Biography
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 various clubs and theatres, also appearing in a movie, Hit Parade Of 1943. Along with many other singers of the time, Harris was heavily influenced by Louis Jordan and, after a spell with the Lucky Millinder big band in 1944, he went solo as an R&B singer. He had already had a minor hit with Millinder, ‘Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well?’, and followed this with a string of bestselling, double-entendre laden R&B hits, working regularly with jazz-orientated groups, including those led by Illinois Jacquet, Lionel Hampton and Charles Mingus. His hits included ‘Wynonie’s...
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