Floyd Cramer
Encyclopedia
Floyd Cramer was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Hall of Fame pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 who was one of the architects of the "Nashville sound
Nashville sound
The Nashville sound originated during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of honky tonk music which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s...

." He popularized the "slip note" piano style where an out-of-tune note slides effortlessly into the correct note. This was a major departure from the percussive piano style which was popular in the late 1950s.

Born in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, Cramer grew up in the small town of Huttig
Huttig, Arkansas
Huttig is a city in Union County, Arkansas, United States of America. The population was 731 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Huttig is located at ....

, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, teaching himself to play the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

. After finishing high school, he returned to Shreveport, where he worked as a pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 for the Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...

radio show. After Cramer relocated permanently to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, Allen "Puddler" Harris
Allen "Puddler" Harris
Allen W. "Puddler" Harris is a rock and roll and country musician who played piano in the original Ricky Nelson Band in Hollywood, California, and the last Jimmie Davis band in Louisiana...

, a native of Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana, replaced him as the pianist for the Hayride.

Biography

In 1953, Floyd Cramer entered the recording studio and cut his first single, "Dancin' Diane", backed with "Little Brown Jug", for the local Abbott label. He then toured with an emerging talent who would later figure significantly in his career, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

.

Cramer moved to Nashville in 1955 where the use of piano accompanists in country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 was growing in popularity. By the next year he was, in his words "in day and night doing sessions.” Before long, he was one of the busiest studio musicians in the industry, playing piano for stars such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

, Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...

, Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...

, The Browns
The Browns
The Browns were an American country and folk music vocal trio best known for their 1959 Grammy-nominated hit, "The Three Bells". The group, composed of Jim Ed Brown and his sisters Maxine and Bonnie Brown, had a close, smooth harmony characteristic of the Nashville sound, though their music also...

, Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...

, Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...

, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

, Don Gibson
Don Gibson
Donald Eugene "Don" Gibson was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson penned such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970s.-Biography:Don Gibson was...

, and the Everly Brothers, among others. It was Cramer's piano playing, for instance, on Presley's first national hit, "Heartbreak Hotel
Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American rock and roll musician Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. His first number-one pop record, "Heartbreak Hotel" topped Billboards Top 100 chart, became his first...

". However, Cramer remained strictly a session player, a virtual unknown to anyone outside the music industry.

Cramer had released records under his own name since the early 1950s, and became well known following the release of "Last Date
Last Date (song)
"Last Date" is a 1960 instrumental written and performed by Floyd Cramer. "Last Date" peaked at number 11 on the country chart and peaked at number two on the Hot 100.-Chart performance:-Cover versions:...

", a 45 rpm
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 single in 1960. The instrumental piece exhibited a relatively new concept for piano playing known as the "slip note" style. The record went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 chart, and sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

.

In 1961 Cramer had a hit with "On the Rebound," which went to number three, and number one the UK chart. ("On the Rebound" was later featured during the opening credits of the 2009 Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

-nominated film An Education
An Education
An Education is a 2009 British coming-of-age drama film, based on an autobiographical article in Granta by British journalist Lynn Barber. The film was directed by Lone Scherfig from a screenplay by Nick Hornby, and stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a bright schoolgirl, and Peter Sarsgaard as David,...

,
which was set in 1961 England). That same year Cramer also hit with "San Antonio Rose
New San Antonio Rose
"San Antonio Rose"/"New San Antonio Rose" was the signature song of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. "San Antonio Rose" was an instrumental song written by Bob Wills, who first recorded it with the Playboys in 1938. Band members added lyrics and it was retitled "New San Antonio Rose"...

" (number eight).

By the mid-1960s, Cramer had become a respected performer, making numerous record albums and touring with guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...

 Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...

 and saxophonist Boots Randolph
Boots Randolph
Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit, "Yakety Sax"...

; also performing with them as a member of the Million Dollar Band
Million Dollar Band (country music group)
The Million Dollar Band was an all-star group of popular country musicians which often performed on the Hee Haw television variety show from August 1980 through November 1988....

.

Over the years, Cramer continued to balance session work with his own albums. Many of these featured standards or popular hits of the era and from 1965 to 1974 he annually recorded a disc of the year's biggest hits prefaced "Class of . . ." Other long-players included I Remember Hank Williams (1962), Floyd Cramer Plays the Monkees (1967), Looking For Mr Goodbar (1968) and Sounds of Sunday (1971). In 1977 Floyd Cramer and the Keyboard Kick Band was released, on which he played eight different keyboard instrument
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

s.

Floyd Cramer died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

 in 1997 at the age of 64 and was interred in the Spring Hill Cemetery
Spring Hill Cemetery
Spring Hill Cemetery on Gallatin Pike in the Nashville, Tennessee suburb of Madison is the final resting place for some of country music’s legendary performers including:*Roy Acuff, singer, songwriter, music publisher*Floyd Cramer, piano legend...

 in the Nashville suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 of Madison
Madison, Tennessee
Madison, Tennessee is a neighborhood in northeast Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. It is incorporated as part of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County....

, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

.

His grandson, Jason Coleman, is carrying on his grandfather's legacy with a tribute PowerPoint presentation, The Legacy of Floyd Cramer, as he shares the piano arrangements and history of decades of American music while on tour throughout the country.

Awards

In 2003, Floyd Cramer was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

.

In 2008, Floyd Cramer was posthumously inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame is an IRS certified 501 non-profit organization based in the state capitol of Baton Rouge, La., that seeks to preserve Louisiana's rich music culture and heritage and to further educate its citizens and people worldwide about the state’s unique role contributing...

.

