1950s Music Scene Quotes

I started out with the guitar and was a studio musician back in the 50s, and then got shot in my finger.

The first piece of music that captured my imagination was probably Ray Charles Live At Newport.

You have to remember that when I met Elvis, you know, it wasn't the fanfare that it is today or even when he was here in the states and I was in Germany growing up.

Sam Cooke had a huge influence on me. He left the gospel field at one point and went into the secular, and he had this huge hit, 'You Send Me.' Irma, my older sister, and I heard 'You Send Me' on the radio while we were driving through the South one night. We had to stop the car. We got out and danced around the car out on the highway.

My father was a very popular singer and stage actor during his time, in the 1950s. But he didn't take any formal lessons in music, which was probably why he insisted I study music so I could get a proper base and build a strong career in it.

Guitar gigs were everywhere in the '50s, and I started diddling around so I could keep working. Playing honky-tonk, simple stuff. I took a few gigs with an organ band that put me out front.

My brother Art was a doo-wopper. He had a group that sat out on a park bench in New Orleans and sang harmonies at night, and they'd go around and win all the talent shows and get all the girls, you know.

I probably went to musique concrete concerts - though not the very first ones - at the beginning of the 50s.