Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Glad You're Mine", later recorded by Elvis Presley and other artists.

Early life

Crudup was born on August 24, 1905, in Union Grove, Forest, Mississippi, to a family of migrant workers traveling through the South and Midwest. The family returned to Mississippi in 1926, where he sang gospel music. He had lessons with a local bluesman, whose name was Papa Harvey, and later he was able to play in dance halls and cafes around Forest.

Musical career

He began his career as a blues singer around Clarksdale, Mississippi. As a member of the Harmonizing Four, he visited Chicago in 1939. He stayed in Chicago to work as a solo musician but barely made a living as a street singer. He also recorded under the names 'Elmer James' and 'Percy Lee Crudup'. These and his other songs "Rock Me Mama", "So Glad You're Mine", and "My Baby Left Me" have been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley, Slade, Elton John and Rod Stewart.

Crudup stopped recording in the 1950s because of disputes over royalties. However, Hill and Range Songs, from which he was supposed to get the royalties, refused to sign the legal papers at the last minute, because the company thought it could not lose more money in legal action.

On a 1970 trip to the United Kingdom, Crudup recorded "Roebuck Man" with local musicians. Recognizing his fortunes would not change, Crudup said in 1970, "I was born poor, I live poor, and I am going to die poor." four years after the failed royalty settlement. Elvis Presley acknowledged Crudup's importance to rock and roll when he said, "If I had any ambition, it was to be as good as Arthur Crudup". Another source is equally definitive, stating that the recording "stands as a convincing front-runner for rock ‘n’ roll's ground zero".

A 2004 article in The Guardian argues that rather than Presley's version being one of the first records of rock and roll, it was simply one of "the first white artists' interpretations of a sound already well-established by black musicians almost a decade before [...] a raucous, driving, unnamed variant of rhythm and blues".

The Blues Hall of Fame stated that Crudup "became known as 'The Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll' after Elvis Presley recorded three of his songs" but adds that "Crudup was a classic victim of music industry exploitation, and despite the commercial success of his music, was never able to even support his family from his music". The Hall quotes Presley as having said, "Down in Tupelo, Mississippi, I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place I could feel all old Arthur felt, I’d be a music man like nobody ever saw".

Discography

Solo albums

  • Mean Ol' Frisco (Fire, 1962)
  • Crudup's Mood (Delmark, 1969)
  • Look on Yonder's Wall (Delmark, 1969)
  • Roebuck Man (United Artists Records, 1970)

Collaborative albums

  • Sunny Road, with Jimmy Dawkins and Willie Smith (Delmark, 1969)
  • Arthur "BigBoy" Crudup Meets the Master Blues Bassists, with Willie Dixon and Ransom Knowling (Delmark, 1994)

Compilation albums

  • The Father of Rock and Roll (RCA, 1971)
  • Give Me a 32-30 (Crown Prince, 1982)
  • Star Bootlegger (Krazy Kat, 1982)
  • I'm in the Mood (Krazy Kat, 1983)
  • Crudup's Rockin' Blues (RCA, 1985)
  • Shout Sister Shout! (Bullwhip, 1987)
  • That's All Right Mama (Matchbox, 1989)
  • The Father of Rock and Roll (Blues Encore, 1992)
  • That's All Right Mama (BMG, 1992)
  • Complete Recorded Works, vols. 1–4 (Document, 1993)
  • Rock Me Mama (Orbis, 1993)
  • That's Alright Mama (Laserlight, 1995)
  • Crudup's After Hours (History, 1996)
  • The Complete Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, vols. 1 and 2 (Jazz Tribune, 1997)
  • After Hours (Camden, 1997)
  • Cool Disposition (Catfish, 1999)
  • Dirt Road Blues (Past Perfect Silver Line, 2000)
  • The Essential Arthur Crudup (Document, 2001)
  • Blues Legends (Rainbow, 2002)
  • Everything's Alright (Our World, 2002)
  • Crudup's After Hours (Past Perfect Silver Line, 2002)
  • Rock Me Mama (Tomato, 2003)
  • The Father of Rock 'n' Roll (Wolf, 2003)
  • Rock Me Mamma: When the Sun Goes Down, vol. 7 (RCA, 2003)
  • The Story of the Blues (Archive Blues, 2004)
  • Too Much Competition (Passport, 2006)
  • Gonna Be Some Change (Rev-Ola, 2008)
  • My Baby Left Me: The Definitive Collection (Fantastic Voyage, 2011)
  • The Blues (Fuel, 2012)
  • Sunny Road (Delmar, 2013)
  • That's All Right (Mama): The Fire Sessions (Sunset Blvd, 2022)

Charted singles

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2" |Year

! style="width:400px;" rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="5"|Chart positions

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:40px;"| US

! style="width:40px;"| US<br />R&B

|-

| rowspan="3"| 1945

| style="text-align:left;"| "Rock Me Mamma"

| –

| 3

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| "Who's Been Foolin' You"

| –

| 5

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| "Keep Your Arms Around Me"

| –

| 3

|-

|}

See also

  • Checker Records
  • Fire Records
  • First rock and roll record
  • Origins of rock and roll

References

  • Biography of Arthur Crudup
  • Biography, links and song extracts
  • Biographical data on Arthur Crudup
  • Illustrated Arthur Crudup discography