Tommy Steele - Singing the Blues

"Antes que o Beat fizesse a sua aparição, teve que decorrer bastante tempo. Numa primeira fase, o rock'n'roll expandiu-se de forma universal. Imitando os grandes astros do cinema, foram aparecendo jovens cantores noutros países, em especial na Grã-Bretanha, que puseram termo ao que até aí tinha sido a hegemonia da música estadunidense. Em 1959, a música pop inglesa conseguiu autonomizar-se quase por completo dos preceitos norte-americanos. Tommy Steele destronou Elvis Presley e Cliff Richard converteu-se, com o single Living Doll, no cantor inglês de maior sucesso em 1959." assim descreve "O Mundo da Música Pop" a expansão do Rock'n'Roll na década de 50.

Hoje, Tommy Steele, amanhã Cliff Richard, aqui recordamos a música pop do final da década de 50 em Inglaterra.
Tommy Steele (1936-) é tido como o primeiro ídolo do Rock'n'Roll em Inglaterra, tendo seu percurso artístico sido dividido entre o cinema e a canção. Em 1956 grava o primeiro Single "Rock With the Caveman" e é ainda nesse ano que grava "Singing the Blues", canção com a qual atingiria o primeiro lugar, no Reino Unido, no início de 1957.
Para conhecer melhor o seu início, o melhor é mesmo ler o texto da contracapa do EP então editado com "Singing the Blues":

""Rags to riches'’ . . . "overnight success" . . . “one leap to stardom”. These are the empty phrases of show business, used and used again until they have no meaning. But all of them, and many more, are true when it comes to talking about Tommy Steele, the boy from Bermondsey whose meteoric rise into the top bracket of British popular singers has left everyone gasping.
Tommy Steele went to sea as a lad of fifteen, and not so very much later was sent to hospital for nine dreary months with a serious illness. In the ward he met a man who taught him to play a guitar, and Tommy started to sing, to his own accompaniment. Back at sea he was singing wherever and whenever he could—in the crew's quarters to amuse his mates; in the first class lounge to entertain the passengers; on shore in amateur talent shows. All the time, as he travelled the seven seas, he was listening to the world’s folk singers and developing his own highly personal style of folk singing.

Then come the day of decision. Tommy decided to quit the sea and try for professional recognition as a singer. The urge to sing had become so strong in him that he could no longer be satisfied by an occasional audience. He wanted to sing every night, to people who come especially to hear him. But were there many such people? Tommy didn't know, and he knew it would be a risk finding out. He limited the risk to a fortnight. If no one was willing to employ him as a singer by the end of that time, then he would go back to sea. The extraordinary, quite amazing, utterly fantastic truth is that, long before the two weeks were up Tommy's feet were firmly on the ladder which was to lead him to stardom in less than a month.

On stage, Tommy showed at once that he is a fine artist with a natural gift for holding an audience. On records, he has shown that he is one of those rarest of rare popular singers—an individualist who forces his personality into the wax platter. There is no mistaking the impact of a Steele record. It is alive, vibrating, thrillingly exciting to anyone whose ears are attuned to the music of today.

Tommy is essentially a happy singer, with many of the erratic musical whims of the natural performer; but, above all, he has the most valuable gift that any folk singer can have - vitality. Just to listen to him singing is to feel the strength, the courage, the excitement of youth tingling in every note and phrase. To see him as well is to realize that here is a born entertainer - a youth whose style and whole being vibrates with the pleasure of the rhythms which are his life-blood. A national newspaper has elected him teen-ager of the year; the British record-buying public has rated him their number-one favourite; and here, on this record, he shares his happiness with us all."

Tommy Steele, a resposta britânica a Elvis Presley com uma canção americana "Singing the Blues".


Tommy Steele - Singing the Blues