Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with the hillbilly boogie style which influenced rockabilly. Jerry Lee Lewis cited him as a major influence on his own singing and piano playing.
Early life
Mullican was born to Oscar Luther Mullican (1876–1961) and his first wife, Virginia Jordan Mullican (1880–1915), near Corrigan, Polk County, Texas, United States. In 1936, he covered Cab Calloway's "Georgia Pine" and also sang his own compositions "Ain't You Kinda Sorry" and "Swing Baby Swing" for Leon Selph's Western swing band, The Blue Ridge Playboys.
In the early 1940s, he returned to the Texas Wanderers as lead singer and pianist, sang on the hits "Truck Driver's Blues" and "I'll Keep On Loving You". and was the beginning of a long string of hits.
Mullican was one of the highest-selling artists on King Records. Though not a major chart success, he was popular in the southeastern United States with records such as "The Leaves Mustn't Fall", "Hey Shah", "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry", "Nine Tenths of the Tennessee River", and "I Was Sorta Wonderin'".
In the mid-1950s, many artists, such as Lefty Frizzell and George Jones experimented with rock and roll as its popularity began to gain ground on traditional country-and-western in the mid-1950s. Seeking some of that success, Mullican recorded four rock sides with Boyd Bennett and His Rockets, including "Seven Nights to Rock". Mullican's recording of the song was released in July 1952, the same month as Williams' version, but differs significantly in having a different order of verses and extra rhyming couplets.
Legacy
In 1976, Mullican was posthumously inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. There have been many posthumous compilations of his music, on various labels including Ace and Bear Family.