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Bill Justis

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Wikimp3 information about the music of Bill Justis. On our website we have 43 albums and 70 collections of artist Bill Justis. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Bill Justis represents Rock genres.

Biography

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Best known to most listeners for the aptly titled instrumental smash "Raunchy," Bill Justis was also a longtime linchpin of the Nashville recording community, working as a producer, musical director, and A&R man for labels including Sun and Mercury. Born October 14, 1927, in Birmingham, Alabama, he grew up in Memphis, studying music and English at Tulane University while playing trumpet in local jazz and dance bands. In 1957, the legendary Sam Phillips hired Justis to serve as the musical director for his Sun Records label. At 30, Justis was a good decade older than most of Sun's artists and had little interest in rock & roll until he learned just how lucrative the music had become. With guitarist Sid Manker, Justis composed a wild, primitive instrumental they dubbed "Backwoods"; Phillips renamed the tune "Raunchy," releasing it as a single in November 1957. Although Justis' honking tenor sax assumed center stage, what made "Raunchy" so unique was Manker's guitar; he forged the song's distinctive riff not from the traditional middle strings but from the bass strings, creating a cavernous, resonant sound further buffered by studio echo. The single proved Sun's best-selling instrumental release ever, staying in the pop Top 40 for 14 weeks.

Justis would nevertheless score only more chart hit, "College Man," which only went as high as number 42. He continued recording the occasional single (including "Flea Circus," penned by Steve Cropper), but by and large focused the remainder of his career on studio work, arranging sessions for Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison. Justis also discovered Charlie Rich at Memphis night spot The Sharecropper Club and brought him to Sun in 1960, arranging Rich's first major hit, "Lonely Weekends." However, squabbles with Phillips prompted Justis to leave Sun soon after, and he formed his own label, the short-lived Play Me Records. After moving to Nashville and briefly reuniting with Rich at RCA, he landed with Mercury, which remained his home for the remainder of his career. In the years to follow, Justis would arrange records for everyone from Patsy Cline to Dean Martin to Tom Jones, also recording a series of instrumental LPs for Mercury's Smash subsidiary. In 1972 he scored his first film, Dear Dead Delilah. In 1977, he scored the smash Smokey and the Bandit, reuniting with star Burt Reynolds a year later for Hooper. Justis died of cancer on July 15, 1982.

Title: A Silver Cup

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Raunchy (Original Mix)

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Pop

Title: Black Hair

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: His Very Best

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Gaudy Colours

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Raunchy Sax

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Busy As A Bee

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Sheer Off

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Between

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Fresh As Dew

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Jazz

Title: Redwood Tree

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Jazz

Title: Black Or White

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Lets Have A Drink

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: City Or Country

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Bird Of Prey

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: A Bouquet Of Hits

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Live Through This

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Jazz

Title: Dinner

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Jazz

Title: Put Out To Sea

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: As Light As Straw

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Title: Up And Down

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Lonely Sounds

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Living For The Moment

Artist: Bill Justis

Genre: Rock

Collections

Title: Cruisin' 1957

Genre: Pop

Title: Top 20 Jump Blues

Genre: Blues

Featuring albums

Title: 50s Jukebox Hits

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Rock

Title: Instrumental Gold

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Pop

Title: Super Hits

Artist: Floyd Cramer

Genre: Country

Title: Till I Kissed You

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Pop

Title: Vol 5

Artist: Back To The 50's

Genre: Pop

Genres