This week, the week of February 22-26, 2016, we will be looking at white artists you took black artist's songs as their own!

We call it:  "Black & White"

February 24, 2016

February is Black History Month.  A time to reflect on the contributions to society made by those of African Heritage.

In the field of music there are many people we could focus on but I thought I'd shine the light on a time when a black musician may have only heard their music played on the radio after it was covered (or stolen) by a white artist.

As we said yesterday Elvis Presley certainly wasn't the first artist to cover a song by a black artist. The early years of rock and roll saw a number of covers of songs from black artists chart much more successfully.

This one was recorded in 1954 by Big Joe Turner:

And by the time "Shake, Rattle & Roll" was topping the R&B chart five months later, Bill Haley & His Comets were recording their "cleaner" version.

"Cleaner" to avoid  radio censorship.  Which must have worked as the song went to number 7 on the Billboard Charts and spent almost four months in the top 40.

~ Glenn