Leroy
Carr (March 27, 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer,
songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and
whose popularity and style influenced artists like Nat King Cole and
Ray Charles. He first became famous
for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928 for which he
wrote the music.
Career Carr was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1905 and grew up in
the black section of Indianapolis, Indiana. Here he partnered with jazz
guitarist Scrapper Blackwell and their work showed a distinctive urban
influence that was unlike the intensely emotional vocals and heavily
rhythmatic guitar back up, often bottleneck guitar style, of the
Mississippi bluesmen. Carr was one of the first Northern bluesmen.
Vocalion Records recorded him in 1928 and his first release "How Long,
How Long Blues" was an immediate success. The innovation was in the
sophisticated piano-guitar accompaniment and the wistfully sad mood.
Music had moved from the lone guitarist in the fields to clubs with
pianos for ready entertainment.
The success of his first release resulted in more Vocalion
recordings. Although the Great Depression of the early 1930s slowed down
the music industry, Carr's success continued, reaching a peak number of
releases in 1934. Throughout the early '30s, Carr was one of the most
popular bluesmen in America. While his professional career was
successful, his personal life was spinning out of control, as he sunk
deeper and deeper into alcoholism. His sudden death in 1935 at the age
of 30 was surrounded with rumor and mystery. Today most historians
believed he died of nephritis. A few weeks after Carr's death, his
guitarist, Blackwell, recorded a memorial, "My Old Pal Blues".
Legacy Although his recording career was cut short by his early death,
Carr left behind a large body of work in his blues recordings. His
partnership with guitarist Blackwell combined his light bluesy piano
with a melodic jazz guitar that attracted the sophisticated urban black
audience. His vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban
sophistican and influenced such singers as
T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ray
Charles among others.
Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing used some of Carr's songs and Basie's
band shows the influence of Carr's piano style.
Leroy
Carr (March 27, 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer,
songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and
whose popularity and style influenced artists like Nat King Cole and