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Arthur Crudup

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Arthur Crudup, nicknamed Big Boy, was an American bluesman from the Mississippi Delta. He was born in 1905 in Forest, Mississippi, into a family of itinerant farm labourers. He first sang gospel and learned guitar from a local bluesman. Around 1940 he moved to Chicago, where he barely scraped a living as a street singer. The producer Lester Melrose discovered him and signed him to Bluebird, a label of RCA Victor.

Music and breakthrough

In the 1940s Crudup recorded songs that became popular in the South, such as Mean Old 'Frisco Blues, So Glad You're Mine, My Baby Left Me and That's All Right of 1946. His music was simple and driving: a rough electric guitar, a powerful voice and a rhythm that pushed forward. Some experts see in That's All Right the first rock 'n' roll song, perhaps even with the first guitar solo.

Influence

When Elvis Presley recorded his own version of That's All Right in 1954, Crudup became known as the father of rock 'n' roll. Presley said that he wanted to be as good as Crudup one day. But the money did not reach him. Because of disputes over royalties he stopped recording in the 1950s and worked as a farm labourer. "I was born poor, I live poor and I will die poor," he said in 1970. He died in 1974. His story shows how Black musicians laid the foundations of rock 'n' roll while others got rich from it.

Listening

Listening tip. First listen to That's All Right by Arthur Crudup from 1946 and then to the version by Elvis Presley from 1954. Notice what Presley takes over and what he changes: the tempo, the guitar and the way of singing.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists