BILLY WILLIAMS QUARTET - The Honeydripper / Love Me (1954)

50s Jiver / Vocal Group / Rock & Roll / Ballad - A & B-Side Coral Records 9-61264 (1954) with George Barnes on lead guitar 🎸at : 0:42 (A-Side) Born: 28 December 1910, Waco, Texas, USA, death: 17 October 1972. Williams formed the very successful gospel group the Charioteers in the early 30s while studying theology at Wilberforce College, Ohio. The group had regular radio spots in Cincinnati and New York and worked with Bing Crosby on the West Coast. In the 40s they had seven hits of their own and also charted with Frank Sinatra. In 1949 Williams left and formed the Billy Williams Quartet with Eugene Dixon (bass), Claude Riddick (baritone) and John Ball (tenor). The group were often seen on television, including over 160 appearances on Sid Caesar’s Your Show Of Shows. They recorded with little impact for Mercury Records and MGM Records before joining Coral Records in 1954 and after a few unsuccessful covers of R&B hits the group collected nine US chart entries. The biggest of these was a revival of Fats Waller’s ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Right Myself A Letter’: a US Top 3 and UK Top 30 hit in 1957. The jazzy R&B artist sadly lost his voice, owing to diabetes, in the early 60s. He moved to Chicago, where he became a social worker, employed on a model cities project and helping alcoholics until his death in 1972. About the song : "The honeydripper" writing by Joe Liggins. Joe Liggins claimed to have written the tune around 1942, when playing piano in Los Angeles with a group called the California Rhythm Rascals. The tune was based around the traditional song "Shortnin' Bread". It was adopted by dancers performing a dance called the Texas Hop, and Liggins wrote words to fit the tune "The honeydripper, he's a killer, the honeydripper ... he's a solid gold cat, he's the height of jive ... he's a riffer, the honeydripper." The term "honeydripper" was black slang for a "sweet" guy, and had already been adopted as a nickname by blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes. Joe Liggins tried to persuade his next bandleader, Sammy Franklin, to record it, but Franklin refused and Liggins put together his own four-man group with Little Willie Jackson (alto sax and clarinet), James Jackson Jr. (tenor sax) and a bass player. The song was heard by the owner of Exclusive Records, Leon Rene, who wanted to record it, although in live shows Liggins' performance often ran to fifteen minutes. Liggins suggested cutting it down and recording it over two sides of the record, 3 minutes per side. The recording was done on April 20, 1945, with Liggins' regular bass player replaced by Red Callender and Earl Carter added on drums. The recording was an immediate smash hit. It was a hit booming from every record store, shoeshine stand, barber shop and barbecued chicken shack on Los Angeles' famed Central Avenue as many thousands of G.I.s returned from the Pacific, hungry for nightlife and new civilian experiences. However, the small record company could not keep up with the demand, and a cover version by Jimmie Lunceford on the larger Decca label eventually replaced it at the top of the charts. Liggins' recording has been cited as "the earliest runaway hit in the formative R&B combo style", and as such was an important precursor to the development of Rock and Roll. It made #13 on the Billboard pop chart. About the song : "Love Me" writing by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller. Conceived as a parody of country and western music, it was initially recorded by Rhythm and Blues duo, Willy & Ruth, in 1954 (Spark 105), garnering a review spotlight in Billboard on August 14. Willie Headen was the lead singer of a vocal group, The Honey Bears, and Ruth was the wife of another group member. That record was quickly followed the same year with cover versions by Georgia Gibbs, Connie Russell, Billy Eckstine, Kay Brown, The Four Escorts, The Billy Williams Quartet, The Woodside Sisters and The DeMarco Sisters, and in January 1955 by Jimmie Rodgers Snow. Most of these records were well reviewed in the trades, but none was a hit. Elvis Presley recorded the song on September 1, 1956, for his second album, Elvis (RCA Victor, LPM-1382), issued on October 19. It climbed to the #2 position on the Billboard Top 100 in the United States, a first for a title not coming from a single. "Love Me" also peaked at number seven on the R&B chart. "Love Me" was not released as a single to avoid confusion with Presley's "Love Me Tender". Presley sang "Love Me" on the October 28, 1956, Ed Sullivan Show. Elvis included this song in the 1968 NBC Network Comeback Special and often performed it in concerts in the seventies, including his last tour in June 1977. #rocknroll #popvocal #vocalgroup #rhythmandblues

Added 22 Apr 2026