CLEVE DUNCAN R.I.P.

One of the most distinctive voices in 1950s doo wop and vocal group R&B passed away on November 7th. Cleve Duncan was the lead singer of The Penguins and sang lead on “Earth Angel,” one of the most important early roc k n’ roll records, because it crossed over from the R&B charts to the pop charts and established rock n’ roll as a viable form of pop music. Duncan was 77.

I interviewed Cleve back in 2006 and you can listen to it on my interviews below.

Cleve was a kind and soft-spoken kind of guy and rock n’ roll and rhythm & blues wouldn’t have been the same without him. His sweet voice will be missed.

Mr. Personality

Lloyd Price

The Matt The Cat Interview

 

In his new book, Lloyd Price makes a convincing claim to be “The TRUE King Of The ’50s”. After all, he was the cat who helped integrate the races when both black and white kids were dancing to and buying his 1952 smash, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”. He was the first teenager to sell over a million copies of a record. He was barely in his 20s when he started his own record label. He was one of the first artists to get a lucrative deal from a record label and he dominated the pop and R&B; charts at the end of the decade with “Stagger Lee”, “Personality” and “I’m Gonna Get Married”. And now for the first time, Lloyd Price tells his OWN story in his OWN words to me, Matt The Cat.

This is the uncut, unadulterated, unabridged Lloyd Price interview, complete with his insight, his stories and his music. Lloyd talks about his entire career, from helping to invent rock n’ roll with “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” to staging one of the biggest sporting events in history with “The Rumble In The Jungle”. It’s all here for you to enjoy.

 

At the end of the program, we’ll have a traditional Friday Night Cat Fight and a chance for YOU to VOTE for the TRUE KING of the ’50s!

Click Here To Hear Lloyd Price w/ Matt The Cat

James Burton

This picture was taken in 1959 at a Ricky Nelson show in Seattle by Virginia Houser. There’s a young James Burton burnin’ up on guitar. By 1959, at almost 20 years old, James Burton was already a pro. He had already worked with Bob Luman, Dale Hawkins and Ricky Nelson. This week, the Night Prowl presents a very special Rockabilly Thursday as our Rockabilly guitar hero, James Burton joins us as special guest. Hear all about what it was like to play Rockabilly in the heyday of Rockabilly by a cat who was not only there, but was also shaping the way Rock n’ Roll guitars were being played.