Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues singer from Kansas City, Missouri. Turner became most famous for his rock and roll songs in the 1950s, especially "Shake, Rattle and Roll." His career as a performer began in the 1920s and continued until the 1980s.

In 1987, Turner was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall honored him as "the strong-voiced 'Boss of the Blues.'" Songwriter Doc Pomus said, "rock and roll would never have happened without him." AllMusic described Turner as "the top blues singer of the postwar era."

Life and career

Joe Turner was born on May 18, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. When he was four years old, his father died in a train accident. He sang in his church and on street corners to earn money. He left school at age fourteen to work in Kansas City's nightclubs, first as a cook and later as a singing bartender. He became known as "The Singing Barman" and performed at places like the Kingfish Club and the Sunset. He often sang with his friend Pete Johnson, who played piano. The Sunset nightclub was managed by Piney Brown, and it had separate but equal areas for white customers. Turner wrote a song called "Piney Brown Blues" to honor him and sang it throughout his career.

At that time, Kansas City nightclubs were often raided by police. Turner said, "The Boss man would have his bondsmen at the police station before we arrived. We'd walk in, sign our names, and leave. Then we would perform until morning."

His partnership with Pete Johnson was successful. In 1936, they traveled to New York City and performed with Benny Goodman. Turner said, "After our show with Goodman, we tried to audition at other places, but New York wasn’t ready for us yet, so we returned to Kansas City." Later, in 1938, a talent scout named John Hammond invited them back to New York to perform at a concert called "From Spirituals to Swing" at Carnegie Hall. This event helped introduce jazz and blues to more people in the United States.

Because of their performance at Carnegie Hall, Turner and Johnson had a major success with the song "Roll 'Em Pete." The song used traditional blues lyrics and was recorded many times by Turner with different musicians over the years.

In 1939, Turner and Johnson joined other musicians, including Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, for a long-term job at Café Society, a nightclub in New York City. They performed with artists like Billie Holiday and Frankie Newton’s band. Some of Turner’s most famous recordings from this time include "Cherry Red," "I Want a Little Girl," and "Wee Baby Blues." "Cherry Red" was recorded in 1939 for the Vocalion label with Hot Lips Page on trumpet and a full band. In 1940, Turner signed with Decca Records and recorded "Piney Brown Blues" with Pete Johnson on piano.

In 1941, Turner moved to Los Angeles and performed in Duke Ellington’s musical, Jump for Joy, in Hollywood. He played a singing policeman in a comedy sketch called "He’s on the Beat." Later, he worked in Meade Lux Lewis’s Soundies musical movies. He sang on the soundtrack but was not filmed; instead, a comedian named Dudley Dickerson acted out his singing for the camera. In 1945, Turner and Pete Johnson opened the Blue Moon Club, a bar in Los Angeles.

In 1945, Turner signed a recording contract with National Records, where he recorded under Herb Abramson’s supervision. His first hit single was a cover of "S.K. Blues" by Saunders King. That same year, he recorded "My Gal’s a Jockey" and the risqué song "Around the Clock." Aladdin Records released "Battle of the Blues," a duet with Wynonie Harris. Turner stayed with National Records until 1947, but none of his recordings became major hits. In 1950, he recorded "Still in the Dark" for Freedom Records.

Turner also performed at the Cavalcades of Jazz concert in Los Angeles in 1945, which was produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. and featured 15,000 people. Other artists included Count Basie, the Honeydrippers, The Peters Sisters, and Valaida Snow. In 1948, he performed with Dizzy Gillespie at another Cavalcade of Jazz concert at Wrigley Field, where other musicians included Frankie Laine, The Sweethearts of Rhythm, and Jimmy Witherspoon.

Turner was important in the development of rhythm and blues. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame says he and Louis Jordan helped create R&B in the 1940s by making many popular rhythm and blues songs.

Turner recorded with many musicians, including Pete Johnson, Art Tatum, and the Count Basie Orchestra. He worked with different record companies and was part of the change from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues to rock and roll. He was skilled at singing traditional blues and could sing with instrumentalists for long periods at Kansas City jam sessions.

In 1951, while performing with the Count Basie Orchestra at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Turner was noticed by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, who signed him to Atlantic Records. He recorded successful songs like "Chains of Love" and "Sweet Sixteen" for Atlantic. His songs often included shouts to the band, such as in "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" ("That’s a good rockin’ band!") and "Honey Hush" ("Hi-yo, Silver!"). His records reached the top of the rhythm-and-blues charts. Some of his songs were too risqué for radio, but they were popular on jukeboxes.

In 1954, Turner had great success with "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which helped make him a teenage favorite and changed popular music. The song included lines like "get outta that bed, wash yo’ face an’ hands" and "wearin’ those dresses, the sun comes shinin’ through!" He performed the song in the 1955 movie Rhythm and Blues Revue.

Although Bill Haley & His Comets had a more successful version of the song, many listeners preferred Turner’s version and discovered rhythm and blues through it. Elvis Presley’s version combined Turner’s lyrics with Haley’s arrangement but was not a hit.

Other successful songs from this time included "The Chicken and the Hawk," "Flip, Flop and Fly," "Hide and Seek," "Morning, Noon and Night," and "Well All Right." Turner performed on the TV show Showtime at the Apollo and in the movie Shake Rattle & Rock! (1956).

In 1956, "Corrine, Corrina" became another big hit. He also released the album Boss of the Blues. His last hit, "(I’m Gonna) Jump for Joy," reached the U.S. R&B charts in 1958.

In 1957, Turner toured Australia with Lee Gordon’s Big Show, sharing the stage with Bill Haley and the Comets, LaVern Baker, and Freddie Bell and the Bellboys.

He won the Esquire magazine award for male vocalist in 1945 and the Melody Maker award for best "new" vocalist in 1956.

After his success in popular music, Turner returned to singing with small jazz groups and recorded many albums in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966, Bill Haley helped revive his career by letting him use

Death and tributes

Big Joe Turner passed away from heart failure in November 1985 at the age of 74 in Inglewood, California. He had been dealing with health problems, including arthritis, a stroke, and diabetes. His funeral featured musical performances by Etta James and Barbara Morrison. He was buried at Roosevelt Memorial Park in Gardena, California.

In 1987, Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after his death.

The New York Times music critic Robert Palmer described Turner’s voice as powerful, comparing it to a jazz solo by Count Basie and the rich sound of a saxophone section. The British music magazine NME called him "the grandfather of rock and roll" when it announced his death in its December 1985 issue.

According to the Blues Hall of Fame, Turner was a leader in the jump blues genre, a singer of boogie woogie music, a pioneer of rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll, and respected in jazz circles.

In 2009, musician Dave Alvin wrote a song called "Boss of the Blues" about spending time with Turner. The song was included on Alvin’s album Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women. Alvin later worked with his brother, Phil Alvin, on a 2015 album called Lost Time, which included four songs originally written by Turner, such as "Cherry Red," "Wee Baby Blues," and "Hide and Seek." The Alvin brothers met Turner in Los Angeles during the 1960s, when Turner was performing in clubs on Central Avenue and living in the Adams district between tours. Phil Alvin performed with Turner a few times as part of his first band, Delta Pacific. Turner continued to guide the Alvin brothers in their music careers until his death in 1985. Turner is pictured on the back cover of Lost Time.

The biographical film The Buddy Holly Story mentions Turner, along with Little Richard and Fats Domino, as important influences on Buddy Holly. The film shows Holly collecting recordings of their music.

A biography and discography titled Big Joe Turner Feel So Fine, written by Derek Coller, was published in 2023 by Hardinge Simpole (ISBN 978-1-84382-232-5).

Most famous recordings

• "Roll 'Em Pete" (1938), available in many versions over the years; used in the million-dollar opening scene of Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X
• "Chains of Love" * (1951), Turner's first song to sell over a million copies, written by Ahmet Ertegun under the name "Nugetre" for the lyrics and Vann "Piano Man" Walls for the music, reaching one million sales by 1954
• "Honey Hush" * (1953), Turner's second song to sell over a million copies, written by Turner but credited to Lou Willie Turner
• "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (1954), written by "Charles Calhoun," a name Jesse Stone used for songwriting
• "Flip, Flop and Fly" * (1955), sold a million copies over the years; written by Charles Calhoun and Turner but credited to Lou Willie Turner
• "Cherry Red" (1956)
• "Corrine, Corrina" * (1956), his fourth song to sell over a million copies, adapted by J. Mayo Williams, Mitchell Parish, and Bo Chatmon in 1932; reached number 41 and stayed on the Billboard record chart for 10 weeks
• "Wee Baby Blues" (1956), a song Turner had been singing since his Kingfish Club days
• "Love Roller Coaster" (1956), with new lyrics based on the Kansas City classic "Morning Glory"
• "Midnight Special" (1957)

Tracks marked with an asterisk were songs that sold over a million copies.

