Alis Lesley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alice Leslie  20 April 1938 (age 85)Chicago |
| Occupation | Singer, educator |
| Style | rock music, rockabilly |
| Musical career | |
| Instrument(s) |
|
| Years active | 1956–1959 |
| Labels | Era Records |
| Formerly of | Arizona Stringdusters |
Alis Lesley (born Alice Lesley or Alice Leslie; [1] [2] April 20, 1938) is an American former rockabilly singer, once billed as "the female Elvis Presley." [3] [4] [5] [6]
Lesley was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Her family later moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where she attended Phoenix Junior College. She majored in television and radio, and began singing rockabilly while a student. She was discovered by Kathryn Godfrey, a popular Phoenix television personality and the sister of Arthur Godfrey. With Kathryn Godfrey's help, Lesley became a local favorite following her appearances on television station KTVK and in local night clubs. [7]
Lesley achieved brief national celebrity with the 1957 release of her Era single, "He Will Come Back to Me" backed with "Heartbreak Harry" (Era Records 45-1034). [8] Lesley's stage persona as "The Female Elvis Presley" included a guitar slung around her neck, greased-back hair, and combed-down sideburns. [3]
She toured Australia in October 1957 with Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, and local rocker Johnny O'Keefe. [9] The tour was cut short when Richard underwent a "religious experience" and he retired from rock and roll for several years.
A picture of Lesley between Little Richard and Eddie Cochran appears on the cover of The Philosophy of Modern Song written by Bob Dylan. [10]
Elvis Aaron Presley, often referred to mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Known as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy.
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, gospel, jump blues, as well as country music. While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until 1954.
Samuel Cornelius Phillips was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf. Phillips played a major role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton.
Ray Edward Cochran was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and "Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. He experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing even on his earliest singles. Cochran played the guitar, piano, bass, and drums. His image as a sharply dressed and attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status.
James Edward Burton is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001, Burton has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Critic Mark Deming writes that "Burton has a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest guitar pickers in either country or rock ... Burton is one of the best guitar players to ever touch a fretboard." He is ranked number 19 in Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists.
Winfield Scott Moore III was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968.
Vincent Eugene Craddock, known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rockabilly and rock and roll. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly. His chart career was brief, especially in his home country of the US, where he notched three top 40 hits in 1956 and '57, and never charted in the top 100 again. In the UK, he was a somewhat bigger star, racking up eight top 40 hits from 1956 to 1961.
Rockabilly is an early style of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" and "hillbilly"; the latter is a reference to country music that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm and blues and rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll". She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Eric Clapton.
"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Recorded originally by Big Mama Thornton on August 13, 1952, in Los Angeles and released by Peacock Records in late February 1953, "Hound Dog" was Thornton's only hit record, selling over 500,000 copies, spending 14 weeks in the R&B charts, including seven weeks at number one. Thornton's recording of "Hound Dog" is listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", ranked at 318 in the 2021 iteration of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in February 2013.
Wanda LaVonne Jackson is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, recording a series of 1950s singles that helped give her the nickname "The Queen of Rockabilly". She is also counted among the first female stars in the genre of country music.
The Girl Can't Help It is a 1956 American musical comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield in the titular role, Tom Ewell, Edmond O'Brien, Henry Jones, and Julie London. The picture was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay adapted by Tashlin and Herbert Baker from an uncredited 1955 short story, "Do Re Mi" by Garson Kanin. Filmed in DeLuxe Color, the production was originally intended as a vehicle for the American sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, with a satirical subplot involving teenagers and rock 'n' roll music. The unintended result has been called the "most potent" celebration of rock music ever captured on film.
Tutti Frutti is a song written by Little Richard and Dorothy LaBostrie, recorded in 1955, which was his first major hit. With its energetic refrain, often transcribed as "A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!", and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also for rock and roll itself. The song introduced several of rock music's most characteristic musical features, including its loud volume, powerful vocal style, and distinctive beat and rhythm.
Walk the Line: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2005 biographical drama film of the same name released November 15, 2005 by Wind-Up Records. There are nine songs performed by Joaquin Phoenix, four songs by Reese Witherspoon, one song by Waylon Payne, one song by Johnathan Rice, two songs by Tyler Hilton, and one song by Shooter Jennings. At the Golden Globe Awards Joaquin Phoenix was awarded the Best Actor – Comedy or Musical and Reese Witherspoon was awarded the Best Actress – Comedy or Musical, as well as the film won the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and Best Actress, which Witherspoon won.
Robert Gordon was an American rockabilly singer.
Sparkle Moore is an American rockabilly singer who was influential as a pioneer of female rockabilly. Her name arose because of her similarity to Sparkle Plenty, a supporting character in the Dick Tracy comic strip. Sparkle dressed in men's clothing, often including leather, and sported an Elvis-influenced pompadour.
Janis Darlene Martin was an American rockabilly and country music singer. She was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock and roll music field during the 1950s and one of country music's early female innovators. Martin was nicknamed the Female Elvis for her dance moves on stage, similar to those of Elvis Presley.
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1950s.
Jesse Lee Denson was an American rockabilly singer and songwriter. His songs have been recorded by Elvis Presley, Billy Williams, and the Kuf-Linx.
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
  | This article about a United States singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |