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PROFILE: Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris: "Mr. Blues,"an American idol of his day

Copyright © 2004 by Jean Sanders

Wynonie Harris was known as "Mr. Blues,"-- a "blues shouter"--a singer who could project his voice clearly above a band in the days when singers did not wear personal mikes and headsets.

In some ways Harris can be compared to today's rappers due to his musicianship, showmanship, and lyrics. But his biggest influence was on the evolution of rock and roll. Young Elvis Presley was a fan who watched, listened to, and copied much of Harris' style and presentation.

That Harris had such an impact on the musical psyche is testament to his talent because in the first half of the twentieth century, much of America's musical history was as divided into white and black as its social history was--Caucasians on one side, African-Americans on the other.

Wynonie Harris was African-American, born in Omaha, Nebraska, August 24, 1913. His teenaged unmarried mother, Mallie Hood Anderson, was black. His father, probably an American Indian named Blue Jay, was from an unknown tribe. The parents never lived together and it has been reported that Harris only saw his birth father once when his mother pointed him out from afar.

Sometime before 1920, Wynonie's mother married Luther Harris; they had no more children. Wynonie took Harris as his last name.

The family moved within Omaha several times, each time requiring a school transfer. After attending two different high schools in as many years, Wynonie's indifference to learning turned into chronic absenteeism. In the spring of 1931, he abandoned school permanently, left home and moved in with relatives.

While an academic education was not Harris' priority, music was. In high school he had been part of a vocal group that toured and recorded. He was an excellent ballroom dancer and partnered with his friend Velda Shannon. They performed exhibition ballroom dancing in various black-owned venues around town. Sometimes they were paid, sometimes not. Since Velda was a teenager, her mother generally forbade performances out of town. Once, however, Wynonie, Velda and a few friends hopped on a box car and went to Oklahoma City, where they stayed for two weeks and danced for pay at the Jewell Theatre.

When Jim Bell opened a club in Omaha and hired a big band, his entertainers attracted a racially mixed audience. At various times Wynonie sang, danced, and acted as MC. He also taught himself how to play drums and added that to his repertoire. Bell's club closed late in 1936 after being open only about a year, but it was long enough to establish Harris' musical reputation in the area.

Slim and handsome, Harris attracted his share of groupies, one in particular: Olive E. Goodlow. They met when she attended a performance at Bell's club. Their daughter, Adrianne Patricia (Pattie) was born on May 20, 1936. They were married December 11, 1936.

Ollie worked as a barmaid and nurse; Wynonie sang in clubs as well as taking on some odd jobs. Apparently Wynonie's mother was Pattie's main caretaker.

As 1940 approached, Harris decided to move to Los Angeles, where he felt there was more musical opportunity. He and Ollie went but left Pattie with her grandmother in Omaha.

Professionally the move was good. Harris appeared regularly at the Club Alabam on Central Avenue, the heartbeat of the black entertainment district. This club employed big bands, singers, and dancers and there was seating for five hundred people.

It was here that Harris became known as "Mr. Blues." He moved around the stage with ease, flirting with audience members and gesturing dramatically. He wrote many of his songs but his habitual use of "R" rated subject matter was shocking to audiences at the time.

Performing at the Alabam and other clubs, he often participated in a "battle of the blues" with other singers. Like the dueling banjos in the movie Deliverance, the singers would challenge each other with increasingly complex improvisation and accompanying body movements. This became a staple of his act for the rest of his career.

Although this was wartime (World War II) when the military depended on the draft, Wynonie received a medical deferment, probably due to a heart murmur. However, the war affected him in a different way. Shellac was the main ingredient used to make records. Much of it was imported from Southeast Asia and was banned from most non-military uses. That meant Harris could not pursue a recording career for several years. Instead, he had to depend on personal appearances.

He was, however, in Los Angeles and movies were an option. Although he would never achieve any great status in that realm, he did appear as a dancer in three all-black musicals during the early 1940s. Occasionally, he also worked in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Late in 1943, Harris performed at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago. At that time, the premiere black big band was led by Lucky Millinder. Impressed with Harris, Millinder asked him to join the band's tour which went on to New York.

Fans of BET (Black Entertainment Television) will recognize the importance of their appearance at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem where they received warm reviews.

By this time the embargo on shellac was lessening and the Millinder band signed a contract with Decca records. Harris recorded two songs including "Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well?" but its release date was delayed.

Meanwhile, as the band toured around the country for six months, Harris' musical stature grew along with his ego. He left the band in a dispute over money and eventually returned to Los Angeles.

He and Ollie moved their daughter Pattie, his mother and her husband from Omaha to Los Angeles. Harris resumed working at the Club Alabam.

When "Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well?" was finally released in April 1945, it not only topped the black charts, it remained a hit for almost five months. It also became popular with white audiences, an unusual feat for a black musician of that era.

Record companies were now proliferating and this was a boon for Harris. His first solo session was for Philo records in July 1945. Although the recording failed to make the black music chart, it influenced future artists. Harris' rendition of "Around the Clock" inspired Chuck Berry's "Reelin, and Rockin" a decade later.

Besides recording and working at the Club Alabam, in late 1945 Harris took part in a Norma Miller revue in which he played an English ambassador. Although it showcased his dramatic and comedic ability, it also demonstrated that his husky voice and ability to sing melodic ballads did not match his affinity for shouting the blues.

How and why he finally left Club Alabam are uncertain, but in August 1945 he recorded for the new independent company, Apollo. This time "Wynonie's Blues" was a hit on the black music chart.

Due to his successful recording career, Wynonie attracted and hired hangers-on. His personal manager was Harold Oxley, who arranged for an extensive tour. In January 1946, Harris performed in Omaha for the first time since he left in 1940.

