Willie Headen
Though he never had a substantial national hit, Willie Headen made a series of respectable R&B records in the mid- to late '50s in a small combo piano-based style, though that approach was getting slightly out of fashion with the onset of rock & roll. Headen began his career in gospel music and formed his own group to sing at churches in Austin, TX, later joining the Kansas City Gospel Singers, though he doesn't appear on their early-'50s recordings. Moving to Los Angeles in the early '50s, he was working as a shoeshine man in the Watts neighborhood when he caught the attention of customer Dootsie Williams, who liked the way Headen sang while he worked. Williams signed Headen to his label, Dootone (though Bumps Blackwell of Specialty had also expressed some interest), and Headen cut his debut 45 for Dootone in 1954. About a dozen singles followed in the rest of the 1950s on Dootone and its affiliated Authentic and Dooto labels, some of them, oddly, issued under the name Willie Hayden, and one under the name Clifford Chambers. Dootone also issued an LP in 1960, but the singer left the music business around that time, though he did do a couple of soul singles for Kent in the late '60s.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo
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Discography
8 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Blame It on the Blues
Jazz - Released by Black Sheep Music on 11 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Peace of Mind - Willie Headen and the Five Birds
Soul - Released by ISIS on 6 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blame It on the Blues
Blues - Released by ACE RECORDS on 24 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les idoles de la musique américaine : Willie Headen, Vol. 1
Pop - Released by Mpm on 28 Oct 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
R&B Originals; The Complete Singles, 1954-1961
R&B - Released by PROFOUND on 30 Jun 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Contract of Love
R&B - Released by Retro Music Box on 25 Aug 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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