If rhythm and blues ever had a renaissance man, his name was Johnny Otis. Otis, who died Tuesday at 90, was a bandleader, an administrative assistant to the lieutenant governor, a minister with his ...

The musician, songwriter, producer, DJ, talent scout and author was credited with helping to create a new sound in the early '50s that later evolved into rock 'n' roll. By THR Staff Johnny Otis, the ...

The white ethnic kid loved all things black and wanted to be part of this very coolest subculture. That’s been a familiar American dream ever since the birth of rock ‘n roll. The impulse was less ...

Mr. Otis reflects: Johnny Otis, the rock 'n' roll and R&B legend with deep ties to the Bay Area, and to radio, is the subject of a new book, "Midnight at the Barrelhouse: The Johnny Otis Story," by ...

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 ...

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.

To the world, Johnny Otis was the rhythm-and-blues music pioneer who wrote the classic 1958 hit, "Willie and the Hand Jive." But to the people who knew Otis for the dozen years that he lived and ...

Bandleader and producer Johnny Otis, who launched and then nurtured the careers of many of R&B's greatest singers, died Tuesday at his home near Los Angeles. He was 90. Otis started out in the 1940s, ...

LOS ANGELES — 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 ...

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Today, we continue our archive series R&B, rockabilly and early rock 'n' roll. Before Elvis Presley recorded "Hound Dog," it was recorded by Big Mama Thornton. The ...

Johnny Otis was many things over his career, including a bandleader, producer, radio and TV host and composer. Additionally, Otis launched the careers of many of R&B's finest singers. Otis died on ...