Roy Hawkins

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Roy Hawkins (died c. 1973) was an American pianist, songwriter and blues musician. After working in clubs and recording unsuccessful singles, he broke through with his song "Why Do Everything Happen to Me?," inspired by an auto accident which paralyzed his right arm.

Career

Little is known of Hawkins' early days.^[1] Record producer Bob Geddins discovered Hawkins playing in an Oakland, California nightspot and supervised his first 78s for Cavatone and Downtown Records in 1948.^[1] Modern Records picked up the rights to several Downtown masters before signing Hawkins to a recording contract in 1949.^[1] Two major R&B hits resulted: 1950's "Why Do Everything Happen to Me" and "The Thrill Is Gone" the following year.^[1]

Hawkins recorded for the Bihari brothers' Modern and RPM Records imprints into 1954. After that, a handful of singles for Rhythm Records and Kent Records were all that was heard of the San Francisco Bay Area pianist.^[1] He is rumored to have died in 1973.

He is perhaps best known as the songwriter and originator of a number of renowned R&B songs covered by other artists. These include the aforementioned "Why Do Everything..." (James Brown), and "Bad Luck Is Falling" (Ray Charles). His bad luck was infectious. When King climbed up the charts in 1970 with Hawkins' "The Thrill Is Gone", the tune was mistakenly credited to the wrong composers ( Arthur (Art) Benson, Dale Pettite, as seen on the single's label) on early pressings.^[1]

Discography

Singles

• "They Raided the Joint" (1947)
• "Christmas Blues" (1948)
• "It's Too Late to Change" (1949)
• "Forty Jim" (1949)
• "Quarter to One" (1949)
• "Easy Going Magic" (1949)
• "West Express" (1949)
• "Sleepless Nights" (1949)
• "Why Do Everything Happen to Me?" (1950, R&B: #2)
• "On My Way" (1950)
• "My Temperature Is Rising" (1950)
• "Just a Poor Boy" (1950)
• "Blues All Around Me" (1951)
• "You're the Sweetest Thing" (1951)
• "The Thrill Is Gone" (1951, R&B: #6)
• "Gloom and Misery All Around" (1951)
• "You're a Free Little Girl" (1952)
• "Highway 59" (1952)
• "The Thrill Hunt" (1952)
• "Bad Luck Is Falling" (1952)
• "If I Had Listened" (1953)
• "I Wonder Why" (1953)
• "Trouble in Mind" (1953)

See also

• List of West Coast blues musicians
• West Coast blues

References