The Big Bopper › Similar Artists

Buddy Knox - 100% match to The Big Bopper

Buddy Wayne Knox, 20 July 1933, Happy, Texas, USA, d. 14 February 1999, Bremerton, Washington, USA. Knox was one of the first ‘pop-abilly’ hit-makers in the 50s. In 1955, while at West Texas State University, he formed the Serenaders with bass player Jimmy Bowen and Don Lanier (guitar), later adding Don Mills (drums) and changing their name to the Rhythm Orchids. T Read more

Larry Williams - 74% match to The Big Bopper

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

Billy Lee Riley - 71% match to The Big Bopper

5 October 1933, Pocahontas, Arkansas, USA. One of the unsung members of the early Sun Records roster, Billy Lee Riley’s recordings for the label remain among the most uninhibited rock ‘n’ roll sides to be released during the mid- to late 50s.Of Irish-Indian parentage, Riley was raised in rural Arkansas and by the age of 10 was working i Read more

Johnny Burnette - 67% match to The Big Bopper

28 March 1934, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, d. 1 August 1964, Clear Lake, California, USA. Having attended the same high school as Elvis Presley, Johnny moved into the rockabilly genre by forming a trio with his brother Dorsey Burnette on string bass and schoolfriend Paul Burlison (b. 4 February 1929, Brownsville, Tennessee, USA, d. 27 September 2003, Horn Lake, Mississippi, US Read more

Warren Smith - 60% match to The Big Bopper

Jack Scott - 57% match to The Big Bopper

Giovanni Dominico Scafone Jnr., 24 January 1936, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. This distinctive, deep-voiced rock ‘n’ roll and ballad singer-songwriter moved to Detroit at the age of 10, and began performing regularly with his sister Linda on the WEXL radio station. After changing his name to Jack Scott, he formed the C&W outfit Southern Drifters in 1954. Playing a Read more

Bob Luman - 56% match to The Big Bopper

Robert Glynn Luman, 15 April 1937, Blackjack, near Nacogdoches, Texas, USA, d. 27 December 1978, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Luman’s father, Joe, a school caretaker, bus driver and gifted musician, taught his son country music, but Luman’s first love was baseball, which he played on a semi-professional basis until 1959. He was influenced by seeing Elvis Presley in c Read more

Carl Mann - 56% match to The Big Bopper

24 August 1942, Huntingdon, Tennessee, USA. Mann was a rockabilly artist who recorded his only two chart singles for the Phillips International label, owned by Sam Phillips, proprietor of the legendary Sun Records. Mann was a singer and pianist whose group, the Kool Kats, was based in Jackson, Tennessee, when they recorded their first tracks for the small Jaxon label, owned Read more

Ritchie Valens - 55% match to The Big Bopper

Richard Steve Valenzuela, 13 May 1941, Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, USA, d. 3 February 1959, Iowa, USA. Valens was the first major Hispanic-American rock star, the artist who popularized the classic 50s hit ‘La Bamba’. He grew up in the city of Pacoima, California, and was raised in poverty. His parents separated when he was a child and Valens lived with his f Read more

The Crickets - 55% match to The Big Bopper

Lloyd Price - 50% match to The Big Bopper

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

The Diamonds - 50% match to The Big Bopper

Carl Perkins - 46% match to The Big Bopper

Carl Lee Perkins, 9 April 1932, Ridgely, Tennessee, USA (his birth certificate misspelled the last name as Perkings), d. 19 January 1998, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Carl Perkins was one of the most renowned rockabilly artists recording for Sun Records in the 50s and the author of the classic song ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. As a guitarist, he influenced many of the next ge Read more

Sonny Burgess - 46% match to The Big Bopper

Albert Burgess, 28 May 1931, Newport, Arkansas, USA. As a child Burgess earned the name ‘Sonny’ as a result of his father also being called Albert. Inspired by the Grand Ole Opry show transmitted over WSM’s airwaves, he set about learning to play a catalogue-purchased guitar. He joined his first country band while at high school, eventually moving from the rol Read more

Johnny Carroll - 45% match to The Big Bopper

John Lewis Carrell, 23 October 1937, Cleburne, Texas, USA, d. 18 February 1995, Godley, Texas, USA. Carroll was brought up on a farm near Fort Worth, Texas, though farming held no attraction for him. By the age of 10 he was singing country music and Carroll was an early performer of rockabilly. He flew to Nashville in 1956 and recorded ‘Crazy Crazy Lovin’’, &# Read more