<back - EUGENE VINCENT CRADDOCK aKa GENE VINCENT - Feb. 11, 1935 to Oct.12 1971 Gene Vincent only had one really big hit, BeBop-a-Lula, which epitomized Rockabilly at its prime in 1956 with its sharp guitar breaks, spare snare drums, fluttering echo, and Vincent's breathless, sexy vocals. Yet his place as one of the great early Rock n' Roll singers is secure, backed up by a wealth of fine smaller hits and non-hits that rate among the best Rockabilly of all time. The leather-clad, limping, greasy-haired singer was also one of the first of Rock n' Roll's bad boys, lionized by romanticists of past and present generations attracted to primitive, sometimes savage style and indomitable Rockabilly spirit. As a 20-year-old he suffered a severe motorcycle accident.

This almost resulted in the full amputation of his leg. After the accident he began building a musical career, playing with Country bands in honky tonks around the Norfolk, Virginia. Demos cut at a local radio station, landed Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps a contract with Capitol, which hoped they'd found competition for Elvis Presley. Indeed it had, as by this time Vincent had plunged into all-out Rockabilly, capable of both fast-paced exuberance and whispery, almost sensitive ballads. The Blue Caps were one of the greatest Rock bands of the '50s, anchored at first by the stunning silvery, faster-than-light guitar leads of Cliff Gallup. The slap-back echo of BeBop-a-Lula, combined with Gene's swooping vocals, led many to mistake the singer for Elvis when the record first hit the airwaves in mid-1956, on its way to the Top 10. Brilliant follow-ups like Race With the Devil, and Bluejean Bop, failed to click, although these too are emblematic of Rockabilly at its most exuberant and powerful. By the end of 1956, The Blue Caps were beginning to undergo personnel changes that would continue throughout the '50s, the most crucial loss being the departure of Gallup. The 35 tracks he cut with the band, were unquestionably Vincent's greatest work. Vincent had his second and final Top 20 hit in 1957 with Lotta Lovin', which reflected his increasingly tamer approach to production and vocals. He recorded often for Capitol throughout the rest of the '50s, they were respectable, occasionally exciting Rockabilly. He was captured for posterity in of the first Hollywood films to feature Rock n' Roll stars, The Girl Can't Help It, which also featured Little Richard and Eddie Cochran. A 1960 tour of Britain brought tragedy when Eddie Cochran, who shared the bill on Vincent's UK shows, died in a car accident, with Vincent surviving. Gene Vincent died at age 36, one of Rock's first mythic figures. MP3- BeBop-a-Lula |