Johnny Otis - drums, piano, bandleader, producer, composer, R&B Legend! Johnny Otis was born December 28, 1921 in Vallejo, California. He grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Berkeley, ...

One common thread running through reflections of more than a dozen speakers at Saturday’s memorial service in Hollywood for Johnny Otis was that the influential R&B; musician, band leader, producer ...

In a new biography titled "Midnight at the Barrelhouse –– The Johnny Otis Story" (University of Minnesota Press, 2010), George Lipsitz, professor of Black Studies and sociology at UC Santa Barbara, ...

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, 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 ...

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 ...

The man born Johnny Alexander Veliotes Jr.—known the world over as Shuggie Otis—takes pains to mention on his website that he throws his brothers, Jon and Nick, into the mix on his all-too-rare tours.

R&B legend Johnny Otis died January 17 at the age of 90. As a performer, producer, radio host and talent scout, Otis had a significant hand in shaping early Rhythm and Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll music.

Johnny Otis, who has died aged 90, was the Greek-American bandleader who pioneered a style of Rhythm & Blues in California — and launched (or relaunched) the careers of half a dozen R&B superstars in ...

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 ...