Jimmy Nelson
Encyclopedia
Jimmy "T99" Nelson was an American
jump blues
and rhythm and blues
shouter
and songwriter
. With a recording career that spanned over 50 years, Jimmy "T99" Nelson became a distinguished elder statesman of American music. His best known recordings are "T-99 Blues" and "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On". Nelson notably worked with Duke Robillard
and Otis Grand
.
while he was visiting Oakland, California
, and realized he wanted to sing the blues
. Turner taught Nelson about singing, performance and the music business. Nelson, in turn, absorbed the shouting style of his mentor.
From 1951 through 1961, Jimmy Nelson and the Peter Rabbit Trio released eight singles
with the Bihari Brothers' Modern/RPM label. The biggest of these was "T-99 Blues" (which referred to the old Texas Highway #99), which debuted in June 1951. It stayed on the US
Billboard
R&B
chart
for twenty-one weeks and reached number 1. In 1952, Nelson had another RPM hit with "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On."
Nelson began touring, performing with bands led by Joe Liggins
and Roy Milton
, and playing venues including the Apollo
and Howard
theaters. He cut singles for a number of labels including Kent
, Music City, Paradise and All Boy, and Chess
(including for them the 1955 "Free and Easy Mind").
In 1955, Nelson met and married his Nettie (who is now deceased) and adopted Houston, Texas
as his hometown. For the next 20 years, Nelson settled down and took a job working construction, though he continued to write songs and sit in with bands.
In the 1980s, Nelson came to the wider attention of blues fans when Ace
issued ten of his sides on an album. Sweet Sugar Daddy a compilation album
from the Japanese P-Vine Records
, which mainly consisted of unreleased studio recordings from the 1960s and 1970s, was also released in 1988.
Nelson resumed touring and in 1999, released a comeback album Rockin' and Shoutin' the Blues from the Bullseye Blues & Jazz label. This album was nominated in two categories of the W.C. Handy Awards the following year. Two more newly recorded albums followed on his own Nettie Marie label prior to his death, both featuring an all-star back-up band including Duke Robillard
. In 2004, Ace released Cry Hard Luck, featuring re-issues of Nelson's Kent & RPM recordings from 1951-1961.
Nelson died of cancer
at a nursing home in Houston on July 29, 2007.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
shouter
Blues shouter
A blues shouter is a blues singer, often male, capable of singing with a band. The singer must project, or "shout", to be heard over the drums and musical instruments of the band. Blues shouting was a major pathway by which jazz music edged over into rock and roll...
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. With a recording career that spanned over 50 years, Jimmy "T99" Nelson became a distinguished elder statesman of American music. His best known recordings are "T-99 Blues" and "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On". Nelson notably worked with Duke Robillard
Duke Robillard
Michael John "Duke" Robillard is an American blues musician.After playing in various bands and working for the Guild Guitar Company, he co-founded the band Roomful of Blues with pianist Al Copley in 1967. He has also been a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds which included Kim Wilson, replacing...
and Otis Grand
Otis Grand
Otis Grand is an American blues musician, best known for his album, Perfume and Grime .-Biography:Although born in Beirut, Grand has spent much of his life in the United States...
.
Career
Nelson got his start singing in church. In 1941, he saw a performance by Big Joe TurnerBig Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
while he was visiting Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, and realized he wanted to sing the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
. Turner taught Nelson about singing, performance and the music business. Nelson, in turn, absorbed the shouting style of his mentor.
From 1951 through 1961, Jimmy Nelson and the Peter Rabbit Trio released eight singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
with the Bihari Brothers' Modern/RPM label. The biggest of these was "T-99 Blues" (which referred to the old Texas Highway #99), which debuted in June 1951. It stayed on the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
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,...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
for twenty-one weeks and reached number 1. In 1952, Nelson had another RPM hit with "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On."
Nelson began touring, performing with bands led by Joe Liggins
Joe Liggins
Joe Liggins was an American R&B, jazz and blues pianist, who was the frontman in the 1940s and 1950s with the band, Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers....
and Roy Milton
Roy Milton
Roy Milton was an American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader.-Career:Milton's grandmother was a Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, United States, and grew up on an Indian reservation before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma...
, and playing venues including the Apollo
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
and Howard
Howard Theatre
The Howard Theatre is a historic theatre, located at 620 T Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C..Opened in 1910, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974....
theaters. He cut singles for a number of labels including Kent
Kent Records
Kent Records was a Los Angeles based record label, launched in the 1960s by the Bihari brothers. It was a follow up to the bankrupted Modern Records and reissued Modern's records. It was later bought by Ace Records, England, which used the label name to release Northern Soul records.The label...
, Music City, Paradise and All Boy, and Chess
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
(including for them the 1955 "Free and Easy Mind").
In 1955, Nelson met and married his Nettie (who is now deceased) and adopted Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
as his hometown. For the next 20 years, Nelson settled down and took a job working construction, though he continued to write songs and sit in with bands.
In the 1980s, Nelson came to the wider attention of blues fans when Ace
Ace Records (UK)
Ace Records Ltd. was started in 1978. Initially the company only gained permission from the label based in Mississippi to use the name in the UK, but eventually also acquired the rights to publish their recordings. When Chiswick's pop side was licensed to EMI in 1984, Ace switched to more licensing...
issued ten of his sides on an album. Sweet Sugar Daddy a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
from the Japanese P-Vine Records
P-Vine Records
P-Vine Records is a record label started by Blues Interactions, Inc., a firm in Tokyo, Japan established in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi...
, which mainly consisted of unreleased studio recordings from the 1960s and 1970s, was also released in 1988.
Nelson resumed touring and in 1999, released a comeback album Rockin' and Shoutin' the Blues from the Bullseye Blues & Jazz label. This album was nominated in two categories of the W.C. Handy Awards the following year. Two more newly recorded albums followed on his own Nettie Marie label prior to his death, both featuring an all-star back-up band including Duke Robillard
Duke Robillard
Michael John "Duke" Robillard is an American blues musician.After playing in various bands and working for the Guild Guitar Company, he co-founded the band Roomful of Blues with pianist Al Copley in 1967. He has also been a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds which included Kim Wilson, replacing...
. In 2004, Ace released Cry Hard Luck, featuring re-issues of Nelson's Kent & RPM recordings from 1951-1961.
Nelson died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at a nursing home in Houston on July 29, 2007.
Albums
- 1999 Rockin' Shoutin' the Blues (Bullseye Blues & Jazz)
- 2002 Take Your Pick (Nettie Marie)
- 2005 The Legend (Nettie Marie)
Compilation albums
- 1981 Jimmy "Mr. T99" Nelson (Ace)
- 1988 Sweet Sugar Daddy (P-Vine)
- 2003 Cry Hard Luck: The RPM and Kent Recordings 1951-61 (Ace)
External links
- [ Allmusic biography]