Floyd Cramer
| Floyd Cramer | |
|---|---|
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Cramer in 1965
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Floyd Cramer |
| Born | October 27, 1933 Shreveport, Louisiana, United States |
| Origin | Huttig, Arkansas, United States |
| Died | December 31, 1997 (aged 64) Huttig, Arkansas |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist |
| Instruments | Piano, organ, harpsichord |
| Associated acts | Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline |
Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American Hall of Fame pianist who was one of the architects of the Nashville sound. He was known for his "slip note" piano style, in which an out-of-key note slides into the correct note.
Cramer was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and grew up in the small town of Huttig, Arkansas. He taught himself to play the piano. After finishing high school, he returned to Shreveport, where he worked as a pianist for the radio show Louisiana Hayride.
In 1953, he cut his first single, "Dancin' Diane", backed with "Little Brown Jug", for the local Abbott label. In 1955 he played dates with an emerging talent who would later figure significantly in his career, Elvis Presley.
In 1955 Cramer moved to Nashville, where piano accompaniment in country music was growing in popularity. By the next year he was, in his words, "in day and night doing session". Before long, he was one of the busiest studio musicians in the industry, playing piano for stars such as Elvis Presley, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, the Browns, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, Roy Orbison, Don Gibson, and the Everly Brothers, among others. It was Cramer's piano playing, for instance, on Presley's first RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel". However, Cramer remained strictly a session player, a virtual unknown to anyone outside the music industry.
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