New Orleans own Roy Brown certainly qualifies as one of the Founding Fathers of R&B in the 'Blues Shouter' school which is based on a style largely pioneered by Big Joe Turner in the Swing era. Big Joe didn't really convert to R&B until around 1950 so some of the earliest recordings that you would call R&B come from Brown, Wynonie Harris and a fellow who sang with Tiny Bradshaw and Ike Turner named Johnny O'Neal, aka Brother Bell, aka Burnt-Face O'Neal.
"Roy James Brown (September 10, 1925 — May 25, 1981) was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician, who had an influence on the early development of rock and roll by changing the direction R&B was headed in. His original song and hit recording "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, and the rock group Montrose. Brown was the first singer in recording history to sing R&B songs with a gospel-steeped delivery, which was then considered taboo by many churches. In addition, his melismatical pleading, vocal style influenced B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Elvis Presley, Jackie Wilson and Little Richard.
Brown was born in
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. As with many R&B singers, he started singing gospel music in the church. His mother was an accomplished singer and church organist. After a move to Los Angeles, California some time in the 1940s, and a brief period spent as a professional boxer in the welterweight category, he won a singing contest in 1945 at the Million Dollar Theater covering "There's No You", originally recorded by Bing Crosby. In 1946, Brown moved to Galveston, Texas, where he sang in Joe Coleman's group performing mostly songs from the Hit Parade, in a club called the Club Granada. His numbers included a song he wrote entitled "Good Rocking Tonight". After being rejected by the Armed Forces because of flat feet, he secured his first major job in a Shreveport, Louisiana club singing mostly pop ballads such as "Stardust" and "Blue Hawaii." The owner of Bill Riley's Palace Park hired him, as Brown told a Blues Unlimited interviewer, because of his appeal as "a Negro who sounds white." It was at the Palace Park that Brown started developing a blues repertoire, learning contemporary R&B tunes such as "Jelly Jelly" (recorded by Billy Eckstine). He returned to New Orleans in 1947, where he
performed at
The Dew Drop Inn.
Brown was a big fan of blues singer Wynonie Harris. When Harris appeared in town, Brown tried but failed to interest Harris in listening to "Good Rocking Tonight." Dejected, Brown approached another blues singer, Cecil Gant who was appearing at another club in town. Brown introduced his song, and Gant had Brown to sing it over the telephone to the president of De Luxe Records, Jules Braun, reportedly at 4:00 in the morning. Brown was signed to a recording contract immediately. Brown recorded the song in a jump blues style with a swing beat. It was released in 1948 and reached #13 on the US Billboard R&B chart. Ironically, Wynonie Harris covered it and hit the top of Billboard's R&B chart later in 1948. Presley also covered the song for Sun Records in 1954; later re-released on RCA Victor when his recording contract was sold to that record label in 1956.
Brown continued to make his mark on the R&B charts, scoring 14 hits from mid-1948 to late 1951 with De Luxe, including "Hard Luck Blues" (his biggest seller in 1950), "Love Don't Love Nobody", "Rockin' at Midnight," "Boogie at Midnight," "Miss Fanny Brown," and "Cadillac Baby", making him the undisputed king of R&B for those three years.
After his popularity peaked, Brown began to experience a lull in his career. Doo-wop and R&B groups were quickly gaining popularity as the standard sound of R&B in the early to mid 1950s. The decline of his fortunes coincided with his successfully winning a lawsuit against King Records for unpaid royalties in 1952, one of the few African American musicians to do so in the 1950s. This has led some, such as author Nick Tosches (in his book Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll, which contained a chapter on Brown) to believe that Brown may have been blacklisted. Brown's other misfortunes included trouble with the IRS. When confronted by the government for back taxes he owed, he approached Elvis Presley to ask for help. Presley wrote him a brown paper check, but it wasn't enough to keep him out of jail. Brown did a little prison time for tax evasion. When his popularity ebbed in the rock and roll era, he tried teen-slanted songs like "School Bell Rock", but had little success and subsequently went into semi-retirement.
Brown had a brief comeback through Imperial Records in 1957. Working with Dave Bartholomew, Brown returned to the charts with the original version of "Let the Four Winds Blow" (co-written by Fats Domino), which would become a hit later for Domino.
He returned to King Records where his popularity ground down to a low by 1959, but he sporadically managed to find work and do some recording through the 1960s, making appearances where ever he was wanted. To supplement his income, Brown sold the rights to "Good Rocking Tonight." He also worked as an encyclopedia salesman.
In 1970, Brown closed The Johnny Otis Show at the Monterey Jazz Festival. As a result of the crowd's positive reaction, he recorded "Love for Sale", which became a hit for Mercury Records.
In the late 1970s a compilation album of his old work brought about a minor revival of interest. In
1978 he had a successful tour in Scandinavia following the releases of Laughing But Crying and Good Rocking Tonight. Shortly before his death he performed at the Whisky A Go-Go in West Hollywood, California and headlined the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1981.
Brown died of a heart attack, at Pacoima Lutheran Memorial Hospital, near his home in the San Fernando Valley on May 25, 1981. He was 55 years old. The Reverend Johnny Otis conducted the funeral. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame the same year.
A repost by request for her LOLness.
Archibald
(Leon Gross) learned to play piano at an early age and soon played at
local parties and fraternity houses under the name Archie Boy. His main
influences included Burnell Santiago, Tuts Washington and Eileen Dufeau.
