We recently looked at five standout songs recorded in the 1950s that were largely overshadowed by covers that came later. Of course, there weren’t only five songs that fit that description. One of the songs I left off will show up on today’s list. Today we are looking at another five brilliant ‘50s songs – this time, they were all performed by women.
There were plenty of very successful female recording artists in the 1950s. Some came out of the latter days of the big band era, like Rosemary Clooney and Doris Day. There were stars from the world of jazz (Sarah Vaughan) and gospel (Mahalia Jackson), country (Patsy Cline and Patti Page), and some who could sing in any genre (Ella Fitzgerald).
But there weren’t a whole lot of rock & rollers. Connie Francis and the Chordettes would dip their toes into rock but never really abandoned their roots in more traditional pop. I mean, “Who’s Sorry Now” and “Mr. Sandman” are top-shelf pop, but when those become your signatures, how deep into rock & roll can you really dive?
1950s rock and roll wasn't just for the boys
But there were some women back in the ‘50s – especially in the latter half after Elvis threw open the door with those hips – who were first and foremost rockers. That’s not to say they couldn’t and didn’t record other types of songs. But at their core, they were part of the revolution. A forgotten part, I fear. So today, we’ll take one small step toward remedying that by briefly discussing five of the best rock & roll songs released by women in the 1950s.
In chronological order...
“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” by Big Maybelle (1955)
There weren’t many voices like Mabel Louise Smith in the 1950s. There aren’t very many that can compete seventy years later. Smith, who went by the name Big Maybelle, belted her way into the public consciousness in 1953 with a handful of major R&B hits for Columbia’s Okeh. A few years later, she teamed up with bandleader/arranger Leroy Kirkland to record a new song co-written by rockabilly pianist Roy Hall.
Maybelle gives “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” a bluesy, brassy reading that puts you firmly in a jump joint. Kirkland’s arrangement lets his jazz ensemble run wild without sacrificing the infectious groove.
Jerry Lee Lewis would make the song legendary a few years later, and I have nary a negative word to say about the Killer’s piano-propelled rocker. But Lewis never did find that “ding dong." When Big Maybelle tells you to “come on over” – well, that’s just an offer too good to refuse.
“My Boy Elvis” by Janis Martin (1956)
Elvis Presley had his first number-one mainstream single in 1956, but by then, he had been making waves for a couple of years. Janis Martin was the virtual stereotype of an Elvis fan. A teenager who grew up singing and playing country music, she was smitten by the unbridled energy of rock & roll and its new god.
However, unlike most of his screaming fans, Janis Martin could play guitar and belt out tunes like a seasoned pro. She already had scored a hit with “Will You Willyum” prior to demanding “Everybody come on down – The man with the guitar just hit town,” and telling the world how he “Sets off like a rocket, there he goes – Rockin’ from his head down to his toes.”
Martin was on the verge of breakout success. Colonel Tom Parker offered to take her and promote her alongside Elvis. Her own label was already calling her the “female Elvis.” But Martin was just 15 and her parents weren’t sure about signing on with the Colonel. And then she got married and pregnant, which curtailed her promotions.
She quit the recording industry when she was barely out of her teens but was rediscovered a few decades later when rockabilly had an unsuspected resurgence in Europe. When fans heard re-releases of her 1950s hits like “My Boy Elvis,” they were blown away by the assuredness of a 15-year-old singing rock & roll when most of the country was still barely aware of the genre that was about to dominate the culture.
“Wait a Minute” by Jo Ann Campbell (1957)
Jo Ann Campbell would become better known in the early 1960s, especially after her startlingly provocative performance of “Let Me Do My Twist” in the 1961 musical film Hey Let’s Twist. She then scored a pretty good country hit with “(I’m the Girl From) Wolverton Mountain,” in response to Claude King’s earlier single.
But in the late ‘50s, when she was just 20 years old, Campbell recorded her own rockin’ composition about lust at first sight – “Wait a Minute.” It has horns and a sax solo, but the vibe is straight out of early Elvis. She even quotes “All shook up” in the lyrics. “Wait a Minute” would be the opening track on her first album, I’m Nobody’s Baby in 1959.
It is a remarkable collection of songs by some of the best songwriters of the era. The title track is more traditional pop, but most of the songs are bona fide rock & rollers. Campbell would retire from recording in the mid-‘60s after marrying and starting a family.
“Don’t Wait Up” by Laura Lee Perkins (1958)
Alice Faye Perkins was born in West Virginia in 1939. She was a prodigy on the piano and her chops got her renamed by her label. If Janis Martin was the “female Elvis,” Laura Lee Perkins was the female Jerry Lee Lewis. She was fresh out of high school, working as a waitress and playing and singing wherever she could when a Cleveland DJ heard her and got her a tryout in L.A.
“Don’t Wait Up” was her second single and nothing shows off those piano skills better. But she also gets some support from the band that backed up Imperial Records label-mate Ricky Nelson on his early hits – especially Joe Maphis’ bedrock rockabilly electric guitar.
Perkins could push her voice to the growl that male vocalists often employed but on “Don’t Wait Up,” she sticks to her higher register and lets that piano and guitar carry the day. Like Jo Ann Campbell, Perkins would withdraw from recording after getting married in the 1960s.
“Let’s Have a Party” by Wanda Jackson (1958)
Of all the early rockabilly queens of 1950s music, none was more important than Wanda Jackson. When she belted out lyrics like “I never kissed a bear – I never kissed a goon – But I can shake a chicken in the middle of the room – Let’s have a party,” the future of rock & roll was being cemented into place.
Jackson had begun as a teenage country singer. But then she turned 18, heard Buddy Holly, and signed with Capitol. Rock & roll had its first true female star. Her first three albums – Wanda Jackson (1958), There’s a Party Goin’ On (1959), and Rockin’ With Wanda (1960) helped define the new genre almost as much as the ones coming from rock’s elite.
Her revolutionary, aggressive vocal attack would help set the standard for rock singers to come. She wrote a lot of great songs herself, but “Let’s Have a Party” – the final track on her debut album – was penned by another forgotten giant of early rock & roll, Jessie Mae Robinson. Elvis had already recorded a version. Wanda’s is better. That’s how good she was.