Al Downing (musician)
Encyclopedia
Al Downing later known as Big Al Downing, was an entertainer, singer, songwriter, and pianist. He received the Billboard's New Artist of the Year and the Single of the Year Award in 1979. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
and was a frequent performer at the Grand Ole Opry
. Downing was nominated as Best New Artist by the Academy of Country Music
and appeared on Hee Haw
, Nashville Now
, and Dick Clark
's American Bandstand
television programs.
and The Poe Kats, who were an early backing band for country entertainer Wanda Jackson
. His piano contributed to the single "Let’s Have A Party", which was released in 1960. The song reached #32 on the UK charts and made the Top 40 on the U.S. pop chart.
Downing reached the U.S. Hot 100 with "You’ll Never Miss the Water (Till the Well Runs Dry)", a duet with Little Esther Phillips. After the release of this single, he was signed by Warner Brothers. His 1974 single, "I'll Be Holdin' On", made the Disco
charts in America and Europe, reaching number one on the U.S. dance chart.
Two years passed before Downing created another hit, this time with the Team label. In 1982, "I'll Be Loving You" reached the Top 50, followed by "Darlene," which reached the lower 60s. The next year, "It Takes Love" reached the Top 40, followed by "Let's Sing About Love," which peaked in the mid-60s. In 1984, "The Best Of Families" became a Top 50 hit; That same year, Downing released his final hit with the Team label, "There’ll Never Be A Better Night For Being Wrong".
label, which released the "Oh How Beautiful You Are" (To Me) and "Just One Night Won't Do," both of which hit the Top 70. Two years later, he was signed by Door Knob Records, with whom he produced the 1989 Top 100 hit, "I Guess By Now."
The popular entertainer Fats Domino
recorded two songs written by Downing: "Mary, Oh Mary" and "Heartbreak Hill". Bobby "Blue" Bland
and Tom Jones
have also recorded Downing's songs.
In 2003, Downing released his first new album in more than a decade, One of A Kind. The album received favourable radio and print reviews. It ranked third on American Roots Country and was commended for featuring 14 memorable tracks. He continued to give regular performances at the Grand Ole Opry. In 2000, he was nominated as a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Downing continued to perform on more than 75 occasions per year in the remaining years of his life. He appeared at Ontario
's prestigious Havelock Country Jamboree
with Kenny Rogers
and Roy Clark
. In 2005, Downing postponed plans for a European tour that was set to begin on July 1 in Austria
. He was hospitalized and diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
. Soon after, he commenced chemotherapy
treatment. Downing died on July 4, 2005.
, blues
, roots, gospel
and country
. He performed rhythm and blues
and disco
throughout the 1960s and 1970s, when he lived in Washington D.C.. He eventually reclaimed his musical roots by turning to country music.
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
and was a frequent performer at the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. Downing was nominated as Best New Artist by the Academy of Country Music
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
and appeared on Hee Haw
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
, Nashville Now
Nashville Now
Nashville Now is a television talk show that focused on country music performers. It aired live weeknights on The Nashville Network from 1983-1993. The host was Nashville TV/radio personality Ralph Emery. The show won several Emmy awards during its run. A frequent guest and substitute host was...
, and Dick Clark
Dick Clark (entertainer)
Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark is an American businessman; game-show host; and radio and television personality. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he has sold part of in recent years...
's American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
television programs.
Early career
Downing began his career doing piano and vocals in Bobby PoeBobby Poe
Bobby Nelson Poe also known as The Poe Kat, had a long and varied career in the music business....
and The Poe Kats, who were an early backing band for country entertainer Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...
. His piano contributed to the single "Let’s Have A Party", which was released in 1960. The song reached #32 on the UK charts and made the Top 40 on the U.S. pop chart.
Downing reached the U.S. Hot 100 with "You’ll Never Miss the Water (Till the Well Runs Dry)", a duet with Little Esther Phillips. After the release of this single, he was signed by Warner Brothers. His 1974 single, "I'll Be Holdin' On", made the Disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
charts in America and Europe, reaching number one on the U.S. dance chart.
Country music with Warner Brothers
Al Downing's popularity continued to grow, and he had several hits on the country charts between 1978 and 1989. He compiled a list of his own songs, which he presented to his producer at Warner Brothers. In 1978, "Mr. Jones" reached the Top 20, followed by "Touch Me (I'll Be Your Fool Once More)" in 1979. That same year, Downing produced "Midnight Lace," which reached the 50s on the charts, and "I Ain't No Fool," which peaked at the upper 70s. In 1980, the "Story Behind The Story" reached the Top 40 and "Bring It On Home" reached the Top 20.Two years passed before Downing created another hit, this time with the Team label. In 1982, "I'll Be Loving You" reached the Top 50, followed by "Darlene," which reached the lower 60s. The next year, "It Takes Love" reached the Top 40, followed by "Let's Sing About Love," which peaked in the mid-60s. In 1984, "The Best Of Families" became a Top 50 hit; That same year, Downing released his final hit with the Team label, "There’ll Never Be A Better Night For Being Wrong".
