LOS ANGELES — Johnny Otis, who made the R&B classic “Willie and the Hand Jive” and evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio host, has died in California at 90. His manager, ...

Johnny Otis, the “godfather of rhythm and blues” who wrote and recorded the R&B classic “Willie and the Hand Jive” and for decades evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio ...

Otis, who died in 2012, started out leading a big band. Later, as a talent scout, he discovered such performers as Big Mama Thornton, Esther Phillips and Etta James. Originally broadcast in 1989. This ...

Johnny Otis, singer of the 1958 hit "Willie and the Hand Jive", has died in California at the age of 90. Johnny Otis, singer of the 1958 hit "Willie and the Hand Jive", has died in California at the ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Johnny Otis, the "godfather of rhythm and blues" who wrote and recorded the R&B classic "Willie and the Hand Jive" and for decades evangelized black music to white audiences as a ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Johnny Otis, singer of the 1958 hit "Willie and the Hand Jive", has died in California at the age of 90. Otis died on Tuesday in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, his friend ...

Otis, who had been suffering from health issues for several years, died at his Altadena home on Tuesday, said his manager, Terry Gould. Otis, who was white, grew up in a black section of Berkeley, ...