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Tag: rockabilly history

Janis Martin-The Female Elvis

I wanted to share with you this week one of my favorite (and I mean favorite) female Rockabilly singers, that you may or may not of heard of – Janis Martin-the Female Elvis.

Janis Martin Rockabilly

Janis was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock and roll music field during the 1950s and one of country music’s early female innovators.

Janis Martin-The Female Elvis

Her Story & Music

The Early Days of Janis Martin:

Born March 27th, 1940 in Sutherlin, Virginia into a musical family (her father and uncle were both musicians and her mother a stage mother), Janis quickly became a hard-working performer. Even at the tender age of 4 she was playing the guitar by standing it up like a fiddle as she was too small to hold it on her lap and by age six, had mastered the basic chords and began singing. Although she was small her voice was loud and strong.

At age 8, she entered her first talent contest and placed second. For the next two years, she entered eleven contests over a three-state area, winning first place in each one, and winning over 200 or more contestants in a statewide talent show that took four days of elimination (Source).

Janis Martin age 10
Source: Lets Keep the 50’s spirit alive

At age 11, she began her career as a member of the WDVA Barndance in Danville, Virginia. The show was on every Saturday night and was broadcast from an actual barn and after the show was done all the chairs would be pushed back and actual dance would take place. Hence how it got its name “WDVA Barndance”.

WDVA Barn Dance Danville, Virginia

Janis continued to focus on Country music in her early days, moving from MDVA onto the road with Glen Thompson (mentioned in the image above) and then eventually being invited to be a regular member at the 3rd largest Barndance in the nation – the Old Dominion Barndance in Richmond, Virginia, ranking only behind the Grand Old Opry and the Wheeling, West Virginia Barndance (source).

Eventually though by her mid-teens Janice was growing tired of the slow ballads of country music and wanted to get into Rock n Roll (thanks to hearing artists like Ruth Brown sing). She was about to get lucky….

Further Reading: Ruth Brown -The R&B Singer Who Built Atlantic Records

Janis Martin WRVA Radio
Images from WRVA Radio Collection (1925-2000), Acc. 38210, Library of Virginia

Janis becomes a recording artist at the age of 15

Two staff announcers at WRVA (the station that carried the Barndance over the CBS network) were successful songwriters and wrote the song  “Will You, Willyum”. They asked Janis to sing it on the Barndance for audience reaction, where they would cut a demo tape to send to their publisher in New York. When the demo tape arrived at Tannen Music in New York, the publisher not only accepted the song but sent the song to Steve Sholes, producer at RCA Victor and asked whether Sholes had an artist to record “Will You Willyum”. Apparently Sholes replied, “Well, who’s the girl doin’ the demo?”

At age 15, Martin signed with RCA Victor in March 1956, just two months after Elvis Presley joined the label. She recorded “Will You Willyum” on March 8, 1956, backed by her own composition, “Drugstore Rock ‘n Roll“.

Janis Marti Record for Will You Willyum
Source: 45cat

The song became the biggest hit of her career, selling 750,000 records and hitting the country and pop charts. Soon Martin was performing on American Bandstand, The Today Show and Tonight Starring Steve Allen. She also appeared on Jubilee USA, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming one of the younger performers to ever appear. In 1957 Billboard named her Most Promising Female Vocalist of that year (source).

Elvis Presley and RCA were so impressed with her stage presence, they dubbed her the Female Elvis. A nickname that would come to haunt her.

Ironically, “The Female Elvis” only had two brief encounters with her male counterpart. “I said hello to him backstage at a show in Danville, Va., once,” she recalls, “and later I ran into him in New York at RCA’s studio. He said, ‘How’s it goin’?’ I said, ‘Fine, how about you?’ He said, ‘It’s rough!’ That’s about all the words we ever exchanged. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t all that impressed with Elvis at first. I’ve always liked Carl Perkins better.”