In October 1946 Oxley arranged a solo appearance for Wynonie at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem and negotiated a recording contract with Aladdin. Wynonie and Ollie moved to New York in November. Their daughter Pattie stayed in Los Angeles with her grandparents.

With New York as a home base, Wynonie continued to tour as well as perform in and around the New York area. His recording sessions were somewhat successful, but when his contract with Aladdin ended in 1947 it was not renewed. Evidently he had failed to produce a bonafide hit or finish recording the agreed-upon number of songs.

Harris hired a new manager, Jimmy Evans, who sent him on tour, followed by bookings in some of New York's top black nightclubs. Most important, Evans got Harris a three-year recording contract with King Records.

When "Good Rockin, Tonight" was released in March 1948, it topped the black music charts for six months. This song was a genuine forerunner of rock and roll. It was re-recorded by Elvis Presley in 1954 with later versions recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Holly, Pat Boone, and Paul McCartney among others.

The musical scene was evolving. Segregated music was blending into new, more inclusive styles. In 1949, black music, which, until then, had been called "race records," was newly designated "rhythm and blues" in professional publications. The genre gained an increasingly mixed mainstream audience. Harris' recordings consistently made the charts' top ten. He played local clubs, and continued to tour.

Harris was finally a star and wanted to live like one--at least his perception of one. He bought a big expensive car, and planned to buy a house in New York, where his mother, daughter and stepfather could live. However, his stepfather did not want to leave Los Angeles. Before the argument was resolved, his mother had a stroke and died. She was only fifty.

Harris' stepfather moved to Portland, Oregon to live with a sister. His daughter, Pattie, stayed in Los Angeles for a few months with an aunt. In June 1949 she joined Harris in New York but only stayed for six months before moving to Council Bluffs, Iowa to live with an aunt.

Wynonie's marriage to Ollie was troubled. He was seeing Gertrude Sloan, whose nickname was "Ice Cream." He and Ice Cream moved in together. Ollie continued to live in New York until 1952 when she divorced Wynonie and moved back to Los Angeles.

During the early 1950s, big bands were disappearing due to the economy. Harris was booked for a number of one-nighter tours as part of a package that included other entertainers. In his recording sessions he tried some alternate musical styles including country, but his heart and skill remained with the blues.

By 1954 white musicians and young mixed audiences were increasingly adopting the rhythm and blues style. One afficionado was a newly developing singer, Elvis Presley.

When Wynonie performed in Memphis, the shows were still segregated. Whites attended the matinees or early shows, blacks went at midnight. Harris' manager, Jimmy Evans, allowed Elvis to sneak in the back door and watch the late show from the balcony. Presley consciously copied Harris' style and moves.

Wynonie's records were gaining international attention. As often happens, audiences generally liked him more than the critics did.

He spent much of early 1954 touring around the country. In September the tour took him to Los Angeles, where he spent some time with his daughter Pattie, who now lived there with her new husband, Malcolm Vest.

Harris had fathered two children before meeting Ollie and had not married their mothers. His daughter Mickey (Stearns) was born on October 19, 1932 to Naomi Henderson. His son Wesley was born on August 13, 1933 to Laura Devereaux. Both children had remained with their mothers. Although Wynonie acknowledged them, they were not close.

In December 1954, Wesley Devereaux was twenty-one and working in Columbus, Ohio, singing with a vocal group from Omaha. Wynonie was working in Cleveland. He drove to Columbus and invited Wesley's group to meet him in New York. They stayed with Wynonie and Ice Cream in their home until May 1955, but by then it was clear that Harris' fortunes were in reversal. The gas was shut off and work was scarce.

There is much speculation about the sudden change. Some say that Harris at age forty-one did not change with the times and did not appeal to a younger audience. Some say he had always been arrogant and difficult to work with. Some say his personal lifestyle contributed; Harris had been a heavy smoker and drinker and it affected his voice. These may have been factors. One certainty is that Harris was financially irresponsible, spending his money as fast as he made it.

During the late 1950s, Harris found occasional work singing but had to develop other sources of income. He tried management and promotion. In May 1955 he and Wesley argued, Wesley and his friends moved out, and that was the last time they saw each other. The next year he lost the house. In 1958 he and Ice Cream separated after losing another house.

In 1963, Harris moved back to Los Angeles. Pattie and her husband lived there as did some old friends from Omaha. He performed for a week at the Hideaway Club, but according to reports it was less than stellar. Still, in August 1964, he recorded for Chess Records in Chicago although that, too, was only mildly successful.

In the mid-1960s, Harris owned and managed an after-hours club and continued to sing a little, but he developed cancer of the esophagus. On June 14, 1969 he died at the age of fifty-four.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there has been a resurgence of interest in his music. Whatever Harris' personal faults, there is no doubt about his role in the evolution of popular music. Some of his recordings are being reissued and he has received recognition posthumously.

In 1994, he was inducted into the W.C. Handy Blues Hall of Fame by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1998, he was inducted into the Nebraska Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Lincoln.

In 2000, he was inducted into the High School Hall of Fame at Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska.

In 2005, he was among the charter inductees into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame.

Much misinformation has been printed about Wynonie Harris, especially in newspapers and concerning his education.

For additional reliable information, consult The New Grove's Dictionary of Jazz, Vol 2 (Macmillan Publishers, 2002) 183-184 and The Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Quintet, 2001) p. 470 and Tony Collins, Rock Mr. Blues: The Life & Music of Wynonie Harris (Big Nickel Publications, 1995). While the Collins' book has been carefully researched and contains useful musical history, it should be rated "R" for language.

For more information, consult "900 Famous Nebraskans" on the Internet at www.nsea.org or www.beatricene.com/gagecountymuseum or www.nebpress.com.