Rosco Gordon

Early Rock and Roll? ✓

Rhythm and Blues? ✓

Reggae?????????

Get ready to learn about a Memphis piano player who became a huge influence on ska and reggae music. Pull up a bench, sit at the keys, and get to know Mr. Rosco Gordon!

Rosco Gordon was born in Memphis on April 10,1928 the youngest of eight children. He learned to play the piano from his sister, who was taking lessons. By the time Rosco was a young man he was hanging around Beale Street in Memphis with other musicians who became known as the Beale Streeters. They were never a formal band but played in the same clubs and backed each other up during recording sessions. Musicians that were known as Beale Streeters include Johnny Ace, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Junior Parker, Earl Forest, and B.B. King.

It was Rosco’s association with the Beale Streeters that got him noticed. Rosco was scouted by Ike Turner who, at the time, was a talent scout as well as a musician. Rosco’s first single, ‘Saddled the Cow (and Milked the Horse)’ was released on Modern Records and reached #9 on the Billboard R&B chart.

Later in 1951 Rosco recorded for Sam Phillips at Phillips’ Memphis Recording Service. A few years later Sam Phillips would change the name of his studio to Sun Studios where rock and roll history would be made with the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. 

The song that Rosco recorded in 1951 was titled ‘Booted’ and was licensed by Sam Phillips to be released on Chess Records. However, Rosco also recorded a version for RPM Records, who released it in 1952. The song zoomed up to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts. This caused a conflict between Chess Records and RPM Records, who later settled the contract by trading artists – Chess sent Rosco to RPM and in exchange Chess received Howlin’ Wolf. When the dust finally settled, Rosco Gordon received $100 from Phillips’ Memphis Recording Service and $600 from RPM Records. He never received any royalties from the sales of his #1 hit. Roscoe would later say “No royalties, no nothin’ But like I say, I didn’t know any better”.

Rosco Gordon had another hit single in 1952. This song reached #2 on the Billboard R&B chart. It would be this song that would become a huge influence on a musical style that would emerge from the Caribbean. The name of the song was ‘No More Doggin’. What caught the ear of Caribbean musicians was Rosco’s piano playing style that placed the emphasis on the off-beat. This became known as The Rosco Rhythm and you can hear it clearly on ‘No More Doggin’. 

By the late 1950’s the island of Jamaica was going crazy over American rhythm and blues. R&B artists were very popular and their music was played extensively on Jamaican radio. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell recalls: “Towards the end of the 50’s, Jamaicans got keen on rhythm and blues, particularly a record called ‘No More Doggin’ sung by Rosco Gordon. They got a hold of his beat, cheered it up a bit, added some lyrics, and called it ska….From 1959 onwards this was all the rage”. Ska music would evolve into rocksteady music and rocksteady would eventually evolve into reggae music. Island Records was the label that signed the great Bob Marley who launched reggae from the island of Jamaica to the rest of the world. 

After hearing ‘No More Doggin’ in the late 1950’s, Jamaican musician Laurel Aitken was inspired to record the song ‘Boogie in my Bones’, a song often traced to the beginning of ska music. In fact, Laurel Aitken is known today as the Godfather of Ska. Aitken, along with fellow Jamaican musicians Owen Gray and Theophilus Beckford, emulated the Roscoe Rhythm piano style, adding horns and guitars to produce ska music. All three artists would continue to perform, moving from ska to rocksteady to reggae, which today is still uniquely Jamaican. Yet it all began with a Memphis musician named Rosco Gordon!!!

As the 1950’s went on Rosco Gordon continued to record music for various labels. He returned to Sun Records in the mid-fifties, pounding out rhythm and blues songs that foreshadowed early rock and roll. In 1959 he had another hit with the song ‘Just a Little Bit’, which made to #2 on the R&B charts and crossed over to the pop charts.

In 1962 Rosco quit the music business. Newly married, he moved to New York City where he became partners in a laundry service after winning a poker game with a pair of deuces! He did not perform again until 1981. Following the death of his wife in 1982, he returned to touring and in 1983 released the album ‘Rosco Rocks Again’, recorded live in London. He gradually rebuilt his career, primarily touring in Europe. He only recorded occasionally, including singing duets with Jane Powell and Martha Reeves.

In 2000 Rosco finally returned to the studio to record a full album, teaming up with blues guitarist Duke Robillard to record the album ‘Memphis Tennessee’. Shortly after that album was released, Rosco was asked by filmmaker Richard Pearce to take part in a film he was making. It was a documentary film about several musicians returning to Memphis for a tribute to Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips. The film, titled ‘The Road to Memphis’, aired on PBS in 2002. Six weeks after he finished filming, Rosco Gordon died of a heart attack at his apartment in Queens. He was 74 years old and was survived by his three daughters. He was buried in the Rosedale Cemetery in Linden, New Jersey. 

Rosco Gordon would go on to have a profound influence on a tiny Caribbean island, inspiring a form of music that would eventually be called reggae music and that would also take the world by storm. Even though Rosco Gordon never achieved the same fame as Elvis, isn’t it crazy that he and his Rosco Rhythm had such an impact on worldwide music? In this case, The Road to Memphis led all the way to Jamaica and beyond!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Musical Tree! Feel free to leave suggestions for future articles in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe to be notified via email when there is a new post. 

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