In fact, Martin says, she was never all that keen on being cast in Presley’s mold. “I think ‘The Female Elvis’ bit was a hindrance–the audience expected a lot of hip gyrations like he did, and I got kind of tired of being called vulgar. It put a lot of pressure on me (source).”

Vintage 1950 Photo of Janis Martin performing in 1950s fashion

Continued Musical Success

Janis was chosen by RCA to tour as a member of the Jim Reeves show and continued recording rock and roll and country material that ended up being successful on both charts, including “My Boy Elvis“, “Let’s Elope Baby“, her cover of Roy Orbison’s song “Ooby Dooby”, and “Love Me to Pieces” (source).

Janis Martin 1950s concert poster
Source: Lets Keep the 50’s spirit alive

Secret Marriage

In 1957 after a USO tour in Europe it was reveled that Janis Martin at the age of 15 (2 years earlier) had secretly married a young US paratrooper who was stationed in Germany. They kept their marriage secret (only their parents knew) until the USO tour where she met up with her husband and ended up conceiving. RCA discovered the pregnancy and dropped their “Teenage Star” from the label in 1958.

Fall from Stardom and a Career Resurgence

For all of her early success, Martin was never able to sustain a rock & roll career, her gender and changing times hindered her success. Her stage moves and lusty delivery appeared unseemly appeared vulgar to a lot of people. Additionally, the country shows on which she was booked usually put her on bills and in front of audiences that weren’t overly enamored of rock & roll to begin with, and Martin found herself caught between conflicting currents. Her record company and management wanted her to keep pushing rockabilly in her stage act, while promoters doing the bookings preferred that she do straight country.

By 1960 she was now on her 2nd marriage to a man who did not approve of her being in the music business, so she faded out of sight until 1970. After divorcing her husband she formed the band ‘The Variation’ and began performing again in the Southern Virginia area where she has always resided.

Janis Martin 1970s vintage photo of her performing

Then, in 1979, European tour offers started coming in, after Bear Family Records had reissued her complete 1956-60 recordings on two LP’s.  Martin then would go onto perform in Europe and at major rockabilly shows across the United States for some time after that.

At first Martin could hardly believe it and it took her a few years to gather her nerve and return to the road. But in 1982, on her 42nd birthday, she played her first date in England and was stunned. “I wasn’t prepared for what I found there! I looked down and saw kids with crew cuts and leather jackets and the big ‘poodle’ skirts. It was really weird. Like stepping back twenty-five years in my own life!” After that, she became a regular visitor to Europe (source).

Janis Martin Bang Bang album cover
Janis Martin 2004 photo of her perfoming

Sadly Janis died of cancer in 2007, leaving a powerful legacy of recordings and fans worldwide (source).

Janis Martin vintage photo 1940s / 1950s

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, Janis is absolutely one of my all time favorite female singers. Her music is always in my mix of music, I tell anybody who would listen about her (it’s true!) and after I saw Rosie Flores (who actually did a duet with Janis in 1997) and Marti Brom perform her music at VIVA I have been incredibly hooked. If I had any sort of musical ability, Janis would be my inspiration.

I will leave you with a performance by Janis Martin in Long Beach California, 2006.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Please share any thoughts about Janis martin in the comments section below!

Further Reading: Vintage Women’s History (Archived Blog Posts)

Liz 🙂

Book Review-‘Dig That Beat! Interviews with Musicians at the Root of Rock ‘n’ Roll’

Hi everyone and welcome to my first book review! I’m very excited about this because it’s for a book that is an area of subject that I enjoy..Rockabilly Music.

I was contacted by the author Sheree Homer to see if I would mind doing a read over and review of her book ‘Dig that Beat! Interviews with Musicians at the Root of Rock ‘n’ Roll‘. I quickly jumped at the chance and after a bit of slow start due to my work schedule I was finally able to sit down and read this fantastic book.

