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- The article is about Carl Perkins the musician. For the American politicians see Carl C. Perkins and Carl D. Perkins.
Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) was an American pioneer of rockabilly music, a mix of rhythm and blues and country music that evolved at Sun Records in Memphis in the early 1950s.
Born in Tiptonville, Tennessee, as a poor tenant farmer, Perkins grew up surrounded by southern gospel music sung by Black cotton field workers. By age seven, he was playing a guitar his father made from a cigar box, broomstick and baling wire. At age thirteen, he won a talent contest with a song he wrote called "Movie Magg". Ten years later, the same song convinced Sam Phillips to sign Perkins to his Sun Records label.
In late 1955, a desperately poor and struggling Perkins wrote the song "Blue Suede Shoes" on an old potato sack. Produced by Sam Phillips, the record was a massive chart success. In the United States, it went to #1 on Billboard magazine's country music charts (the only #1 hit he would have), to #2 on Billboard's Best Sellers pop music chart, and to #3 on the rhythm & blues charts. In the United Kingdom, it became a Top 10 hit. It was the first record by a Sun label artist to sell a million copies. However, at the peak of the song's national success, Perkins was involved in a near-fatal car accident. Perkins could only watch as his friend, Elvis Presley, also had success with a cover version of "Blue Suede Shoes", which was a follow up to Elvis' first hit, "Heartbreak Hotel". Ironically, Elvis only managed to take the cover version to #20 on the Best Sellers chart.
Intentionally or not, the Elvis cover stole Perkins' thunder, and he never had another Top 40 hit, even after his move to Columbia Records in 1958. However, his songs were kept in the public eye by such groups as The Beatles, who covered "Matchbox", "Honey Don't", and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby". In 1968, Johnny Cash took the Perkins-written "Daddy Sang Bass" to #1 on the country music charts. "Daddy Sang Bass" was also a Country Music Association nominee for Song of the Year. Perkins would spend a decade in Cash's touring band. One of his TV appearances with Cash was on the popular country series "Hee Haw" in an episode aired February 16, 1974.
In 1982, Perkins made a guest appearance on Paul McCartney's chart-topping album Tug Of War, duetting with the former Beatle on the song "Get It".
The rockabilly revival of the 1980s helped bring Perkins back into the limelight. In 1985, Perkins re-recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" with two members of the Stray Cats, as part of the soundtrack for the movie Porky's Revenge. The next year, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr appeared with him on a television special taped in London, England, called Carl Perkins and Friends: A Rockabilly Session. Perkins and his "friends" ended the session by singing his signature song, 30 years after its writing, which brought Perkins to tears.
In 1986, he returned to the Sun Studios in Memphis, joining Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison on the album Class of '55. The record was a tribute to their early years at Sun and, specifically, the Million Dollar Quartet jam session involving Perkins, Presley, Cash, and Lewis on December 4, 1956.
In 1985, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 1987, recognition of Perkins' contribution to music came when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition, "Blue Suede Shoes" was chosen as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and as a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 1989, he cowrote and played guitar on The Judd's #1 country hit, "Let Me Tell You About Love".
Perkins' last album, Go Cat Go!, was released in 1996, and featured new collaborations with many of the above artists, as well as Paul Simon, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, and Bono.
Invariably, Carl's contributions have received short-shrift in the numerous biographical films about the other members of the 'Million Dollar Quartet' (Presley, Cash & Lewis). His only notable film performance as an actor was in John Landis' 1985 film "Into the Night", a cameo-laden film that includes a scene where characters played by Carl and David Bowie die at each other's hand.
His last major concert appearance was the "Music for Monserrat" All-star charity concert at Royal Albert Hall on November 15, 1997.
Two months later, Carl Perkins died at the age of 65 from throat cancer after suffering several strokes. He is interred in the Ridgecrest Cemetery in Jackson, Tennessee. Ex-Beatle George Harrison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Wynona Judd were counted among those in attendance at the funeral.
Carl Perkins' wife Valda deVere Perkins died November 15, 2005 in Jackson, Tennessee.
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