BIOGRAPHY AND DISCOGRAPHY

 

A 17 year old singer who won a local talent show in Houston which got him signed to newly formed Peacock Records where he cut a handful of songs but saw just one release.

Though Holiday’s limitations as a singer were fairly clear thanks to his nasal tone he nonetheless proved capable of handling both uptempo and ballad deliveries and for someone so inexperienced he worked rather well with a veteran band, showing no signs of being tentative or unsure of himself in the studio.

While he remains barely a footnote in the record company’s long history his sides proved he had a strong knowledge of rock’s basic tenets and it’s unfortunate he never got a chance to mature as an artist on record.
 

WILLIE HOLIDAY DISCOGRAPHY (Records Reviewed To Date on Spontaneous Lunacy):

I’VE PLAYED THIS TOWN
(Peacock 1531; March, 1950)
Not a bad debut for an inexperienced kid who shows the requisite enthusiasm for the task at hand, though the real stars are the band who keep things humming along in an efficiently professional manner. (5)

MY WOMAN PUT ME DOWN
(Peacock 1531; March, 1950)
Holiday does a very credible job suggesting Amos Milburn on this lovelorn ballad while the band accurately replicates Maxwell Davis’s production style, but ultimately an imitative record such as this has little chance of standing out on its own despite its quality. (6)