Hugh Jarrett....Last Of The Great WLAC DJ's, Gone To Glory!
You know, it's strange that nearly every story relating to Hugh Jarrett's untimely death left out the fact that Hugh was one of the five most successful disc-jockeys of our time. After leaving the gospel business of The Jordanaires, Hugh became a highly visible air personality at WLAC Radio in Nashville, Tennessee.It was at WLAC Radio in Nashville that I met Hugh Jarrett for the first time. To say goings on at WLAC were insane is an understatement. The humor and raucousness of the jocks assembled there was well-known and that insanity bled into the music and general feeling of the jocks on the air. WLAC was the station of choice for the entire Eastern seaboard of the USA.
Hugh Jarrett was hired to take Bill Allen's (The Hossman) place in the Big Four which consisted of John Richbourg (John R.), Gene Nobles, Bill Allen and Herman Grizzard. WLAC was hugely responsible for the development of the Independent Record Business and bringing to the forefront dozens of young black entertainers. It was in this milieu that Hugh Jarrett adopted the name "Big Hugh Baby." Big Hugh became an instant icon and drew numbers to match that status. And then the FCC stepped in....and because of one silly statement, Hugh temporarily lost his broadcasting license, thus ending his meteoric rise at WLAC.
When I interviewed Hugh in 2006, he did not want to discuss this issue because he was then involved with a religious station in Marietta, Georgia and felt our discussing those facts from long ago would not cast an honorable light on his career.
Yes....Hugh sang bass for The Jordanaires and spent a number of years working with Elvis but that's certainly not all he did. His contributions to radio in the United States goes far beyond what is currently recognized.
Hugh Jarrett was an excellent human being and a good friend for many years. I will miss him as will the entire entertainment world.
May Big Hugh Baby ride that 50 gallon drum of White Rose into Paradise.
John Rhys/BluePower.com
_________________________________________________________________
I have had the pleasure of meeting some remarkable people in my time but rarely has there been anyone quite like Hugh Jarrett.Born in Nashville, Hugh started his career in the music business singing with several local gospel groups prior to joining the world famous Jordanaires.
While with the Jordanaires, in early 1954, Hugh and the group were approached by Colonel Tom Parker to sing back-up for the up and coming star, Elvis Presley. The first records on which the Jordanaires sang back-up vocals were "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel." Two of the largest selling records in recording history up to that time.
When the group wasn't on tour with Elvis, they were busy 'round the clock singing in studios in Nashville and Los Angeles with such luminaries as Patsy Cline, Ricky Nelson, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis and literally thousands of other young and aspiring artists.
It was after his years with the Jordanaires that I first met Hugh Jarrett. It was on a trip to Nashville in 1963 while promoting for Mercury Records that I met Hugh at WLAC Radio where he was sitting in for Bill Allen, "The Hoss Man." Hugh had an extraordinary way with a microphone and you can still hear it in his voice today.
A year or so later I met Hugh again at WPLO Radio in Atlanta where he had resumed his Big Hugh Baby shows. In fact, when I left Atlanta for Detroit in 1965, Hugh was the last person I saw there. We had lunch and he waved goodbye in my rear view mirror.
It had been a long time since I'd seen Hugh or spoken with him. (41 years) To be able to sit for a few hours and reminisce with this dignified, gentle man was pure pleasure.
Tune in to hear a very talented human being and one of the truly great radio voices of our time. The recording quality of the interview is not great but the history is amazing.
John Rhys/BluePower.com
Here's the music for the show:
1)...."On The Wings Of A Dove"....The Jordanaires....Capitol
2)...."Hound Dog"....Elvis Presley....RCA
3)...."Don't Be Cruel"....Elvis Presley....RCA
4)...."Are You Lonesome Tonight"....Elvis Presley....RCA
5)...."Will The Circle Be Unbroken"....The Jordanaires....Capitol
6)...."Young Love"....Sonny James....Capitol
7)...."I Can't Help Falling In Love With You"....Elvis Presley....RCA
Click here to play....BluePower Presents....What Ever Happened To Big Hugh Baby?
This show is dedicated to our dear friend....JoAnn Braheny. Or, as Hugh would have known her....JoAnn Jaffe, who worked on the air in the fledgling FM division at WPLO in Atlanta, Georgia with Big Hugh Jarrett.
_____________________________________________________________
If you are an aspiring guitarist....please be sure to check out BluePower's Company Store. We have our first basic guitar lesson now available with more lessons being added soon. Help yourself....and help BluePower as well.
posted by John Rhys at 6/03/2008 08:19:00 AM
5 Comments:
What a tease!
What was the comment that "temporarily (cost him) his broadcasting license"??
He was great.
Big Hugh Baby was in the middle of a White Rose Petroleum Jelly spot one night when he added that it might be a good idea for all the boys and girls to put a fifty gallon drum of White Rose in the back seat of their cars. For this comment, Hugh lost his broadcast license temporarily. I guess there was a "Moral Majority" around even then.
As a WLAC listener from the fifties through the sixties, I remember when Big Hugh Baby started there. Initially, he was like John R. (pronounced John Ar-ah) and The Jivin' Hoss Man, targetting a rural, African American audience. He quickly figured out there was a young white male audience of WLAC who were into the deep blues and R&B. That was when the fun really started. With a sponsor like White Rose Petroleum Jelly, he started "sending out 55 gallon drums of White Rose Petroleum Jelly" to various folks who wrote him. One time he sent the 55 gallon drum to the guys at the University of Tampa who needed to bone up for an exam. He would always say, "White Rose makes things go in and out."
John,
Great Hugh Jarrett interview, I listened to the whole thing and have saved it to my computer.
I was a 20 year old radio wannabe and attended the Mid-South Electronics Institute in 1963. It was located in a house on 23rd Avenue South not far from Vanderbilt on West End Avenue.
Our instructors at the time were the Late Jim Kent and John Lashlee. One of these guys arranged for us to visit WLAC in the L&C building to use their production studios. Thats where I first met Hugh Jarrett. When the other guys were recording in the production studio's, I would sit and watch Hugh do his show. He later invited me to sit in and watch any time I wanted.
One night, he pulled his White Rose Petroleum Jelly skit saying that he was dedicating a song and a 50 gallon drum of White Rose to all the Lovers parking on Gobblers Knob. He would also blow a rubber raspberry into the microphone saying that he was sending a radio finger out to groups of people that call in for a record request. This guy was before his time and I would say that he was likely the first radio Shock Jock. People loved that man and in my mind a pioneer of radio entertainment.
Oh yes, I did have a great broadcast career myself, not as well known as Hugh Jarrett but did work 20-years at a number of small town stations and 20-years as a Radio Broadcast Technician with the Voice Of America in Washington, D.C. retiring in 2005.
Sorry...I had a Senior moment!
Hugh used the Raspberry whistle to send out a "Bird", not the finger, but I guess it meant the same-thing.
Post a Comment
<< Home