1959
KANSAS CITY * WILBERT HARRISON * TOP RANK 132 * UK
Vocalist and piano player Wilbert Harrison was born in Charlotte,
North Carolina in 1929 and died sixty five years later in Spencer, North
Carolina. He started out performing in the early 1950s in a Calypso style;
something that, years later, was to lend itself to the lilting rhythm of the
above - which nearly turned full circle when Kansas City was taken back
to the West Indies and recorded by Joya Landis at the Treasure Isle studio.
Wilbert Harrison first recorded for the Rockin' label in 1953,
after which he spent a time at Savoy, it was for Bobby Robinson's Fury label,
with Wild Jimmy Spruill on guitar, that Harrison cut this version of
Leiber and Stoller's Kansas City - the song was first recorded by Little
Willie Littlefield in 1952 as K. C. Lovin - Harrison's version
charted both R&B and Pop, which caused all sorts of problems as Harrison was
still under contract with Savoy, though he hadn't recorded for them for some
time.
The song has been sung and recorded, five versions were released that same
year on the back of the success of Wilbert Harrison's #1 hit. There have been
over three hundred recorded versions, in all musical styles - one example being
Champion Jack Dupree's 1969 recording (see below) - since its release making it
one of the most successful of Leiber and Stoller's compositions.
KANSAS CITY * CHAMPION JACK DUPREE * BLUE HORIZON 3152 * UK