Dig That Beat!: Interviews with Musicians at the Root of Rock 'n' Roll

About the Author:

Sheree Homer was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin. During her formative years, her mother introduced her to rock and roll, thanks to her impressive 45 rpm record collection. Sheree became a fan of Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. She discovered rockabilly music and its artists in 2001. A year later, she attended her first rockabilly festivals, the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Rockin’ 50’s Fest in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After the spectacular Stomp and graduation from the University of Wisconsin- Parkside with a degree in writing, she decided to start her own rockabilly magazine. She desired to give recognition to the forgotten foot soldiers of rock and roll. Eight issues followed. In 2006, she began writing for the largest rockabilly/roots magazine in the country, Blue Suede News. Catch That Rockabilly Fever: Stories of Life on the Road and in the Studio is her first book (Source).

Dig that Beat Overview: 

Disc jockey Alan Freed coined the term “rock and roll” in the 1950s. Rooted in rockabilly, rhythm and blues, country and western, gospel, and pop, the genre was popularized by performers like Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. Rock and roll’s originators and revivalists continue to entertain crowds at roots music festivals worldwide. This book presents stories about performers’ lives on the road and in the studio, along with the stories behind popular songs. Informative biographical profiles are provided.

Foreword written by Smilin’ Jay McDowell. Thirty-nine artists are profiled: Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, Rusty York, Bobby Crown, Sleepy LaBeef, Eddie Bond, Miss Mary Ann, Lil’ Esther, Mars Attacks, Dale Hawkins, James Intveld, Rosie Flores, Janis Martin, Conway Twitty, Billy Swan, Leroy Van Dyke, Vernon Taylor, Andy Anderson, Alton and Jimmy, Eddie Angel, The Paladins, Ronnie Mack, Ray Campi, Big Jay McNeely, The Orlons, Clyde Stacy, Al Ferrier, Don Woody, Alvis Wayne, Glenn Honeycutt, Ace Cannon, Dodie Stevens, Robin Luke, Carl Dobkins, Jr., Jimmy Sutton’s Four Charms, Jai Malano, Jerry King and the Rivertown Ramblers, Billy Hancock, Junior Marvel, and Jack Baymoore.

Rockabilly Artists

My Review:

As a blogger who enjoys a good piece of vintage history, you can’t get any better than this book, especially if you are interested in the roots of Rock n Roll. Each section is like a mini detailed biography of each artist featured in the book and you literally FEEL like you are living in the moment being described.

Some I knew and some I will be honest I never heard of till this book and now I’m richer in knowledge for reading it. It was also really cool to see how the rockabilly/rock n roll world seemed to become smaller and smaller as you read each bio and discovered that Buddy Holly was friends with Dale Hawkins and Dale was friends with Eddie Cochran etc etc. Cool tidbits like that.

Sheree also does a great job of bringing you bios of the artists from the early days right thru to musicians of today, so that you can get a real idea of how the music is evolving and growing. Some of the modern day artists featured were Jai Malano and Lil’ Esther ( to name a few).

I actually had the pleasure of hearing Jai Malano, at VIVA a little while back with her band at the time ‘The Royal Rhythmaires’. If you want to hear a powerful voice, then you need to listen to Jai..WOW! My friend and I were in the back of the room and could not see the band come on and then all of a sudden we heard this voice that was a mix of the Blues and Soul and it instantly captivated us. We never left the dance floor that night and that record with Jai on it, is on repeat in my car.

Jai Malano

One of my favorite sections was on Janis Martin who I have been plugging away on a blog post for a while now (I just ADORE Her). The details on her career were just marvelous and made me appreciate her music even more than I already did. There is just something about getting an insight look into their lives/careers that really changes how you listen to the music.

Janis Martin the Female Elvis

In the end, I 100% recommend this book as it was engaging, informative and darn right interesting. If you love Rockabilly and Rock N Roll history (or just a lover of music) then pick this book up today. AND as a special bonus at the end of the book, Sheree has painstakingly put together a selected Discography of the artists featured, so you don’t have to try to figure out what music each artist played, it is already done for you. Fantastic!

Where to buy?

Happy reading!

Liz 🙂