Roy Hall (musician)
| Roy Hall | |
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Roy Hall in 1955.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Faye Hall |
| Also known as | Sunny David |
| Born |
May 7, 1922 Big Stone Gap, Virginia, United States |
| Died | March 3, 1984 (aged 61) Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments |
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| Years active | Early 1930s–1984 |
| Labels | |
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James Faye "Roy" Hall (May 7, 1922 - March 3, 1984), also known by his pseudonym "Sunny David", was an American rockabilly pianist and songwriter. Hall was an uncredited co-writer of the rockabilly classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", a song recorded by Hall himself and later popularized by Jerry Lee Lewis. Although his writing claim was initially disputed, later reissues of the song credit Hall for his role in its conception.
Hall was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia in 1922. Although he is often stated to have learned the piano from a local blues player who also turned Hall into a drunkard by his early teens, he was actually first introduced to the instrument by his mother. Hall cited Piano Red as his primary influence in his playing style. After performing in his home town, Hall accompanied Uncle Dave Macon in 1933 in a traveling broadcast for the Grand Ole Opry.
While working for a sibling group called the Hall Brothers, the third brother, Roy Hall, died in a car accident in 1943. Hall adopted the brother's name for his stage moniker, and formed his own band, the Cohutta Mountain Boys. It was a five-piece band, with Tommy Odum (lead guitar), Bud White (rhythm guitar), Flash Griner (bass guitar), and Frankie Brumbalough (fiddle). In 1949, the band cut their first record, which included a hillbilly boogie-woogie song called "Dirty Boogie", with two different B-sides released on the independent record label, Fortune Records, in Detroit, Michigan. The single became a jukebox favorite in the Midwest; however, its followups, which delved more into traditional country music, failed to match the initial success produced by "Dirty Boogie". The Cohutta Mountain Boys' popularity earned them, briefly, a supporting role for singer Tennessee Ernie Ford in Nashville. Afterwards, the band continued a journeymen existence, eventually returning to Detroit where Hall assembled a new group, the Eagles, and recorded material for Citation Records.
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