East Tennessee State University
East Tennessee State University
East Tennessee State University is an accredited American university located in Johnson City, Tennessee. It is part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of colleges and universities, the nation's sixth largest system of public education, and is the fourth largest university in the state...

 in Johnson City
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City is a city in Carter, Sullivan, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with most of the city being in Washington County...

, Tennessee offers the "Floyd Cramer Competitive Scholarship."

Quotation

NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

- November 1961

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions Label
US Country US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

1957 That Honky Tonk Piano MGM
1960 Hello Blues RCA
1961 Last Date
On the Rebound 70
1962 America's Biggest Selling Pianist
Floyd Cramer Gets Organ-ized 113
I Remember Hank Williams 130
1963 Swing Along with Floyd Cramer
Comin' On
Three Great Pianos (with Peter Nero
Peter Nero
Peter Nero is an American pianist and pops conductor.-Early life:Born in Brooklyn, New York, As Bernard Nierow, Nero started his formal music training at the age of seven. He studied piano under Frederick Bried...

 and Frankie Carle
Frankie Carle
Frankie Carle  – , born Francis Nunzio Carlone, was a American pianist and bandleader. As a very popular bandleader in the 1940s and 1950s, Carle was nicknamed "The Wizard of the Keyboard"."Sunrise Serenade," however, was Carle's best-known composition, rising to No...

)
1964 Country Piano-City Strings
Cramer at the Console
The Best of Floyd Cramer
1965 Hits from the Country Hall of Fame 10
Class of '65 107
The Magic Touch of Floyd Cramer
1966 The Distinctive Piano Style of Floyd Cramer
Only the Big Ones
Class of '66 123
1967 Night Train
Here's What's Happening! 20 166
Floyd Cramer Plays the Monkeys
Class of '67 21
We Wish You a Merry Christmas 26
1968 Floyd Cramer Plays Country Classics 16
Class of '68
Floyd Cramer Plays MacArthur Park 36
The Best of Floyd Cramer Volume 2
1969 Class of '69 31
Floyd Cramer Plays More Country Classics 17
1970 The Big Ones, Vol. 2 183
With the Music City Pops
This Is Floyd Cramer 39
Class of '70 43
1971 Almost Pers­ed
Chet Floyd & Boots
Chet Floyd & Boots
-Side one:# "Hot Mocking Bird" – 2:07 # "Piano Rock Roll" – 2:11 # "Big Daddy" – 2:03 # "Oh, Lonesome Me" – 2:17 # "Georgia on My Mind" – 3:41 -Side two:...

(with Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...

 and Boots Randolph
Boots Randolph
Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit, "Yakety Sax"...

)
Sounds of Sunday 44
Class of '71 34
1972 Detours
Class of '72
The Best of Class of Floyd Cramer
Date with Floyd Cramer
1973 Floyd Cramer Plays the Big Hits
Super Country Hits
Class of '73 34
1974 Young and Restless
Spotlight On
Floyd Cramer in Concert 25
1975 Piano Masterpieces 1900–1975
Class of '74 and '75
1976 Floyd Cramer Country 46
1977 Floyd Cramer & the Keyboard Kick Band 50
Chet Floyd & Danny
Chet Floyd & Danny
Chet, Floyd & Danny is the title of a recording by Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer and Danny Davis. Davis was the creator of The Nashville Brass, which recorded country songs with brass instruments....

(with Chet Atkins and Danny Davis
Danny Davis (country musician)
Danny Davis was a band leader, trumpet player, vocalist and producer and founder/leader of the Nashville Brass.-Early life and career:...

)
46
1978 Looking for Mr. Goodbar
1979 Super Hits
1980 Dallas 29 170
1981 Great Country Hits
The Best of the West
1982 20 of the Best
1985 Collector's Date
Country Classics Pair
1988 Special Songs of Love Step One
Country Gold
Just Me and My Piano
1989 Forever Floyd Cramer
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Originals
1991 Gospel Classics
1994 The Piano Magic of Floyd Cramer Ranwood
1995 Favorite Country Hits 1
1996 The Piano Magic of Floyd Cramer 2
1997 Blue Skies
Favorite Country Hits 2

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

US R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

US AC CAN Country
1958 "Flip Flop and Bop" 87 Last Date
1960 "Last Date
Last Date (song)
"Last Date" is a 1960 instrumental written and performed by Floyd Cramer. "Last Date" peaked at number 11 on the country chart and peaked at number two on the Hot 100.-Chart performance:-Cover versions:...

"
11 2 3
1961 "On the Rebound" 4 16 On the Rebound
"San Antonio Rose
New San Antonio Rose
"San Antonio Rose"/"New San Antonio Rose" was the signature song of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. "San Antonio Rose" was an instrumental song written by Bob Wills, who first recorded it with the Playboys in 1938. Band members added lyrics and it was retitled "New San Antonio Rose"...

"
8 8 3
"Your Last Goodbye" 63 America's Biggest Selling Pianist
1962 "Chattanooga Choo Choo
Chattanooga Choo Choo
"Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a song by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon . It was recorded in a big-band/swing manner by Glenn Miller and his orchestra and featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade, which starred Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller and his orchestra, The Modernaires, Milton Berle...

"
36 single only
"Lovesick Blues" 87 I Remember Hank Williams
1963 "Java" 49 Swing Along with Floyd Cramer
1967 "Stood Up" 53 single only
1977 "Rhythm of the Rain" 67 Floyd Cramer & the Keyboard Kick Band
1980 "Dallas" 32 104 8 Dallas

External links

  • http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=2028
  • http://www.spaceagepop.com/cramer.htm
  • http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/inductees.aspx?cid=110#
  • Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK