Chuck Willis › Similar Artists

Clyde McPhatter - 77% match to Chuck Willis

Clyde Lensley McPhatter, 15 November 1932, Durham, North Carolina, USA, d. 13 June 1972, New York City, New York, USA. For three years, McPhatter was the lead singer in the seminal R&B vocal group Billy Ward And His Dominoes. He left in 1953 to form the Drifters, whose early releases were enhanced by the singer’s emotional, gospel-drenched delivery. In 1954 McPhatte Read more

The Clovers - 76% match to Chuck Willis

This US R&B vocal ensemble formed in Washington, DC, in 1946, and built a career recording smooth ballads and bluesy jumps for New York independent Atlantic Records, in the process becoming one of the most popular vocal groups of the 50s. By the time the group first recorded for Rainbow Records in early 1950, the Clovers comprised John ‘Buddy’ Bailey (1930, Was Read more

Ivory Joe Hunter - 65% match to Chuck Willis

10 October 1914, Kirbyville, Texas, USA, d. 8 November 1974, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Although Hunter was a well-known figure in Texas through his radio shows, it was not until the 40s, when he moved to the west coast, that his career flourished. He established his own record companies, Ivory and Pacific, recording on the former with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (the Ex Read more

LaVern Baker - 64% match to Chuck Willis

Delores Williams, 11 November 1929, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 10 March 1997, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Baker was a pioneering voice in the fusion of R&B and rock ‘n’ roll in the 50s. In 1947 she was discovered in a Chicago nightclub by band leader Fletcher Henderson. Although still in her teens, the singer won a recording contract with the influ Read more

The Cardinals - 49% match to Chuck Willis

Big Joe Turner - 46% match to Chuck Willis

Joseph Vernon Turner, 18 May 1911, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, d. 24 November 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA. ‘Big’ Joe Turner (aka Big Vernon) began singing in local clubs in his early teens upon the death of his father, and at the age of 15 teamed up with pianist Pete Johnson. Their professional relationship lasted on-and-off for over 40 years. During the lat Read more

Ruth Brown - 41% match to Chuck Willis

12 January 1928, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA, d. 17 November 2006, Henderson, Nevada, USA. Brown started her musical career singing gospel at an early age in the church choir led by her father. In 1948 she was singing with a band led by her husband Jimmy in Washington, DC, when Willis Conover (from the radio show Voice Of America) recommended her to Ahmet Ertegun of the newly Read more

Lloyd Price - 32% match to Chuck Willis

9 March 1933, Kenner, Louisiana, USA. Price, who launched his career in the early 50s performing rocking R&B, New Orleans-style, was - like his Crescent City compatriot Fats Domino - made for the rock ‘n’ roll era. He did not have to modify his approach at all to become a rock ‘n’ roll hit-maker in the late 50s. Price formed his own band in New Orlean Read more

Tiny Grimes - 32% match to Chuck Willis

Lloyd Grimes, 7 July 1916, Newport News, Virginia, USA, d. 4 March 1989, New York City, New York, USA. After playing drums and piano, Grimes turned to the guitar. Unusual among guitarists, he played a four-string instrument and was also an early experimenter with electrical amplification. In the late 30s and early 40s he worked in New York, attracting great attention when he Read more

Dee Clark - 23% match to Chuck Willis

Delecta Clark, 7 November 1938, Blytheville, Arkansas, USA, d. 7 December 1990, Smyma, Georgia, USA. Clark had a wonderfully impassioned tenor voice and enjoyed a spate of rock ‘n’ roll hits in the late 50s and a lesser body of soul work in the 60s. Clark’s entertainment career began in 1952 as a member of the Hambone Kids, who, with band leader Red Saunders, Read more

Larry Williams - 23% match to Chuck Willis

10 May 1935, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 2 January 1980, Los Angeles, California, USA. Williams recorded a handful of raucous rock ‘n’ roll songs for Specialty Records that later influenced, among others, John Lennon. Williams learned to play the piano while in New Orleans, and moved to Oakland, California, with his family while in his teens. There he joined a Read more

Little Willie John - 23% match to Chuck Willis

The Crests - 22% match to Chuck Willis

Formed in New York City, USA, in 1956, the Crests soon became one of the most successful of the ‘integrated’ doo-wop groups of the period, after being discovered by Al Browne. Headed by the lead tenor of Johnny Mastro (Johnny Mastrangelo, 7 May 1930, USA), the rest of the band comprised Harold Torres, Talmadge Gough, J.T. Carter and Patricia Van Dross. By 1957 they Read more

Don Covay - 21% match to Chuck Willis

Donald Randolph, 24 March 1938, Orangeburg, South Carolina, USA. Covay resettled in Washington during the early 50s and initially sang in the Cherry Keys, his family’s gospel quartet. He crossed over to secular music with the Rainbows, a formative vocal group that also included Marvin Gaye and Billy Stewart. Covay’s solo career began in 1957 as part of the Little R Read more

Wynonie Harris - 21% match to Chuck Willis

24 August 1915, Omaha, Nebraska, USA, d. 14 June 1969, Los Angeles, California, USA. This stylish, flamboyant blues shouter enjoyed several R&B hit singles in the immediate post-war period. As a youth Harris played drums in and around his home town before moving to Los Angeles in the early 40s. There he played, danced, sang and worked in several non-musical capacities in Read more