Vine Street years
In 1987, "Big Al" was signed by the Vine StreetVine Street
Vine is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north-south from Melrose Avenue up past Hollywood Boulevard. The intersection of Hollywood and Vine was once a symbol of Hollywood itself...
label, which released the "Oh How Beautiful You Are" (To Me) and "Just One Night Won't Do," both of which hit the Top 70. Two years later, he was signed by Door Knob Records, with whom he produced the 1989 Top 100 hit, "I Guess By Now."
The popular entertainer Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
recorded two songs written by Downing: "Mary, Oh Mary" and "Heartbreak Hill". Bobby "Blue" Bland
Bobby Bland
Robert Calvin Bland better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of the Beale Streeters, and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues"...
and Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
have also recorded Downing's songs.
Later career
Downing built a five-decade career around his powerful singing voice and his hard-driving rockabilly-style piano. Downing's compilations of earlier work have been released throughout the world. In Europe, Crazy Music obtained exclusive rights for the original Team label recordings and released these in the form of a 2-CD compilation, Classic Collection. This also contained some of Downing's earlier hits, including "Mr. Jones."In 2003, Downing released his first new album in more than a decade, One of A Kind. The album received favourable radio and print reviews. It ranked third on American Roots Country and was commended for featuring 14 memorable tracks. He continued to give regular performances at the Grand Ole Opry. In 2000, he was nominated as a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Downing continued to perform on more than 75 occasions per year in the remaining years of his life. He appeared at Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
's prestigious Havelock Country Jamboree
Havelock Country Jamboree
The Havelock Country Jamboree is a four-day country music camping festival held in the village of Havelock, Ontario . The festival runs Thursday through Sunday on the third weekend in August every year.-History:...
with Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
and Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...
. In 2005, Downing postponed plans for a European tour that was set to begin on July 1 in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. He was hospitalized and diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
. Soon after, he commenced chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
treatment. Downing died on July 4, 2005.
Style
Downing's musical style found its roots in a variety of musical styles including rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, roots, gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. He performed rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
throughout the 1960s and 1970s, when he lived in Washington D.C.. He eventually reclaimed his musical roots by turning to country music.
Producer
Big Al had also a tremendous experience as a producer, thanks to his mastering of so many music styles. During late '90s and early 2000 he worked, among others, with several European musicians as A&R man. In 2003 he produced the album "StraightBeat" (GreenRecords) with the Italian bluesman Edo 'Ndoss who sings some unissued Big Al numbers. Big Al plays piano too on one track: this seems to have been his last recording, since a year later - a little before the CD tour was scheduled - his health started to deteriorate.Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Big Al Downing and His Friends | Collector | |
| 1982 | Big Al Downing | 22 | Team |
| 1987 | Big Al Downing & the Poe Kats | Jumble | |
| 1988 | Rockin' 'n' Rollin | Rollercoaster | |
| 1994 | Back to My Roots | Orchard | |
| Rockin' Down the Farm | Eagle | ||
| 1996 | Rockin' & Rollin | Schoolkids | |
| 1997 | Classic Collection | Crazy Music Austria | |
| 1998 | Rockin' Down the Farm Vol. 2 | Eagle | |
| 2003 | US Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 | Orchard | |
| One of a Kind | Hayden's Ferry | ||
| 2007 | Live at XM Radio | Crazy Music Austria | |
| 2008 | Best of the Early Years |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
CAN Country | |||
| 1958 | "Down On The Farm" | — | — | — | |
| 1962 | "The Story of My Life" | — | — | — | |
| 1963 | "You Never Miss Your Water" | 73 | — | — | |
| 1975 | "I'll Be Holding On" | 85 | — | — | |
| 1976 | "I Love to Love" | — | — | — | |
| 1978 | "Mr. Jones" | — | 20 | 65 | Big Al Downing |
| 1979 | "Touch Me (I'll Be Your Fool Once More)" | — | 18 | 59 | |
| "Midnight Lace" | — | 59 | — | singles only | |
| "I Ain't No Fool" | — | 73 | — | ||
| 1980 | "The Story Behind the Story" | — | 33 | — | |
| "Bring It On Home" | — | 20 | — | Big Al Downing | |
| 1982 | "I'll Be Loving You" | — | 48 | — | |
| "Darlene" | — | 67 | — | ||
| 1983 | "It Takes Love" | — | 38 | — | |
| "Let's Sing About Love" | — | 64 | — | singles only | |
| 1984 | "The Best of Families" | — | 45 | — | |
| "There'll Never Be a Better Night for Bein' Wrong" | — | 76 | — | ||
| 1987 | "How Beautiful You Are (To Me)" | — | 69 | — | |
| "Just One Night Won't Do" | — | 67 | — | ||
| 1989 | "I Guess By Now" | — | 82 | — |
External links
- Official Big Al Downing Homepage
- Rockabilly Hall of Fame
- [ All Music article]