From:  "Dik de Heer"  
Date:  Sun Jul 11, 2004  2:23 am 
Subject:  This Is My Story : Hank Mizell

HANK MIZELL

Born William M. Mizell, 9 November 1923*, Dayton Beach, Florida
Died 23 December 1992, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

The story of Hank Mizell is one of the most amazing in the history of
rock 'n' roll and certainly in the history of rockabilly. Most Europeans
(if they're not too young) will remember how an obscure rockabilly
record from 1958 became a monster hit 18 years later, but I'm not
so sure about our American list members.

Florida-born Bill Mizell was brought up by adoptive parents in Asheville,
North Carolina. He served in the US Navy in World War II and took up
singing after his discharge, moving to Montgomery, Alabama, where
he sang on local radio, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. A DJ
there nicknamed him Hank, after C&W legend Hank Williams, and the
name stuck. In 1956 he moved to Chicago where he formed a combo
with guitarist Jim Bobo, bass player Eddie Boyd and drummer Bill
Collins. They secured a residency at the Napoleon Lounge, a low-life
redneck bar, playing there every night from Wednesday to Sunday.

In the autumn of 1958, Mizell and Bobo were approached by Gene
Parsons, a local country vocalist who had set up his own record label,
Eko Records. Parsons had converted his garage into a makeshift
recording studio and it was here that Mizell and his band recorded the
rockabilly novelty "Jungle Rock", as well as two other songs. Parsons
achieved wonders with the limited technology at his disposal, conjuring
up a thick, bottom heavy sound. The first pressings of "Jungle Rock" on
Eko 506 wrongly credited Jim Bobo as both the writer and the artist,
and Parsons had the single re-pressed with Mizell's name on the label.
It was this pressing that got a favourable 3-star review in Billboard of
November 10, 1958: "A persistent jungle blues item would make good
swingin' dance fare. It's all about the jungle denizens doing the rock.
Good sound and rhythm". The B-side was a slow country tune, "When
I'm In Your Arms", with Mizell and Jim Bobo singing in harmony.
Some eight months later, the distribution manager of King Records
came into the Napoleon Lounge and heard "Jungle Rock" on the jukebox.
Sensing a potential hit, he purchased the master on King's behalf and
also acquired the publishing rights from Parsons, who had wound down
Eko. Ralph Simonton, owner of the Napoleon Lounge, helped negotiate
the deal and has been listed as co-writer of "Jungle Rock" ever since
(along with Mizell). The single was reissued on King 5236 and got
another review in Billboard (issue of August 24, 1959), but this time in
the country and western section. The hoped-for hit never materialized,
though, and Hank and Jim plugged away in Chicago for the next couple
of years. Around 1962 they broke up their act and went their separate
ways. Mizell, who now had a wife (Rosemary) and four children to
support, gave up music altogether and became a preacher.

In 1971, unbeknownst to Mizell, "Jungle Rock" was reissued by Dutchman
Cees Klop on a bootleg Collector LP called "Rock 'n' Roll, Vol. 1". Klop
had found an early pressing of the Eko single during one of his trips to
the USA and credited the song to Jim Bobo, as it was on the single.
That's when I first heard the song, though I didn't buy the LP. One of the
people who did was British DJ Roy Williams, one of the three members
of the famous Wild Wax Show (one of the others was our list member
John Alexander). He started playing "Jungle Rock" in clubs and soon
the song became so popular that bootleg copies began to circulate.
Charly Records jumped on the chance, acquired the tapes of "Jungle
Rock" and "When I'm In Your Arms" from King and gave the single an
official UK release (CS 1005), crediting it to Hank Mizell. It entered the
UK charts in March 1976, peaking at # 3. In my own country, Holland,
the record went all the way to # 1, and the record also did well in several
other European countries. Roy Williams, who was a member of the 1996
rockabilly list, received a silver disc for breaking the record. **

The news of the unlikely success of "Jungle Rock" took some time to
reach Mizell. Nobody knew where to find him. When, after several weeks,
he was finally tracked down in Murfreesboro, TN, hardly any time was
wasted before he was flown over to Europe to promote his hit. He appeared
on "Top of the Pops", the UK's popular weekly televised hitparade show,
and also on its Dutch counterpart, Toppop. I clearly remember seeing him
miming his record, with a bemused "What-on-earth-am-I-doing-here"-look
on his face. However, when he returned to Toppop a few months later to
promote the follow-up, "Kangaroo Rock", he looked much more confident
and even seemed to enjoy the experience. It must be said, though, that
these promotional visits totally removed the mystique of the obscure. Part
of the attraction lay in the romantic appeal of the distant, exotic artist.

Inevitably, Mizell was also rushed into the studio to record new material.
Shelby Singleton invited Mizell to his Singleton Sound Studio in Nashville,
where enough material for an LP was recorded. The production was in the
hands of Royce G. Clark and among the session players was drummer
D.J. Fontana. The material was heavy on the jungle theme, with additional
material coming from the Sun catalog, not surprising, as it was recorded
for the Shelby Singleton Organization, which also owned the rights to Sun.
The LP wasn't bad, but lacked spark. A couple of subsequent singles by
Mizell went absolutely nowhere and his moment in the sun disappeared
as quickly as it had come.

A third recording from the Eko session, "I'm Ready", was found in the
record library of a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1980. It was
issued in the UK on the one-off Juke Box label in 1985. Recently, it has
been reissued on CD on "Rockin' From Coast To Coast, Vol. 3" (Ace 985).

The "Jungle Rock" LP from 1976 was reissued on CD in 1999 on the
German Repertoire label (REP 4778-WG), with three bonus tracks.

Acknowledgements: Liner notes by Rob Finnis for the CD "King Rockabilly"
(Ace 777).

* All existing sources claim that Mizell was born in either 1924 or 1926.
This 1923 date comes from the Social Security Death Index. A William
Mizell who died in 1992 in Murfreesboro : it simply must be our man.

** Tapio, since you have saved all messages from 1996, perhaps you can
dig up Roy's own post about how he broke "Jungle Rock"? October 1996,
I think.

Dik