appear in one of his "From Spirituals to Swing" concerts at Carnegie Hall, which was instrumental in introducing jazz and blues to a wider American audience.
Due in part to their appearance at Carnegie Hall, Turner and Johnson scored a major hit with "Roll 'Em Pete". The track contained one of the earliest recorded examples of a back beat. It was a song which Turner recorded many times, with various combinations of musicians, over the ensuing years.
In 1939, along with boogie players Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, they began a residency at Café Society, a club in New York City, where they appeared on the same bill as Billie Holiday and Frank Newton's band. Besides "Roll 'Em, Pete", Turner's best-known recordings from this period are probably "Cherry Red", "I Want A Little Girl" and "Wee Baby Blues".
In 1941, he headed to Los Angeles where he performed in Duke Ellington's revue Jump for Joy in Hollywood. He appeared as a singing policeman in a sketch called "He's on the Beat." Los Angeles became his home base for a time, and in 1944 he worked in Meade Lux Lewis's Soundies musical films. Although he sang on the soundtrack recordings, he was not present for the filming, and his vocals were mouthed by comedian Dudley Dickerson for the camera. In 1945 Turner and Pete Johnson opened their own bar in Los Angeles, The Blue Moon Club.
Turner made lots of records, not only with Johnson but with the pianists Art Tatum and Sammy Price and with various small jazz ensembles. He recorded on several record labels, particularly National Records, and also appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra. In his career, Turner successively led the transition from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues, and finally to rock and roll. Turner was a master of traditional blues verses and at the legendary Kansas City jam sessions he could swap choruses with instrumental soloists for hours.
In 1951, while performing with the Count Basie Orchestra at Harlem's Apollo Theater as a replacement for Jimmy Rushing, he was spotted by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün, who signed him to their new recording company, Atlantic Records. Turner recorded a number of hits for them, including the blues standards, "Chains of Love" and "Sweet Sixteen". Many of his vocals are punctuated with shouts to the band members, as in "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" ("That's a good rockin' band!", "Go ahead, man! Ow! That's just what I need!" ) and "Honey Hush" (he repeatedly sings "Hi-yo, Silver!", probably in reference to The Treniers singing the phrase in their Lone Ranger parody "Ride, Red, Ride"). Turner's records shot to the top of the rhythm-and-blues charts; although they were sometimes so earthy that some radio stations wouldn't play them, the songs received heavy play on jukeboxes and records.
Turner hit it big in 1954 with "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which not only enhanced his career, turning him into a teenage favorite, but also helped to transform popular music. The song is fairly raw, as Turner yells at his woman to "get outa that bed, wash yo' face an' hands" and comments that she's "wearin' those dresses, the sun comes shinin' through!" He sang the number on film in the 1955 theatrical feature Rhythm and Blues Revue.
Although the cover version of the song by Bill Haley and His Comets, with the risqué lyrics incompletely cleaned up, was a bigger hit, many listeners sought out Turner's version and were introduced thereby to the whole world of rhythm and blues. Elvis Presley showed he needed no such introduction. His version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" combined Turner's lyrics with Haley's arrangement, but was not successful as a single.
In addition to the rock 'n' roll songs, he found time to cut the classic Boss of the Blues album.
After a number of hits in this vein, Turner left popular music behind and returned to his roots as a singer with small jazz combos, recording numerous albums in that style in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966, Bill Haley helped revive Turner's career by lending him the Comets for a series of popular recordings in Mexico (apparently no one thought of getting the two to record a duet of "Shake, Rattle and Roll", as no such recording has yet surfaced). In 1977 he recorded a version of Guitar Slim's song, "The Things I Used to Do".
In the 1960s and 1970s he was reclaimed by jazz and blues, appearing at many festivals and recording for the impresario Norman Granz's Pablo label, once with his friendly rival, Jimmy Witherspoon. He also worked with the German boogie-woogie pianist Axel Zwingenberger.
It is a mark of his dominance as a singer that he won the Esquire magazine award for male vocalist in 1945, the Melody Maker award for best 'new' vocalist in 1956, and the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer in 1965. His career thus stretched from the bar rooms of Kansas City in the 1920s (at the age of twelve when he performed with a pencilled moustache and his father's hat), on to the European jazz music festivals of the 1980s.
In 1983, only two years before his death, Turner was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
He died in Inglewood, California in November 1985, at the age of 74 of a heart attack, having suffered the earlier effects of arthritis, a stroke and diabetes. Big Joe Turner was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Tribute
The late, New York Times music critic Robert Palmer, said: "...his voice, pushing like a Count Basie solo, rich and grainy as a section of saxophones, which dominated the room with the sheer sumptuousness of its sound.
Most famous recordings
"Roll 'Em, Pete" - 1938; (available in many versions over the years. Used for the million-dollar first scene in Spike Lee's film, Malcolm X).
"Chains Of Love" - 1951 † (this was Turner's first million seller. The song was written by 'Nugetre' (words) - Ahmet Ertegün, Van Wallis (music), and the disc reached the million by 1954).
"Honey Hush" - 1953 †
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" - 1954
"Flip Flop And Fly" - 1955 † (has sold a million through the years. The song was written by Charles Calhoun and Turner, although credited to the latter's wife, Lou Willie Turner).
"Cherry Red" - 1956
"Corrine, Corrina" - 1956 † (the fourth million seller...with adaption by J. Mayo Williams, Mitchell Parish and Bo Chatmon in 1932. This disc was #41, and spent 10 weeks in the Billboard chart).
"Wee Baby Blues" - 1956; (a song Turner had been singing since his Kingfish Club days)
"Love Roller Coaster" 1956
"Midnight Special" - 1957
Tracks marked as † were million selling discs.
Select discography
Big Joe Rides Again (1956)
The Boss of the Blues (1956)
Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 1 (1969)
Texas Style (1971)
Flip, Flop & Fly (1972)
Life Ain't Easy (1974)
The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (1974)
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Big Joe Turner Lyrics
Battle Of The Blues Part 1 Been out all night, don't wanna go home No she can't…
Beale Street Blues Won't you come along with me To the Mississippi We'll take a…
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea I don't want you But I hate to lose you You've got…
Blues Been out all night, don't wanna go home No she can't…
Blues in the Night My mama done tol' me, When I was in knee pants, My…
Boogie Woogie Baby She wears loafer shoes, a dungaree Red jacket shirt if you…
Bump Miss Susie Hey, Miss Suzie, you sure look fine Tell me, Miss Suzie,…
Bump Miss Suzie Hey, Miss Suzie, you sure look fine Tell me, Miss Suzie,…
Careless Love Love, oh love, oh careless love You've fly through my head…
Chain Of Love Chains of love Has tied my heart to you Chains of love Have…
Cherry Red Run here pretty mama Get down on your daddy's knee I want…
Chicken & The Hawk Well, a girly chicken fell in love with a chicken…
Chill Is On How about it? How about it? It takes a lot…
Christmas Date Blues Every day is Christmas and I ain't got a thing…
Corrina Corrina Corrine Corrina, where you been so long? Corrine Corrina, wh…
Corrine, Corrina Corrine, Corrina, where you been so long? Corrine, Corrina, …
Cry Baby Blues It was early one Monday mornin', And I was on my…
Don't Love You No More For all the years that Ive known you baby I cant…
Everyday I Have The Blues Everyday, everyday I have the blues Ooh everyday, everyday I…
Feeling Happy Oh Well Oh Well I Feel So Fine Today Oh Well…
Flip Flip And Fly Now when I get the blues, I get me a…
Flip, Flop & Fly I get the blues, I get me a rockin' chair I…
Goin' Away Blues Going to Chicago Sorry, I can't take you Going to Chicago …
Good Morning Blues Good morning blues, blues how do you do Good morning blues,…
Hide And Seek Come on, little baby, now hide 'n' go seek with…
Honey Hush Ah, let 'em roll like a big wheel In a Georgia…
How Long Blue How Long? Baby how long Has that evenin' train been gone H…
How Long Blues How Long? Baby how long Has that evenin' train been gone How…
I Can't Give You Anything but Love Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid. It's not a…
I Can't Give You Anything But Love Baby Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid. It's not a…
I Cover the Waterfront I cover the waterfront, I'm watching the sea, Will the one I…
I Got A Gal I've got the world on a string I'm sitting on a…
I Hear You Knocking You went away and left me long time ago And now…
