Gene Vincent - Be-Bop-A-Lula

Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935–October 12, 1971), better known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly.

The leather-clad, limping, greasy-haired singer was also one of rock's original bad boys, lionized by romanticists of past and present generations attracted to his primitive, sometimes savage style and indomitable spirit.

He dropped out of school at age 17 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1952. In July 1955 he was involved in a severe motorcycle accident that shattered his left leg. He refused to have it amputated. The leg was saved, but left him with a permanent limp and chronic pain for the rest of his life. He spent time in the Portsmouth Naval Hospital and was medically discharged from the Navy shortly thereafter.

He changed his name to Gene Vincent, and formed a rockabilly band called the Blue Caps (a term used in reference to enlisted sailors in the U.S. Navy).The band included Willie Williams on rhythm guitar, Jack Neal on upright bass, Dickie Harrell on drums, and the innovative and influential lead guitarist, Cliff Gallup.

In 1956 he wrote "Be-Bop-A-Lula", his only really big hit , which epitomized rockabilly at its prime in 1956 with its sharp guitar breaks, spare snare drums, fluttering echo, and Vincent's breathless, sexy vocals.

Brilliant follow-ups like "Lotta Lovin'," "Race With the Devil," "Bluejean Bop," and "B-I-Bickey, Bi, Bo-Bo-Go" failed to click in nearly as big a way, although these too are emblematic of rockabilly at its most exuberant and powerful

A 1960 tour of Britain, though, brought tragedy when his friend Eddie Cochran, who shared the bill on Vincent's U.K. shows, died in a car accident that he was also involved in, though Vincent survived. By the early '60s, his recordings had become much more sporadic and lower in quality, and his chief audience was in Europe, particularly in England (where he lived for a while) and France.

Vincent never stopped trying to resurrect his career, appearing at a 1969 Toronto rock festival on the same bill as John Lennon, though his medical, drinking, and marital problems were making his life a mess, and diminishing his stage presence as well. He died at the age of 36 from a ruptured stomach ulcer.

"Be-Bop-A-Lula" is at No. 102 on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Rock and Roll Songs of All Time" list.