The R&B scene in the 50s was a very rich seam. It went largely unheralded. In Britain we never got to hear much of it at all. Hence it provided a treasure trove of material for the British Beat bands to mine. Merseybeat and Beat bands covered a lot of this material.
In America black music was not played on white radio up until DJs like Alan Freed started featuring it.
I loved the energy and inventiveness of it and have a large number of favourites.
Here’s a list of my favourite 50s R&B:
Big Mama Thornton
Amos Milburn
Tommy Tucker
Screaming Jay Hawkins
Contours
Dominoes
Isley Brothers
Rufus Thomas
Chuck Willis
Arthur Alexander
James Brown
Clovers
Coasters
Silhouettes
Sam Cooke
Lazy Lester
Slim Harpo
Charlie and Inez Foxx
Huey Piano Smith
Smiley Lewis
Fats Domino
Ernie K Doe
Eugene Church
Piano Red
Hank Ballard
Major Lance
Johnny Otis
Irma Thomas
Ray Charles
Laverne Baker
Ike and Tina Turner
Larry Williams
Little Willie John
Lee Dorsey
Barret Strong
Don and Dewy
Clovers
Drifters
Coasters
Esquerita
Mickey and Sylvia
Maurice Williams
Rosco Gordon
Miracles
Ruth Brown
Wilbert Harrison