Otis Blackwell Story on the Chancellor of Soul's Soul Facts Show

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Chancellor of Soul, Mike Boone presents his internet radio
show, 'Show Facts' a show highlighting the history of legendary artists and their music.
In this edition we feature a legendary singer songwriter who's worldwide groundbreaking compositions helped
the foundation of what's known as Rock and Roll,
Otis Blackwell.
Born in Brooklyn, NY on May 16, 1932 Blackwell grew up
listening to R&B and Country music and studied piano as
a child. He won an ametuer night contest at the world famous Apollo Theater in 1952 and secured a record deal
with Jim Davis; Jay Dee label.
His first composition was a song he released on RCA Records entitled, 'Nobody Met The Train' in 1948.
His second was 'Daddy Rolling Stone' on Jay Dee.
Both failed to chart so he choose songwriting.
He later teamed up with songwriter Eddie Cooley and composed his first million-seller recorded by legendary
singer Little Willie John, 'Fever' in 1956 on King Records.
Meanwhile he recorded demos and began shopping them
around various labels including Groove and RCA. One
included him singing over a piano and a cardboard box
entitled, 'Don't Be Cruel'.
This particular demo got into the hands of RCA promotion man, Steve Shoals, who played the demo for Elvis Presley
while sipping coffee at a shop. Presley adimired Blackwell
as a artist and a songwriter, listened, learned and recorded
the song, the exact way Otis performed it on the demo.
'Don't Be Cruel' became Elvis' 3rd gold sing where it hit
No. 1 for astonishing 11 weeks on Billboard's Pop Singles
chart during the late summer of 1956.
Blackwell wrote yet another masterpiece composition
entitled, 'All Shook Up' originally recorded by David Hill
on Aladin Records, Presley got a hold of the song and was unsatisfied with the lyrics, so Blackwell rewrote the song
where it provided Presley with his 9th gold record.
Otis Blackwell penned songs gaining worldwide sales
over 200 million ! He recorded for various labels such as
MGM, Epic and Atlantic Records and made occational live
appearences in different clubs.
Otis Blackwell was inducted into Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986, the National Academy of Popular Music's Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1991 and in 2010,
was a recipient of Ahmet Entegun Award in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.
Otis suffered a stroke and was paralyzed in 1991. He
died at the age of 70 on May 6, 2002.