Discography

• Kansas City Jazz (Decca Records, 1951)
• Joe Turner and Pete Johnson (EmArcy, 1955)
• The Boss of the Blues: Joe Turner Sings Kansas City Jazz (Atlantic, 1956)
• Joe Turner: Rock & Roll (Atlantic, 1957)
• Rockin' the Blues (Atlantic, 1958)
• And The Blues'll Make You Happy Too (Savoy, 1958)
• Careless Love (Savoy, 1958)
• Big Joe is Here (Atlantic, 1959)
• Big Joe Rides Again (Atlantic, 1960)
• Jumpin' the Blues (Arhoolie, 1962) with Pete Johnson
• Joe Turner and Jimmy Nelson (Crown, 1963)
• Sings The Blues, Vol. 1 (Oriole, 1964)
• Sings The Blues, Vol. 2 (Oriole, 1965)
• Feel So Fine (Fontana, 1965) with Buck Clayton; reissued as Buck Clayton Meets Joe Turner (Black Lion, 1992)
• Presenting Big Joe Turner (Orfeon [Mexico], 1966)
• Singing the Blues (ABC/BluesWay, 1967); reissued as Roll 'Em (ABC/BluesWay, 1973)
• The Real Boss of the Blues (BluesTime/Flying Dutchman, 1969)
• Super Black Blues (BluesTime/Flying Dutchman, 1969) with T-Bone Walker and Otis Spann
• Super Black Blues, Volume II (BluesTime/Flying Dutchman, 1970) with Leon Thomas, T-Bone Walker, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
• Turns On the Blues (Kent, 1970)
• Texas Style (Black and Blue, 1971)

• 1972 – Flip, Flop & Fly (Pablo, 1989) with Count Basie & His Orchestra
• 1973 – Boss Man of the Blues (LMI Records, 1973)
• 1973 – The Bosses (Pablo, 1974) with Count Basie
• 1974 – Life Ain't Easy (Pablo, 1983)
• 1974 – The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (Pablo, 1975) with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Clark Terry
• 1975 – Everyday I Have the Blues (Pablo, 1978) with Pee Wee Crayton and Sonny Stitt
• 1975 – Nobody in Mind (Pablo, 1976) with Milt Jackson and Roy Eldridge
• 1976 – In the Evening (Pablo, 1976)
• 1976 – The Midnight Special (Pablo, 1980)
• 1977 – Things That I Used to Do (Pablo, 1977)
• 1977 – San Francisco 1977 (RockBeat, 2017) with Mike Bloomfield
• 1977 – I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (Spivey, 1978) with the Bill Dacey-Robert Ross Band
• 1978 – Really the Blues (Big Town, 1978)
• 1978 – Have No Fear Joe Turner is Here (Pablo, 1981)
• 1974–1978 – Stormy Monday (Pablo, 1991) previously unissued Pablo recordings
• 1980 – Kansas City Shout (Pablo, 1980) with Count Basie and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
• 1981 – Boogie Woogie Jubilee (Telefunken, 1981) with Axel Zwingenberger
• 1981 – Rock This Joint (Intermedia, 1982)
• 1981 – The Very Best Of Big Joe Turner Live (Intermedia, 1982)
• 1981 – Boss Blues Live! (Intermedia, 1982)
• 1981 – Roll Me Baby (Intermedia, 1982)
• 1983 – Live at the Music Machine 1983 (RockBeat, 2013)
• 1983 – Blues Train (Muse, 1983) with Roomful of Blues
• 1983 – Big Joe Turner with Knocky Parker and His House Rockers (Southland, 1985)
• 1984 – Kansas City Here I Come (Pablo, 1984)
• 1985 – Patcha, Patcha, All Night Long (Pablo, 1985) with Jimmy Witherspoon
• 1938–1954 – Shout, Rattle And Roll (1938–1954) (Proper, 2005) 4-CD set
• 1941–1946 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1941–1946 (Classics, 1997)
• 1946–1947 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1946–1947 (Classics, 1998)
• 1947–1948 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1947–1948 (Classics, 1999)
• 1949–1950 – The Chronological Joe Turner 1949–1950 (Classics, 2001)