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Not a book but a 12-inch, 33-1/3 vinyl R&B record album, Epic "Long Playing, Nonbreakable, Outstanding High Fidelity Through Radial Sound" (mono) "Regular" LN 3728, near-mint vinyl in a very-good glossy cardboard jacket which is split half-way back along top edge. The album title is ill-chosen, since "tribute" albums are usually covers of earlier hits re-cut by lesser talents. In this case, however, there's every indication Epic put together this "tribute" album by simply compiling the actual, original performances (many on the Okeh label) of the short-lived rock 'n roll / Rhythm & Blues performer. Willis generally performed wearing a turban (a gimmick suggested by his friend Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and was thus also known as the "Sheik of Shake." In the early 1950s he hosted and performed on a weekly Saturday night television show in Atlanta. Associates predicted he would have eventually become better known for his song-writing, his most notable hits being "C. C. Rider" (1957) and "What Am I Living For" (1958), both of which reached No.1 on the Billboard R&B chart. His "C.C. Rider" was in fact a remake of a 12-bar blues performed by Ma Rainey in Atlanta before Willis was born. Its relaxed beat inspired the emergence of the popular dance craze The Stroll, after Dick Clark played "C. C. Rider" on American Bandstand, at which point Willis also became known as "The King of the Stroll." Willis's follow-up was "Betty and Dupree," another "stroll" based on a similar old standard. Willis, a heavy drinker, suffered from stomach ulcers and died of peritonitis during surgery in Chicago on April 10, 1958, at the age of about 30. His final single, "What Am I Living For?", backed by "Hang Up My Rock & Roll Shoes," sold over a million copies and became the top Rhythm & Blues record of 1958. This vinyl LP now reduced from $120. Seller Inventory # 007225
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