R & B Pioneer Johnny Otis ("Hand Jive") Passes At 90, Just Days Before Etta James ("At Last"), Whose Career He Boosted Dies At 73

In 1950s, Otis had popular R&B radio show on Long Beach's former KFOX radio

(Jan. 20, 2012) -- Two musical giants, Etta James ("At Last") and Johnny Otis ("Willie & the Hand Jive") passed away within days of each other. Their careers intersected...and Mr. Otis in particular had ties to Long Beach.

In the early and mid 1950s, Mr. Otis (a colorful showman and bandleader) spotted the teenage Etta James performing at an L.A. area club. He wrote "Roll With Me Henry" for her as an "answer song" to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me Annie" and it became a sizable R&B hit. (In the 1950s, the term "roll" was suggestive and Georgia Gibbs' later recorded the song as "Dance with the Henry.")

Amid this atmosphere, Mr. Otis played undiluted R&B on a radio show he hosted on Long Beach's now-former KFOX radio (1280 AM). Despite a low power signal (1,000 watts), KFOX could be heard clearly in south central Los Angeles and wafted into other parts of L.A.

The show gained a large following and Mr. Otis went on to host local TV shows in L.A. (KTLA and we seem to recall also KTTV). He recorded his million-selling "Hand Jive" in 1958 (by which time larger radio outlets had discovered that rock 'n' roll and R&B were profitable).

To see Mr. Otis perform the song on his L.A. TV show -- not lip synched, really singing -- click video embed below.

Ms. James went on to record her signature song, At Last, in 1961 (embed below) among other hits.

In 2005, Ms. James was a featured artist at the Long Beach Blues Festival.

LATimes.com has an obituary for Mr. Otis who died Tuesday (Jan. 17) at age 90 (click here) and Access Hollywood's obituary for Ms. James who died Jan. 20 at age 73 (click here).