OTIS BLACKWELL: Songwriter for Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and James Taylor

#BLACKMUSICMONTH Memory

Otis Blackwell was born in Brooklyn, New York but much of his body of rock screams Southern rock & roll: “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Return to Sender” by Elvis Presley, “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless” by Jerry Lee Lewis. All are ’50s classics recorded by white sons of the American South. but this short, dark-skinned didn’t just pen rock & roll. His “Handy Man,” originally cut by black crooner Jimmy Jones, made the R&B charts and then was a major hit for James Taylor in 1977. Perhaps Blackwell’s most successful copyright is the nightclub standard, “Fever,” first recorded by Little Willie John and made famous by Peggy Lee. Three of Blackwell’s tunes have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Blackwell was the most successful African-American to be based out of the legendary Brill Building on Broadway in the theater district where the top songwriters of the ’50s and ’60s churned out songs for teen idols, black vocal groups, and TV show themes.

Though Elvis is listed as co-writer on “Return to Sender” Blackwell said in interviews before his death in 2002 that he never met the singer. It was a typical practice back in the day (and now) for stars to get a songwriter credit, a piece of the publishing royalties for the song’s placement.

Below is a link to a Blackwell interview and performance on David Letterman from 1984.