Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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LITTLE WILLIE JOHN

(b William Edgar John, 15 November 1937, Camden AR; d 26 May 1968 in Washington State Penitentiary) R&B singer who had a huge influence in the soul era. He moved to Detroit, sang with the Paul Williams band (some sources say also with Duke Ellington, Count Basie) and recorded for Savoy by the time he was 16. He signed with King and had 14 R&B chart hits '56-61, the same number of hits crossing over to the pop Hot 100 incl. 'Fever' '56, 'Talk To Me, Talk To Me' '58, 'Sleep' '60, all produced by Henry Glover and all top 40 pop. 'Fever' was later covered by Peggy Lee for a big hit, so remains John's best-known record; he often gets credit for writing it, but it was written by Otis Blackwell and Eddie Cooley (Blackwell was using the name Davenport because he was under contract to RCA at the time; see his entry). John's records were also covered by Elvis Presley, Sunny and the Sunglows, Johnny Preston, others; his sister Mabel John recorded for Stax and joined Ray Charles's Raelettes. He was a master of the blues ballad, with more passion than many another who sang with more frenzy; unfortunately he was unstable, perhaps unable to handle his own charisma: he carried a gun while a big attraction at the Apollo Theatre, killed a man with a knife in a bar in Seattle and was jailed May '66 for manslaughter. The cause of his death in prison has not been determined definitively.