Screamin' Jay Hawkins
This seems to be our night for music
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| Screamin' Jay Hawkins | |
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Hawkins in concert
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jalacy Hawkins |
| Born | July 18, 1929 Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
| Died | February 12, 2000 (aged 70) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Genres | Rhythm and blues, soul, shock rock |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, actor, producer |
| Years active | 1946–2000 |
Contents
Early career
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Hawkins studied classical piano as a child and learned guitar in his twenties.[2] His initial goal was to become an opera singer (Hawkins has cited Paul Robeson as his musical idol in interviews),[3] but when his initial ambitions failed he began his career as a conventional blues singer and pianist.Hawkins was an avid and formidable boxer.[citation needed] In 1949, he was the middleweight boxing champion of Alaska.[citation needed]
In 1951, Hawkins joined guitarist Tiny Grimes's band, and was subsequently featured on some of Grimes's recordings.[3] When Hawkins became a solo performer, he often performed in a stylish wardrobe of leopard skins, red leather and wild hats.
"I Put a Spell on You"
His most successful recording, "I Put a Spell on You" (1956), was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. According to the AllMusic Guide to the Blues, "Hawkins originally envisioned the tune as a refined ballad."[3] The entire band was intoxicated during a recording session where "Hawkins screamed, grunted, and gurgled his way through the tune with utter drunken abandon."[3] The resulting performance was no ballad but instead a "raw, guttural track" that became his greatest commercial success and reportedly surpassed a million copies in sales,[4][5] although it failed to make the Billboard pop or R&B charts.[6][7]The performance was mesmerizing, although Hawkins himself blacked out and was unable to remember the session.[5] Afterward he had to relearn the song from the recorded version.[5] Meanwhile the record label released a second version of the single, removing most of the grunts that had embellished the original performance; this was in response to complaints about the recording's overt sexuality.[5] Nonetheless it was banned from radio in some areas.
Soon after the release of "I Put a Spell on You", radio disc jockey Alan Freed offered Hawkins $300 to emerge from a coffin onstage.[4] Hawkins accepted and soon created an outlandish stage persona in which performances began with the coffin and included "gold and leopard skin costumes and notable voodoo stage props, such as his smoking skull on a stick – named Henry – and rubber snakes."[4] These props were suggestive of voodoo, but also presented with comic overtones that invited comparison to "a black Vincent Price."[2][5]
Later career
Hawkins' later releases included "Constipation Blues" (which included a spoken introduction by Hawkins in which he states he wrote the song because no one had written a blues song before about "real pain"), "Orange Colored Sky", and "Feast of the Mau Mau". Nothing he released, however, had the monumental success of "I Put a Spell on You". In fact, "Constipation Blues" has been described as "gross".[8] In Paris in 1999 and at the Taste of Chicago festival, he actually performed the song with a toilet onstage.[9]He continued to tour and record through the 1960s and 1970s, particularly in Europe, where he was very popular. He appeared in performance (as himself) in the Alan Freed bio-pic American Hot Wax in 1978. Subsequently, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch featured "I Put a Spell on You" on the soundtrack – and deep in the plot – of his film Stranger Than Paradise (1983) and then Hawkins himself as a hotel night clerk in his Mystery Train and in roles in Álex de la Iglesia's Perdita Durango and Bill Duke's adaptation of Chester Himes' A Rage in Harlem.
His 1957 single "Frenzy" (found on the early 1980s compilation of the same name) was included in the compilation CD, Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files, in 1996.[10] This song was featured in the show's Season 2 episode "Humbug". It was also covered by the band Batmobile.[citation needed] "I Put a Spell on You" was featured during the show and over the credits of Episode 303 of The Simpsons.[11]
In 1983, Hawkins relocated to the New York area. In 1984 and 1985, Hawkins collaborated with garage rockers The Fuzztones, resulting in "Screamin' Jay Hawkins and The Fuzztones Live" album recorded at Irving Plaza in December 1984. They perform in the 1986 movie Joey.[12]
In July 1991, Hawkins released his album Black Music for White People.[13] The record features covers of two Tom Waits compositions: "Heart Attack and Vine"[14] (which, later that year, was used in a European Levi's advertisement without Waits' permission, resulting in a lawsuit),[15] and "Ice Cream Man" (which, contrary to popular belief,[citation needed] is a Waits original, and not a cover of the John Brim classic).[16] Hawkins also covered the Waits song, "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard", for his album Somethin' Funny Goin' On. In 1993, his version of "Heart Attack and Vine" became his only UK hit, reaching #42 on the UK singles chart.[17]
When Dread Zeppelin recorded their "disco" album, It's Not Unusual in 1992, producer Jah Paul Jo asked Hawkins to guest. He performed the songs "Jungle Boogie" and "Disco Inferno".
Hawkins also toured with The Clash and Nick Cave during this period, and not only became a fixture of blues festivals, but appeared at many film festivals as well, including the Telluride Film Festival premier of Mystery Train.
Hawkins died on February 12, 2000 after surgery to treat an aneurysm.[18] He left behind many children by many women; an estimated 55 at the time of his death, and upon investigation, that number "soon became perhaps 75 offspring".[19]
Influence
Although Hawkins was not a major success as a recording artist, his highly theatrical performances from "I Put a Spell On You" onward earned him a steady career as a live performer for decades afterward, and influenced subsequent acts.[2] He opened for Fats Domino, Tiny Grimes and the Rolling Stones.[2] This exposure in turn influenced rock groups such as The Cramps, Screaming Lord Sutch, Black Sabbath, Arthur Brown, Dread Zeppelin, The Horrors, Marilyn Manson, Tom Waits, Alice Cooper and Glenn Danzig.[2]Discography
Albums
- 1958 At Home with Screamin' Jay Hawkins (Okeh/Epic) - other editions entitled Screamin' Jay Hawkins and I Put a Spell on You
- 1965 The Night and Day of Screamin' Jay Hawkins (Planet/52e Rue Est) - also entitled In the Night and Day of Screamin' Jay Hawkins
- 1969 What That Is! (Philips)
- 1970 Because Is in Your Mind (Armpitrubber) (Philips)
- 1972 Portrait of a Man and His Woman (Hotline) - also entitled I Put a Spell on You and Blues Shouter
- 1977 I Put a Spell on You (Versatile—recordings from 1966–76)
- 1979 Screamin' the Blues (Red Lightnin'--recordings from 1953–70)
- 1983 Real Life (Zeta)
- 1984 Screamin' Jay Hawkins and The Fuzztones Live (Midnight Records) - live
- 1986 Ass-master 2000 (Phoenix Studio)
- 1988 At Home with Jay in The Wee Wee Hours (Midnight Records) - live
- 1988 Live & Crazy (Blue Phoenix) - live
- 1990 The Art of Screamin' Jay Hawkins (Spivey)
- 1991 Black Music For White People (Bizarre/Straight Records/Planet Records)
- 1991 I Shake My Stick at You (Aim)
- 1993 Stone Crazy (Bizarre/Straight/Planet)
- 1994 Somethin' Funny Goin' On (Bizarre/Straight/Planet)
- 1993 Rated X (Sting S) - live
- 1998 At Last (Last Call)
- 1999 Live at the Olympia, Paris (Last Call) - live with one new studio recording
Singles
- 1956 "I Put a Spell On You" / "Little Demon" [OKeh 7072]
- 1957 "You Made Me Love You" / "Darling, Please Forgive Me" [OKeh 7084]
- 1957 "Frenzy" / "Person to Person" [OKeh 7087]
- 1958 "Alligator Wine" / "There's Something Wrong With You" [OKeh 7101]
- 1958 "Armpit #6" / "The Past" [Red Top 126]
- 1962 "I Hear Voices" / "Just Don't Care" [Enrica 1010]
- 1962 "Ashes" / "Nitty Gritty" w/ Shoutin' Pat (Newborn) [Chancellor 1117]
- 1966 "Poor Folks" / "Your Kind of Love" [Providence 411]
- 1970 "Do You Really Love Me" / "Constipation Blues" [Philips 40645]
- 1973 "Monkberry Moon Delight" / "Sweet Ginny" [Queen Bee 1313]
- 1993 "Heart Attack and Vine" / "I Put A Spell On You" / "On The Job" [Columbia 6591092]
Multi-artist samplers and budget compilations
- 1962 Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Lillian Briggs (Coronet)
- 1963 A Night at Forbidden City (Sounds of Hawaii)
- 1988 Screamin' Jay Hawkins- I Put A Spell On You (Elvira Presents: Haunted Hits LP)
- 1990 Screamin' Jay Hawkins- I Put A Spell On You (Elvira Presents: Haunted Hits CD Re-Release)
- 1994 Screamin' Jay Hawkins- Little Demon (Elvira Presents: Monster Hits CD)
- 1996 Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Frenzy (Songs in the Key of X - The X Files)
Filmography
- American Hot Wax (as himself, 1978)
- Joey (as himself, 1986)
- Mystery Train (as Night Clerk, 1989)
- A Rage in Harlem (as himself, 1991)
- Two Moon Junction (as Blues Club Singer, 1992)
- Perdita Durango, also known as Dance with the Devil (Álex de la Iglesia, 1997)
- Peut-être (as club singer, 1999)
- Screamin' Jay Hawkins: I Put a Spell On Me (Nicholas Triandafyllidis, 2001)[20]
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