From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sat Nov 16, 2002  6:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Jesse Stone
 
JESSE STONE aka Charles Calhoun

Born 16 November 1901, Atchison, Kansas
Died 2 April 1999, Altamonte Springs, Florida

Songwriter / singer / arranger / pianist.
None other than Ahmet Ertegun has said that "Jesse Stone did more
to develop the basic rock 'n' roll sound than anybody else."
The grandson of Tennessee slaves, Jesse Stone enjoyed a long career
in jazz and blues prior to the birth of rock 'n' roll. He cut his first record
in 1927, "Starvation Blues" for Okeh. An early songwriting success was
"Idaho", recorded by several artists, with the Benny Goodman version
peaking at # 4 (pop) in 1942.
In late 1947 Stone joined the newly established Atlantic Records as a
writer and arranger. During a trip to the South in 1949 with Ahmet Ertegun
and Herb Abramson, Stone discovered that Atlantic's records were not
selling in the southern states because they lacked a certain danceable
quality. They needed a bass line, so Stone designed one and it had a
revolutionary effect on rhytm sections.
During his Atlantic years, Jesse Stone was responsible for writing some
of the label's most memorable and groundbreaking R&B hits: "Money
Honey" (The Drifters), "Shake, Rattle And Roll" and "Flip, Flop And Fly"
(Joe Turner), "Your Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash" (The Clovers), "As Long
As I'm Moving" (Ruth Brown), "Soul On Fire" (LaVern Baker), "Losing Hand"
(Ray Charles) and many others. On Ertegun's advice, Stone used a pseudonym
on his BMI tunes (Charles Calhoun), to avoid conflict with his membership in
the other music licensing society, ASCAP. He even made some records of
his own (for MGM, Atlantic and Groove) under the name Charles Calhoun.
Stone left Atlantic in 1956 to form his own publishing company, Roosevelt
Music. Further rock 'n' roll hits to come from his pen included "Razzle Dazzle"
(Bill Haley) and "Don't Let Go" (Roy Hamilton).
Stone went on to work briefly at Frank Sinatra's Reprise label and moved to
Chicago to head up Randy Records, a shady enterprise operated by gangsters.
He relocated to New York in 1966 and retired to Florida in 1983.
In 1992 he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall Of Fame.

CD: Jesse Stone Alias Charles "Chuck" Calhoun (Bear Family BCD 15695).
30 tracks, mostly vocal, from a variety of labels, 1947-1958.
Further reading: The chapter on Jesse Stone in: Nick Tosches, Unsung Heroes
Of Rock 'n' Roll (2nd ed. 1991), page 12-21.