Otis, Johnny (John Veliotes)

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Otis, Johnny (John Veliotes)

Otis, Johnny (John Veliotes), American R&B bandleader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist; b. Vallejo, Calif., Dec. 8, 1921. Otis fostered the development of R&B music in crucial and varied ways. He led a band that showcased performers and as a talent scout discovered others. He wrote songs, among them his hit “Willie and the Hand Jive” and “Dance with Me Henry (Wallflower).” He also founded clubs and record companies, and hosted radio and television programs on which the music was performed.Otis was the son of Greek immigrants Alexander and Irene Veliotes, who ran a grocery in Berkeley, Calif., where he was raised. He was fascinated by African-American culture and came to consider himself black. In 1939 he taught himself to play the drums and began performing in local and then territory bands. He married Phyllis Walker in 1941; they had five children, among them Shuggie (Johnny Otis Jr.) and Nicky, who became musicians and played with their father.

In 1945, Otis formed his own big band to play at the Club Alabam in Los Angeles. That September he made his first recordings as a leader for Excelsior Records. With the decline of swing music, he cut his group down and turned to a more blues-oriented sound, opening the Barrel House club in Los Angeles in 1948. In the fall of 1948 “That’s Your Last Boogie/’ credited to Joe Swift with Johnny Otis and His Orch., reached the Top Ten of the R&B charts.

Otis signed to Savoy Records and scored a remarkable number of R&B hits in the early 1950s. “Double Crossing Blues” (music and lyrics by Johnny Otis) by the Johnny Otis Quintette with vocals by the Robins and Little Esther, hit #1 in March 1950, succeeded by “Mistrustin’ Blues” (music and lyrics by Johnny Otis) by the Johnny Otis Orch. with vocals by Little Esther and Mel Walker. He had a third R&B chart-topper in July with “Cupid Boogie” (music and lyrics by Johnny Otis); he also had another six Top Ten R&B hits during the year, four more in 1951 and two in 1952.

Moving to the joint Duke and Peacock labels, Otis produced and, under the pseudonym Kansas City Bill, accompanied Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton on “Hound Dog” (music and lyrics by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller), which topped the R&B charts in April 1953. He also produced Johnny Ace’s “Pledging My Love” (music and lyrics by Ferdinand Washington and Don D. Robey), a #1 R&B hit in February 1955. It was succeeded at #1 in April by Etta James’s recording of “The Wallflower” (aka “Roll with Me Henry”; music and lyrics by Hank Ballard, Johnny Otis, and Etta James), written as an answer record to the #1 R&B hit “Work with Me Annie” (music and lyrics by Hank Ballard) recorded by Hank Ballard’s group the Mid-nighters. Georgia Gibb covered it as “Dance with Me Henry (Wallflower)” for a #1 million-selling pop hit in May 1955.

In the mid-1950s Otis gave up touring, founded his own Dig Records label, and became a disc jockey on a Los Angeles radio station, later launching a local television program. In 1957 he signed to Capitol Records and began recording as the Johnny Otis Show. His revival of the 1921 song “Ma (He’s Making Eyes at Me)” (music by Con Conrad, lyrics by Sidney Clare) with vocals by Marie Adams and the Three Tons of Joy became a Top Ten hit in Great Britain in November 1957. In the U.S. his recording of “Willie and the Hand Jive” (music and lyrics by Johnny Otis) became a Top Ten pop hit in August 1958 (he performed it in the film Juke Box Rhythm in March 1959), and he scored three more pop chart entries through 1960. Meanwhile, the Fiestas scored a Top 40 pop hit with his composition “So Fine” in April 1959, and the Pips, later known as Gladys Knight and the Pips, revived his ten-year-old song “Every Beat of My Heart” for a Top Ten pop hit in June 1961.

Otis spent much of the 1960s working as a political aide, but in 1968 he signed to Kent Records and recorded the album Cold Shot, featuring the single “Country Girl,” which became an R&B chart entry in March 1969. He then signed to the Epic Records subsidiary of CBS Records and made Cuttirí Up, released in March 1970. Reforming his revue, he performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September 1970 and the concert was recorded for an album, The Johnny Otis Show Live at Monterey!, released in the spring of 1971; it featured Joe Turner, Little Esther, and other R&B singers. In September 1971, Otis appeared in the film Play Misty for Me.

Eric Clapton revived “Willie and the Hand Jive” for a Top 40 hit in 1974. That year Otis formed another record label, Blues Spectrum, to record veteran R&B performers such as himself and Louis Jordan. In 1975 he was ordained as a minister and in 1978 founded a nondenominational church in Los Angeles, though he continued to perform and record music occasionally. In 1981 he signed to the blues-oriented independent label Alligator Records and released The New Johnny Otis Show, which was nominated for a 1982 Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Recording. In the early 1990s he moved from Los Angeles to Sebastopol, Calif., where he opened a grocery that doubled as a nightclub, marketed his own apple juice, painted and made sculptures, hosted a radio program, and occasionally recorded. His album Spirit of the Black Territory Bands, released by Arhoolie Records in November 1992, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Big-Band Jazz Album.

Writings

Listen to the Lambs (N.Y., 1968); Upside Your Head! Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue (Middletown, Conn., 1993); Red Beans & Rice and Other Rock V Roll Recipes (1997).

Discography

The Johnny Otis Show (1958); The Original Johnny Otis Show (1945–1951) (1978); Rock and Roll Hit Parade, Vol. 1 (1957); The Johnny Otis Show (1958); Cold Shot (1968); Snatch and The Poontangs (1970); Cuttin Up (1970); Live at Monterey (1971); Back to Jazz (1977); The New Johnny Otis Show (1982); Otisology (1986); The Capitol Years (ree. 1957–59; rei. 1989); The Spirit of the Black Territory Bands (1992).