Gene Vincent

Vincent Eugene Craddock was born on 11^th February 1935 in Norfolk, Virginia. As he grew up in Virginia, he sent a lot of time at the store that was owned by his parents. He began singing in church as a youngster and later learned the guitar. As a twenty-year-old stationed in Korea with the US Navy, he badly injured his left leg in a motorcycle accident. The doctors wanted to amputate his leg but he chose to live with the pain and a limp for the rest of his life. Following the accident he wore a steel leg brace.

After his discharge from the Navy, he returned to Norfolk, where he formed his own band, The Blue Caps. In 1956 he went to Los Angeles to enter a talent contest, taking with him a song he had co-written with a local disc jockey. Based on the song Money Honey and the cartoon character Little Lulu, they called it Be-Bop-A-Lula. He landed a contract with Capitol Records and they recorded the song, which went to number seven on the charts in 1956.

Some of his follow-up records including Bluejean Bop and Race With the Devil didn’t do so well, but later that year the group was invited to appear in the movie The Girl Can't Help It. In 1957 his song, Lotta Lovin', did well on the US charts. The group released another song, Dance To The Bop, that did well but then broke up in 1958. A year or so later, Gene Vincent moved to UK, where he had become a very popular singer. Vincent was very good friends with another young, white rock-and-roll star of that era, Eddie Cochran.

While en route to London airport with Cochran and Cochran's girlfriend, they were involved in a car accident that tragically ended Cochran's life, and left Vincent critically injured.  Although he recovered from his injuries, he was devastated by Cochran's death. He returned to the US later in the Sixties then went back to UK in 1969 and 1971, but his physical condition stopped him capturing his past glory. He died in Los Angeles on 12^th October 1971. This leather-clad, limping, greasy-haired singer was one of rock 'n roll’s original bad boys.

Gene Vincent was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.