Bill Black
September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965
As if Bill Black’s remarkable career as the leader of his own rockabilly band, the Bill Black Combo weren’t enough, he also played bass Elvis Presley’s original recording of “That’s Alright Mama” at Sun Studios. Black’s stand-up bass can be heard on several of Presley’s records, such as “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Mystery Train,” and “Hound Dog.” After parting ways with Presley in the late ’50s, Black joined a band that eventually evolved into his Bill Black Combo, with whom he’d score several pop and R&B hits that were described as “dancable shuffles” that were a “mix of pop, country, blues and rock.” They were favored by jukebox operators as they kept the dance floors jumping. Black learned he had a brain tumor in the early ’60s, and even though his band was chosen to open for the Beatles during their historic 1964 US tour, Black was too ill to take part. He died of that tumor at the age of 39. In the late ’70s, Linda McCartney acquired Bill Black’s stand-up bass and gave it to her husband, Paul McCartney for his birthday.
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