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1/ Todays #BlackHistoryFact You know who Jalacy "Screamin" Jay Hawkins is? Did you know he sang the original version of "I Put a Spell on You" and made screaming in music a new staple for rock music. He pushed limits in music and made it what it today.
2/ Screamin Jay born in Ohio, then placed in an orphanage was adopted at 18 months. At a young age he learned to read and write music. He also learned opera at the Ohio Conservatory. He played piano and even did some boxing winning the middleweight championship of Alaska in 1949
3/ In 1944 he dropped out of high school and joined the military. He is said to have entertain his fellow troops and had fought in the Pacific. Hawkins left the military in 1952 and became a chauffeur and musician with Tiny Grimes.
4/ In 1953 jay got to go to, the then young, Atlantic Records. He got to record a song he wrote called "Screamin Blues" but the 1950 soft pop mindset producers of the time found his voice to raw.
5/ But in 1956 Jay Hawkins came out into the scene with "I Put a Spell on You" Producer Arnold Maxim wanted the song to sound "wild" for the time. As Hawkins said about making the song:
6/ “[Maxim] got everybody drunk,” Hawkins told the Los Angeles Times, “and we came out with this weird version. I don’t even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place..."
7/ "...I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death.”
8/ The original version song at first was banned. People said it sounded "cannibalistic" Macon edited some part of the song and it became a hit. Hawkins used the cannibal talk to his advantage using it to create his imagine.
9/ The NAACP and CORE both didn't like it and said Jay was making fun of black people to which Hawkins responded "I’m making a living. I’m not breaking the law. How dare you?’”
10/ Jay Hawkins inspired alot of artists after the 50's making most of his fame in England where he had many people taking up his screaming like Screamin’ Lord Sutch, Arthur Brown, and the rock band Black Sabbath.
11/ Jay also had a good film career staring in movies like "American Hot Wax" and "Mystery Train" while physically in movies his song "I Put a Spell on You" made it way in to movies as well making his popularity more well known in the US. He also made commercials for Sony.
12/ I can go on about Jay Hawkins all day. This man created so much change in how music is sung and preformed. A huge music legend.
The name of the skull he was known to always have is Henry
The name of the skull he was known to always have is Henry
Info link there's alot in this link then I wrote about so learn some more:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/screamin-jay-hawkins
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/screamin-jay-hawkins
