According to Robert Gordon's book It Came From Memphis, he was among the pioneer disc jockeys - like Dewey Phillips, John Richbourg and Wolfman Jack - who had an incalculable influence on musicians growing up in the 1950s and 60s. Thomas followed him there as a disc jockey, and, with his shows House Of Happiness and Special Delivery, became a familiar broadcasting voice. Williams was also involved in WDIA, the first southern radio station that not only carried programmes for African-Americans, but was entirely staffed by them. While in high school, he had met Nat D Williams, a history teacher who staged variety shows on Beale Street, and, following his example, Thomas presented an amateur show at the Palace Theatre, exposing the nascent talents of such artists as BB King and Bobby "Blue" Bland. Although perhaps best remembered for his 1960s novelty dance hit Walking The Dog, Rufus Thomas, who has died aged 84, was for many years a central figure on the Memphis music scene, as singer, writer, eccentric dancer and, above all, radio personality.īorn in Cayce, Mississippi, he grew up in Memphis, serving a teenage apprenticeship in vaudeville with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, tapdancing and doing comedy routines.
0 kommentar(er)
