Bill Black
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- For other uses, see Bill Black (disambiguation)
William "Bill" Patton Black, Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Bill Black played bass ('slapped/rockabilly' upright double) with guitarist Scotty Moore while Elvis Presley played rhythm guitar and sang "That's All Right (Mama)" in a Sun Studios session in Memphis that is considered a seminal event in the history of Rock and Roll.
Black went on to play double bass on early Presley recordings including "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Baby Let's Play House", "Mystery Train", "That's All Right", "Hound Dog",and eventually became one of the first bass players to utilize the electric Fender Precision Bass guitar in popular music on "Jailhouse Rock" in the late 1950's.
Black continued to work with Presley until 1958, leaving his band in large part due to disputes over financial terms. He and guitarist Scotty Moore had taken one-quarter of the royalties at the outset of Presley's career, but even after Presley had rocketed to stardom with RCA starting in 1956, Colonel Tom Parker had them on a mere 200 dollars/week wage.
Although guitarist Scotty Moore would eventually work with Presley again, Black never did, joining a Memphis group that evolved into Bill Black's Combo in 1959. Their instrumental "Smokie," released late that year, made the Top Ten.
Bill Black's Combo stuck to the formula of "Smokie" for many of their subsequent singles: a basic shuffle beat, simple bluesy R&B riffs, and some rinky-dink organ and smoky saxophone lines on top. They weren't too imaginative, but they were quite successful, placing eight singles in the Top 40 between 1959 and 1962, including "White Silver Sands," "Josephine," "Don't Be Cruel," "Blue Tango," and "Hearts of Stone." Their sales were greatly boosted by the suitability of their instrumental rock for background music at bars, clubs, and diners, with many of their discs placed in jukeboxes.
Black died of a brain tumor in 1965 at the age of thirty-nine and is buried in "Forest Hill Cemetery" in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis received critisism for not attending his funeral, however Elvis believed that his presence would turn the funeral into a media frenzy. He decided instead to visit the family privately after the service to express his condolences.
