Elvis’s singing style has been cloned to death countless times even during the 1950s, but not so Gene Vincent who also had a distinct style (Gene Rambo and the Flames ‘my little mama’ in 1957). Gene’s heyday was 1956-64, mostly with the Bluecaps in the States then in England and France in the early 1960s. […]
1980s Brest teds
Brest, major naval seaport of western France, situated at the western end of Brittany, the Celtic part of France, was one of the hotspots of the rock’n’roll revival in France in the 1970s and 1980s and for a few years it was – rockingly speaking – a wonderful place to be ! The kernel of […]
When others get it wrong – bopping
While not being too restrictive in our views and in the process snuffing individuality, we’ve got to highlight when something concerning our lifestyle, attire, music and dance is misrepresented, and not too put too fine a word on it debased. Today it’s the turn of the bop and specifically the teddy-boy bop of the 1960s, […]
Were the 1950s teds colourful or not?
Perennial debate in teddy boy circles: are teddy boys supposed to wear colourful drapes or not? No doubt they were more colourful in the 1970s revival than in the 1950s but did the 1950s teds wear colourful drapes or not? Difficult question to answer seeing that just about 99% of photos taken in 1950s Britain […]
Hepsters
The Hepsters – not to be confused with modern Hipsters – were associated with jazz, both musicians and fans. It is worth noting, too, that Gillespie had already gained a measure of stardom at a time when Parker’s following was limited to musicians and other insiders; Parker was not even mentioned in a silly 1948 […]
Babs Gonzales, the hepster from ‘Oo-poo-pa-doo’
Babs Gonzales (1919-80) Bab’s Three Bips and a Bop (1946-49) recorded the earliest version of ‘oop-pop-a-da’ for Blue Note in 1947 (made famous later by Dizzy Gillespie). ‘Professor Bop’ 1949 & ‘be-bop Santa Claus’ 1954 (by Lloyd Williams) Babs Gonzales was a featured artist in Alan Freed’s ‘Rock’n’roll Ball’ held at the Saint Nicholas Arena, […]
