Thursday, April 14, 2011

Randy Wood, R. I. P.

Obituary: Randy Wood dies at 94; Dot Records founder was a music industry innovator - latimes.com: "Dot Records founder Randy Wood was looking for a song for a young Pat Boone to record in 1955 and found it in the Fats Domino hit 'Ain't That a Shame?' Except Boone, then an English major, wanted to sing 'Isn't That a Shame?' After a few run-throughs, Wood insisted, 'It's got to be 'ain't',' and Boone soon had his first No. 1 single.

Wood's practice of having white singers such as Boone cover rhythm and blues hits by black artists is credited by some with helping black musicians — and early rock music — break into the commercial mainstream. Pop stations that had limited airplay mainly to white artists found room for the remakes, which helped introduce the black R&B sound to a white audience.

Wood died Saturday at his La Jolla home of complications from injuries suffered in a fall down stairs in his house, said his son John Wood. He was 94."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is NOTHING worse than Pat Boone trying (and failing abysmally) to sing Little Richard.

It makes my brain hurt.

Jeff

Fred Zackel said...

So the guy now gets credit BECAUSE he ripped off black musicians? And he fell down a flight of stairs? Ain't that a shame? (Just karma that's a little late arrivin'.)