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  • 6/18/2025
Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri.According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fame was due to his rock and roll recordings in the 1950s, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", but his career as a performer endured from the 1920s into the 1980s.

Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, with the Hall lauding him as "the brawny voiced 'Boss of the Blues'". AllMusic called Turner "the premier blues shouter of the postwar era"

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00:00Born Joseph Vernon Turner in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911.
00:07Big Joe Turner was one of the preeminent vocalists of 40s jump blues and R&B.
00:14Turner started his career in 1939 singing with the boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson
00:21on Johnson's recording of Roll'em, Pete.
00:25Turner would go on to score numerous hits during the 1940s and 50s, including the following tracks.
00:36Karina Karina, Flip Flop and Fly, and Honey Hush.
00:42Compilations of Turner's R&B and early rock and roll recordings, such as Greatest Hits from 1989
00:51and The Very Best of Big Joe Turner from 1998 are suggested listening.

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