After serving in India during World War II, Archibald returned to his
native New Orleans in 1945, where he continued to play the clubs and
bars in the French Quarter. Talent scout Al Young signed him to Lew
Chudd's Imperial label in 1950, as part of the same wave that also
brought Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino onto the company's roster. On
March 23, 1950 Archibald had his first recording session, at Cosimo
Matassa's J&M Studio, supervised by Dave Bartholomew. The first
single that resulted from this session (Imperial 5068) was
"Stack-A-Lee", a two-sided workout on the old folk song, which is best
known in the version of Lloyd Price (# 1 pop in February 1959, under the
title "Stagger Lee"). "Stack-A-Lee" sold well enough to reach # 10 on
Billboard's R&B charts in October 1950 and Archibald's future looked
promising. A tour of the West Coast was prepared, but this was
cancelled when he fell sick with ulcer trouble. Although he had four
further singles on Imperial and Colony, Archibald never again had the
chance to tour and was not recorded after 1952. "Stack-A-Lee" was to
remain his only hit.
His career was hampered by illness and a
dispute with the Musicians Union. Johnny Vincent wanted to record him
for his Ace label in the late 1950s, but this did not materialize.
Vincent said Archibald's voice was gone ; Archibald himself said Vincent
did not offer enough money. He continued to play during the 60s and is
especially remembered for his long residency at the Poodle Patio Club on
Bourbon Street. His powerful New Orleans boogie piano style has
undoubtedly influenced many New Orleans pianists, including Fats Domino,
James Booker, Huey 'Piano' Smith, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John, but his
style never came to grips with the rock 'n' roll age. He died of a
heart attack in 1973, leaving behind a small (11 tracks), but
high-quality recorded legacy." Black Cat Rockabilly
Pleasant Joseph, Born in 1907 in
Wallace, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans, known as Cousin Joe and Smiling Joe, he became a
professional entertainer during the 1920's, progressing from impromptu
street performances to gigs at the Famous Door and other local clubs to
recording sessions in New York City. At various times he associated
with Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, and Leonard Feather; he shared
billings with Cleanhead Vinson, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella
Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and B.B. King; he toured or recorded with Muddy
Waters, Gatemouth Brown, Jimmy Dawkins, Earl Bostic, Sidney Bechet,
Danny Barker, and many others. In 1972 his album "Bad Luck Blues" was named "Blues Album of the Year" in France.
Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906 – July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on the road playing piano with a barrelhouse style of blues. Like many bluesmen of his time, he travelled around playing to all-male audiences in sawmill, turpentine and levee camps along the Mississippi River, gathering a repertoire of raw, sexually explicit material. His wanderings eventually brought him to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met St. Louis Jimmy Oden.
"As usual, JSP is not shy with the quantity of titles provided in this
amazing 4-CD set of Memphis Blues. All of the songs in this collection
were recorded by Sam Phillips at his Memphis Recording Services studio
between 1951 and 1954, with some of them getting released on his
home-grown Sun label. Many of the titles however, were not released
until years after they were recorded, due to recording quality issues or
due to Phillips' reluctance to market them as hit-parade material.
Dave Bartholomew (born December 24, 1920, Edgard, Louisiana) is a musician, band leader, composer and arranger, prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century. Bartholomew has been active in many musical genres, including rhythm and blues, big band, swing music, rock and roll, New Orleans jazz and Dixieland. Although many musicians have recorded Bartholomew's songs, his partnership with Fats Domino produced some of his greatest successes. In the mid 1950s they wrote more than forty hits for Imperial Records, including two songs that reached Number One on the Billboard R&B chart "Goin' Home" and "Ain't That a Shame". He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
He began recording in 1947 for De Luxe Records, but the company folded and he received little recognition. In 1949, however, he began working with Lew Chudd's Imperial Records as an arranger, bandleader and talent scout. He produced hits from Earl King, Tommy Ridgley, Robert Parker, Frankie Ford, Chris Kenner, Smiley Lewis, Shirley & Lee and Fats Domino, among others. He was responsible for the arrangements on the Fats Domino hits in the 1950s including the best seller "Blueberry Hill". He left Imperial in the mid-1960s and moved between several labels, including his own Broadmoor Records (named for his neighborhood of New Orleans, Broadmoor).
Fats Domino for white audiences. 
New Orleans own Roy Brown certainly qualifies as one of the Founding Fathers of R&B in the 'Blues Shouter' school which is based on a style largely pioneered by Big Joe Turner in the Swing era. Big Joe didn't really convert to R&B until around 1950 so some of the earliest recordings that you would call R&B come from Brown, Wynonie Harris and a fellow who sang with Tiny Bradshaw and Ike Turner named Johnny O'Neal, aka Brother Bell, aka Burnt-Face O'Neal. 
"Roy James Brown (September 10, 1925 — May 25, 1981) was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician, who had an influence on the early development of rock and roll by changing the direction R&B was headed in. His original song and hit recording "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, and the rock group Montrose. Brown was the first singer in recording history to sing R&B songs with a gospel-steeped delivery, which was then considered taboo by many churches. In addition, his melismatical pleading, vocal style influenced B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Elvis Presley, Jackie Wilson and Little Richard.
performed at The Dew Drop Inn.
1978 he had a successful tour in Scandinavia following the releases of Laughing But Crying and Good Rocking Tonight. Shortly before his death he performed at the Whisky A Go-Go in West Hollywood, California and headlined the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1981.
