R&B Legend Johnny Otis Dies, Age 90

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Beginning of MSN Article

Johnny Otis, the "godfather of rhythm and blues" who wrote and recorded the R&B classic "Willie and the Hand Jive," and for decades evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio host, has died. He was 90.

Otis, who had been in poor health for several years, died at his home in the Los Angeles foothill suburb of Altadena on Tuesday, said his manager, Terry Gould.

Otis, who was white, was born John Veliotes to Greek immigrants, and grew up in a black section of Berkeley, where he said he identified far more with black culture than his own. As a teenager, he changed his name because he thought Johnny Otis sounded more black.

"As a kid, I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black," he once explained.

His musical tastes clearly reflected that adopted culture and even after he became famous, his dark skin and hair often led audiences and club promoters to assume he was black like his band mates.

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=696973

*****
Mr. Otis was extremely talented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEeeGMpM_Nk

Although he self-identified as Black (white privilege gave him the opportunity to pick and choose what he identified as, and convince others of it, but he maintained the ability to revert back to whiteness if pretending to be Black ever became too taxing), he was able to use his privilege and power to bring the voice of R&B and Black performers to white audiences.

I find the Johnny Otis story to be very interesting. When told that he is ethnically Greek, I can see that in his appearance. However, my first thought was that he is either lightskinned Black or biracial Black.

It is relatively rare for people of the white diaspora around the world to aspire (read: by choice) to be a member of, and be physically and socially identified as, the power minority. It is usually the other way around.

[AZTheta]

There are some amazing YouTube videos of him from back in the day. And I was sad to see that all these years I've not been doing the right hand jive moves. The Three Tons of Joy put me to shame.

Thanks for sharing this, DrPhil.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I find the Johnny Otis story to be very interesting. When told that he is ethnically Greek, I can see that in his appearance. However, my first thought was that he is either lightskinned Black or biracial Black.

Ditto. I hadn't heard of him before this thread, but this is very interesting.

RIP

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

There are some amazing YouTube videos of him from back in the day. And I was sad to see that all these years I've not been doing the right hand jive moves. The Three Tons of Joy put me to shame.

LOL. You will now be doing those moves.

"Willie and the Hand Jive" reminds me of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiiD8KeAFew

That is because Johnny Otis, The Strangeloves, and other artists used or incorporated the Bo Diddley Beat.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Ditto. I hadn't heard of him before this thread, but this is very interesting.

RIP

I hadn't either, but in reading Etta James' obituary, I learned that Otis "discovered" the 14-year-old Jamesetta Hawkins and came up with her stage name.