I Love Ya i Love Ya i Love Ya Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid. It's not a…
I Need A Girl I want a little girl, call my own. She must be…
I've Got The World On A String I've got the world on a string I'm sitting on a…
in the evenin' In the evening, in the evening Baby, when the sun goes…
Jada You've heard all about your raggy melody Everything from ope…
Jumpin' at the Jubilee Hey Fellas! Gather round! (Fellas) WHAT'S HAPPENING! Pick …
Just One of Those Things It was just one of those things Just one of those…
Kansas City Blues I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come I'm…
Lipstick Powder & Paint Lipstick, powder and paint Lipstick, powder and paint Lipsti…
Lipstick Powder and Paint Lipstick, powder and paint Lipstick, powder and paint Lips…
Little Bittie Gal's Blues I wake up every morning Honey, with the risin' sun I wake…
Little Girl I want a little girl, call my own. She must be…
Love Oh Careless Love Love, oh love, oh careless love You've fly through my head…
Love Roller Coaster Ride on the love roller coaster While it's doing a loop…
Lovin' Mama Blues My mama done tol' me, When I was in knee pants, My…
Low Down Dog Well, I ain't gonna be your low down dog no…
Lucille Ah Lucille Baby do your sister's will Ah Lucille Baby do you…
My Baby's Gone Yeah, my baby, gone An' she won't be back no mo' My…
My Little Girl I want a little girl, call my own. She must be…
New Wee Baby Blues It was early one Monday mornin', And I was on my…
Nobody in Mind Trouble in mind, I'm blue But I won't be blue always, Cause…
Oke-she-moke-she-pop Well, I'm from the country baby, just blowed into your…
Ooh Wee Baby Blues It was early one Monday mornin', And I was on my…
Pennies from Heaven Every time it rains, it rains, pennies from heaven Don't you…
Rainy Day Blues Everyday, everyday I have the blues Oh, everyday, everyday I…
Red Sails In The Sunset 'Twas down where fisher folk gather, I wander'd far from the…
Rocks in My Bed My heart is heavy as lead Because the blues has done…
Roll Get outta that bed, wash your face and hands Get outta…
Roll 'Em Pete Well, I got a gal, she lives up on the…
Route 66 If you ever plan to motor west, Travel my way,…
S.K. Blues Pt. 1 Been out all night, don't wanna go home No she can't…
Shake Get outta that bed, wash your face and hands Get outta…
Shake Rattle & Roll Get outta that bed, wash your face and hands Get outta…
Shake Rattle And Roll Get outta that bed, wash your face and hands Get outta…
Shake, Rattle and Roll by Charles E. Calhoun recording of 1952-1954 from Atlantic R…
St Louis Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down I hate…
Stormy Monday They call it stormy Moday, but Tuesday's just as bad They…
Summertime Summertime, And the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' And the …
Sunday Morning Blues Good morning blues, blues how do you do Good morning blues,…
Sweet Lorraine Everything is set, skies are blue, Can't believe it yet, but…
Sweet Sixteen When I first met you baby, baby You were just sweet…
Switching In The Kitchen When I was young I was so spunky, Now I'm getting…
T.V. Mama I was in my bed a-sleepin', oh-boy, what a dream I…
Teenage Letter Dans une lettre remplie de flamme Quand tu m'écris de toi Je…
That's All Right Have no fear, Big Joe is here Oh you're real crazy…
The Chicken And The Hawk Well, a girly chicken fell in love with a chicken…
The Chill Is On How about it? How about it? It takes a lot…
Trouble In Mind Trouble in mind, I'm blue But I won't be blue always, Cause…
Turner. Flip Flop & Fly Now when I get the blues, I get me a…
TV Mama I was in my bed a-sleepin', oh-boy, what a dream I…
Two Loves Have I Two loves have I and they tear me apart, Two loves…
Until the Real Thing Comes Along Oh I'd work for you, I'd slave for you, I'd be…
Wee Baby Blues It was early one Monday mornin', And I was on my…
Well All Right Have no fear, Big Joe is here Oh you're real crazy…
Well, All Right Have no fear, Big Joe is here Oh, you're real crazy,…
When The Sun Goes Down In the evening, in the evening Baby, when the sun goes…
Wine-O-Baby Boogie When you see me sleeping baby Please don't think I'm drunk W…
You Can Mistreat Me Here Now you can mistreat me here But you can't when I…
You Know I Love You Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid. It's not a…
You're Driving Me Crazy Well, you, driving me crazy What did I do, what did…