Little Willie John

Little Willie John was a unique talent, with a voice that conveyed pain and hurt at an emotional pitch seldom encountered in pop music in the 1950s, or since. John's impassioned, gospel-tinged vocals influenced singers as diverse as Sam Cooke and John Lennon and paved the way for the concept of soul. His work for King Records is indispensable, and while this collection does include his biggest hits from the label, including his best known track, "Fever," which he co-wrote, and his first and last hits, "All Around the World" and "Sleep," it is simply too brief to truly give an accurate measure of John's talent, which could wring heart-stopping emotion out of even the blandest session cover. A diminutive man with a volatile temper and a drinking problem, John stabbed a man and was sent to prison in 1966, where he died two years later at the age of 31, robbing the world of its first true soul singer, and his story is one of the most tragic in all of pop. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide