Billy Stewart Unbelievable Rar Trial Was Won

Billy Stewart was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association Hall of Fame in 1982. (info edited from Wikipedia chancellorofsoul) Heres the only video footage I can find on the web.

Stewart began singing publicly with his mothers group, the Stewart Gospel Singers, as a teenager.

He made the transition to secular music by filling in occasionally for the Rainbows, a D.C.

Don Covay.

Seminal rock and roller Bo Diddley has been credited with discovering Stewart playing piano in Washington, D.C.

This led to a recording contract with Diddleys label, Chess Records, and Diddley played guitar on Stewarts 1956 recording of Billys Blues.

Stewart then moved to Okeh Records and recorded Billys Heartache backed by the Marquees, another D.C.

Marvin Gaye.

Stewart hit both the pop and RB charts in 1965 with the self-written songs, I Do Love You and Sitting in the Park.

His improvisational technique of doubling-up, scatting his words and trilling his lips made his style unique in the 1960s.

Billy reach back to a song that won him a local contest as a teenager, the Porgy and Bess classic Summertime.

The session took place on Wednesday, October 6, 1965, featuring the regular Chess players, Louis Satterfield on bass, Pete Cosey on guitar, Sonny Thompson on piano, and Maurice White (of Earth Wind Fire fame) on drums.

Art Hoyle, Paul Serrano and John Howell, on trumpets.

Bunky Green on alto sax, Johnny Board on tenor sax, Rubin Cooper on baritone sax and Bryce Robertson on guitar.

The first single released from that album was Stewarts radical interpretation of the George Gershwin song, Summertime, which hit No 7 RB the week ending Sept 10, 1966 and No.

Pop Aug 27. the song proved to be the biggest hit of his career.

The follow-up single was Stewarts cover version of the Doris Day hit Secret Love, which reached the Pop Top 30 and just missed the Top 10 on the RB chart.

He also suffered minor injuries in a motorcycle accident in 1969.

Stewart died in a car accident the following January, just two months prior to his 33rd birthday.

The accident happened when the Ford Thunderbird Stewart was driving approached a bridge across the Neuse River.

Stewarts car left the highway, ran along the median strip at a slight angle to the highway, struck the bridge curbing, and plunged into the river, killing Stewart and three members of his band instantly.

The car had been purchased only 12 days before and had been driven only 1,400 miles before the accident occurred.

Billy Stewart Unbelievable Rar Trial Was Won

Sarah Stewart, the executrix of his estate, sued Ford Motor Company on behalf of his estate, claiming mechanical failure was the cause of the accident.The first trial was won by Ford Motor Company, but on appeal the court ruled that the trial courts refusal to give the requested jury instructions was in error and ordered the case reversed and remanded.

He was buried in National Harmony Memorial Park in Landover, Maryland.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, in the West Coast, his music was very popular among Latino, specifically Chicano, youth.

In 2005 weeks after Hurricane Katrina, rare recordings of Billy Stewarts music could be heard around the French Quarters of New Orleans, being played by the soulful female DJ known as Savannah Rose.

When asked, she simply replied, its my commitment to keep this music alive, look what he has given us.

Billy Stewart was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association Hall of Fame in 1982.

Wikipedia chancellorofsoul) Heres the only video footage I can find on the web.