birth name: James David Walker
Jimmy McCracklin
An American pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. His style contained West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that spanned seven decades, he said he had written almost a thousand songs and had recorded hundreds of them. McCracklin recorded over 30 albums, and earned four gold records. Tom Mazzolini of the San Francisco Blues Festival said of him, “He was probably the most important musician to come out of the Bay Area in the post-World War II years.” ~ Wikipedia: Jimmy McCracklin ~ retrieved April 21, 2014 © Wikipedia
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Honoring musicians. Celebrating birthdays. Remembering death days.
August 13, 2005 ~ Billboard Hot 100 ~ #3 (3) The Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes, Don't Cha ~ #2 (2) Rihanna, Pon De Replay ~ #1 (1) Mariah Carey, We Belong Together
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Mr. McCracklin had been making records for more than a decade when he finally scored a national hit, ‘The Walk,’ for Checker Records in 1958. Recorded in Chicago, where he and his band, the Blues Blasters, had been stranded, the self-penned dance-inspired tune reached No. 5 on Billboard's pop singles chart and led to an appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. It was the first record by a Bay Area artist to place in the pop top 10 during the rock 'n' roll era. The Beatles later recorded a brief, impromptu version of the song during their Get Back sessions, but it was never released, except on bootleg albums ~ San Francisco Gate: Jimmy McCracklin Obituary ~ December 20, 2012 © San Francisco Gate