Died On This Date (January 19, 1998) Carl Perkins / Rockabilly Icon
themusicsover Carl Perkins
April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998
Carl Perkins was a rockabilly icon whose early successes helped raise Sun Records to its legendary status. He and label mates, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis were dubbed the Million Dollar Quartet. His biggest claim to fame was of course, “Blue Suede Shoes,” but many of his other songs have been recorded by the likes of Presley, Cash, the Judds, the Beatles (collectively and individually), Brian Setzer, and Patsy Cline. Perkins stayed busy touring, recording and appearing on radio and television through most of the ’50s and early ’60s but found his music falling out of favor at radio during the British Invasion of the mid ’60s. In later years he collaborated with such greats as Paul McCartney, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Bono, and Bob Dylan. In 1992, Perkins learned he had throat cancer and was 65 when he died as a result of it on January 19, 1998.
What You Should Own
Patti McCabe was a singer who released a handful of hits during the late ’50s as part of the all-girl trio, the Poni-Tails. Formed in a Cleveland-area high school, the group, made up of McCabe, Toni Cistone and Karen Topinka (who was replaced by LaVerne Novack), were soon signed by ABC/Dunhill Records who began releasing their singles in 1958. Their biggest was “Born Too Late” which reached #7 in the U.S. and #5 in the U.K. By 1960, the girls had released six singles, four of which charted in the U.S. or U.K., but they decided to call it quits and each left the music business. Patti McCabe died of cancer on January 17, 1989.
In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need to tell you who Moon Mullican was. As a singer, songwriter a pianist associated with country music, what he was doing would be called rock ‘n roll some ten or so years later. By combining elements of hillbilly, jazz and blues, he created a sound and a fury that was a direct influence on Jerry Lee Lewis, 
