Blue Suede Shoes | |
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Directed by | Curtis Clark |
Starring |
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Distributed by | Kendon Films Ltd. |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 mins |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Blue Suede Shoes is a 1980 music documentary film directed by Curtis Clark and produced by Don Boyd with Penny Clark that combines archival film of early American rock 'n' roll pioneers of the 1950s (with footage of Bill Haley's 1957 British tour, an Eddie Cochran television appearance and late 1960s concert footage of Gene Vincent) and British singers Cliff Richard and Tommy Steele with material recorded at a 1979 rock 'n' roll revival weekender featuring bands and people following the scene (including Teddy Boys, motorcycle greasers and rockabilly adherents). [1]
The documentary includes archive material from the 1950s plus later concert footage from Gene Vincent (1970). The film includes footage from a revival weekend at a holiday camp in Great Yarmouth, England. The weekend footage includes footage of shows by various bands of the period and after. The film concludes with a 15-minute excerpt from a March 1979 performance by Bill Haley and His Comets recorded during his "comeback tour" in London. Although Haley continued to tour and perform until May 1980, this was his final film appearance.
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continuing until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group recorded nine Top 20 singles, one of which was number one and three that were Top Ten. The single "Rock Around the Clock" was the best-selling rock single in the history of the genre and maintained that position for several years.
Carl Lee Perkins was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 1954. Among his best-known songs are "Blue Suede Shoes", "Honey Don't", "Matchbox" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby".
Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. including "Stray Cat Strut", "(She's) Sexy + 17", "Look at That Cadillac", "I Won't Stand in Your Way", "Bring It Back Again", and "Rock This Town", which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has listed as one of the songs that shaped rock and roll.
Ray Edward Cochran, known professionally as Eddie Cochran, was an American rock and roll musician. His 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. Cochran 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, Cochran achieved iconic status.
Vincent Eugene Craddock, known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. 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 1957, 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.
The Treniers were an American R&B and jump blues musical group led by identical twins Cliff and Claude Trenier. They were originally billed as the Trenier Twins, who performed alongside the Gene Gilbeaux Quartet, but shortened their name to the Treniers when Gilbeaux and other musicians became integral members of the group. Besides the Trenier brothers, group members included Don Hill on saxophone, Shifty Henry and later James (Jimmy) Johnson on bass, Henry (Tucker) Green on drums and Gene Gilbeaux on piano. Later, additional Trenier brothers Milt and Buddy, and nephew Skip, joined the group on vocals, and there were many other musician and line-up changes over the years including Herman Washington and Mickey Baker on guitar.
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles 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 a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.
Sir Thomas Hicks, known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.
Sharon Kathleen Sheeley was an American songwriter who wrote songs for Glen Campbell, Ricky Nelson, Brenda Lee, and Eddie Cochran.
"Blue Suede Shoes", is a classic rock and roll song by Carl Perkins
Laurence Maurice Parnes was a British pop manager and impresario. He was the first major British rock manager, and his stable of singers included many of the most successful British rock and roll singers of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session was a televised concert that was taped live at Limehouse Studios in London, England on 21 October 1985. The show featured rock n' roll pioneer Carl Perkins along with friends as guest stars, including former Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Rosanne Cash, Phantom, Rocker & Slick, and Dave Edmunds. Most of the repertoire performed in the concert consisted of Perkins' classic rockabilly songs from the 1950s.
The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was a one-day, twelve-hour music festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 13, 1969. It featured a number of popular musical acts from the 1950s and 1960s. The festival is particularly notable as featuring an appearance by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White as the Plastic Ono Band, which resulted in the release of their Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album. The festival was also the subject of two films: D.A. Pennebaker film Sweet Toronto and the 2022 Ron Chapman film Revival 69: The Concert That Rocked the World.
Huelyn Wayne Duvall was an American rock and roll and rockabilly musician.
Let the Good Times Roll is a 1973 rockumentary / concert film directed by Robert Abel and Sidney Levin. It features numerous stars from the American pop and rock music scene of the 1950s.
The Flying Saucers were an English Teddy Boy rockabilly band from Edmonton, North London, England. The group formed in 1972, released six albums, completed numerous world tours and appeared in the international film Blue Suede Shoes, before disbanding in 1986.
Freddie 'Fingers' Lee was a British singer, guitarist and pianist. His repertoire ranged from rock and roll, rockabilly and country music. He was known for his wild antics on stage, which sometimes included destroying a piano with an axe or chainsaw.
Tommy Steele Stage Show is a live album by English entertainer Tommy Steele, released as a 10-inch LP by Decca in March 1957. A concert recording of Steele backed by the Steelmen at London's Conway Hall, it was his first album release and features a version of the hit single "Rock with the Caveman" alongside several covers of American songs including three previously recorded by Hank Williams. The album's release followed Steele's swift rise to fame as a teen idol widely considered Britain's first rock and roll star, and the success of his UK Singles Chart number one "Singing the Blues". It received a muted critical reception but was commercially successful, peaking at number five on the UK Albums Chart.