Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone - Music

William "Willie" Lee Perryman October 19 1911 - July 25 1985 Who Was Usually Known Professionally As Piano Red And Later In Life As Dr. Feelgood Was An American Blues Musician The First To Hit The Pop Music Charts. He Was A Self-Taught Pianist Who Played In The Barrelhouse Blues Style. His Simple Hard-Pounding Left Hand And His Percussive Right Hand Coupled With His Cheerful Shout Brought Him Considerable Success Over Three Decades. Willie Perryman Was Born On A Farm Near Hampton Georgia. He Was An Albino African American As Was His Older Brother Rufus Who Also Had A Blues Piano Career As "Speckled Red". Rufus 19 Years Older Than Willie Had Left Home Before His Little Brother And Took Up The Piano. They Never Recorded Together. However The Family Had A Piano Originally Bought To Give Rufus A Musical Education And As A Child Willie Watched Rufus Play On It. In 1918 The Family Moved To Atlanta. Perryman Cited Fats Waller As His Main Influence. By The Early 1930s He Was Playing At House Parties Juke Joints And Barrelhouses In Georgia Alabama And Tennessee Often Working With Other Georgia Bluesmen Including Barbecue Bob Curley Weaver And Blind Willie McTell. He Also Began Performing Before White Audiences In The Resort Town Of Brevard North Carolina And By 1934 Had Begun To Play At White Clubs In Atlanta Developing A Repertoire Of Pop Standards. Around 1936 He Began To Be Billed As "Piano Red" And Made His First Recordings With McTell In Augusta For Vocalion Records Although These Were Never Released. He Also Began Working As An Upholsterer A Trade Which He Occasionally Maintained Through Later Years. 1 In 1950 After Spending The Last 14 Years Upholstering And Playing Music On Weekends Red Recorded "Rockin' With Red" And "Red's Boogie" At The WGST Radio Studios In Atlanta For RCA Victor. Both Songs Became National Hits Reaching # 5 And # 3 Respectively On The Billboard R&B Chart And "Rockin' With Red" Has Since Been Covered Many Times Under Many Titles. This Success And Further Hits "The Wrong Yo Yo" Allegedly Written By Speckled Red "Laying The Boogie" And "Just Right Bounce" Allowed Him To Resume An Active Performing Schedule. He Also Recorded Sessions In New York And Nashville During The Early 1950s. In The Mid 1950s He Also Worked As A Disc Jockey On Radio Stations WGST And WAOK In Atlanta Broadcasting The Piano Red Show Later The Dr. Feelgood Show Directly From A Small Shack In His Back Yard. A Young James Brown Made An Appearance On His Show In The Late 1950s. His Involvement Had Him Appearing On A Flatbed Truck In Many Parades Which Led To His Song "Peachtree Parade". From The Mid 1950s Until The Late 1960s He Recorded For Several Companies Including Columbia For Which He Made Several Records Checker For Whom He Recorded 8 Sides With Willie Dixon On Bass And Groove Records A Subsidiary Of RCA Victor Producing The First Hit For That Label. 2 On Okeh Records In 1961 He Began Using The Name Dr. Feelgood And The Interns Releasing Several Hits Including The Much-Covered "Doctor Feel-Good". The Persona Was One He Had Initially Adopted On His Radio Shows. The New Career Was Short-Lived Though And Piano Red Was Never Able To Regain His Former Stature. In 1966 The Popular Folk-Rock Group The Lovin' Spoonful Recorded His Song "Bald Headed Lena" On Their Second Album Daydream. He Continued To Be A Popular Performer In Underground Atlanta And Had Several European Tours Late In His Career Including Appearances At The Montreux Jazz Festival Berlin Jazz Festival Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's Inauguration And On BBC Radio. He Was Diagnosed With Cancer In 1984 And Died The Following Year. Among Those Who Attended His Funeral Were The Governor Of Georgia And The Mayor Of Atlanta. read less