Jerome Green

BO DIDDLEY WITH ANOTHER ONE OF HIS WICKED-LOOKINGHOMEMADE GUITARS AND MARACAS MAN JEROME GREEN









BO DIDDLEY - The Originator
A Celebration of his unique contribution to Popular Music. "Bring It To Jerome..."
A 50th Anniversary Tribute To Jerome Green

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"Jerome was the greatest....!"
- BO DIDDLEY The year 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of the release of BO DIDDLEY's chart hits "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again", (arguably the first ever rap hit singles, hitting the charts a full 20 years ahead of The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" hit of 1979/1980), both of which heavily featured the voice of the much-loved and fondly-remembered musician Jerome Green, for so long an integral part of the BO DIDDLEY group sound from around 1950, when he joined The Langley Avenue Jive Cats, up until the end of 1964, when he married and quit the group.
The look and the sound of his double pair of maracas playing was to have a profound influence upon the young Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Paul Jones (Manfred Mann), Phil May (Pretty Things), Van Morrison (Them) and numerous other British groups in the early 1960s.
Born around 1934, Jerome was a jazz-loving tuba player who lived in Chicago in the apartment below BO DIDDLEY's 2nd wife Ethel "Tootsie" Smith. Recruited initially to pass the hat around whilst The Jive Cats played on street corners, he was soon taught to play the maracas by a BO DIDDLEY who was keen to fuel the rhythms of his group, but unwilling to have to carry a complete set of drums around the streets of Chicago.
His recording career with BO DIDDLEY lasted for almost a decade, from March 1955 until November 1964, and included the following memorable vocal contributions:

"Jerome's Greatest Hits":

• Bring It To Jerome (July 1955)
• Down Home Special (October 1956)
• Say Man (January 1958)
• Bo Meets The Monster (September 1958)
• I Love You So (Spring 1959)
• Say Man, Back Again (September 1959)
• Signifying Blues (January 1960)
• Bo's Vacation (February 1961)
• Not Guilty (February 1961)
• Background To A Music (June 1961)
• Give Me A Break (Man) (January 1962)

Jerome's TV Appearances:

• Toast of The Town (The Ed Sullivan Show) (CBS, November 1955)
• Scene at 6.30 (Granada, UK, September 1963)
• Thank Your Lucky Stars (ABC, UK, September 1963)

Jerome Green is believed to have died in New York, around 1973. In 2002, the popular Pittsburgh, PA-based rock & roll group The Hi-Frequencies paid their own lasting tribute to him when they wrote and recorded a track titled "Jerome Green". In 2007, the Norwegian garage/surf rock band Los Plantronics wrote and recorded their instrumental, also titled "Jerome Green", and in 2008, the hosts of Chicago Public Radio's "Sound Opinions" rock & roll talk show hailed Jerome as one of their "Unsung Heroes of Rock & Roll" and the Tacoma, Washington-based folk/blues/rockabilly musician Tiny Letters also paid his tribute by writing and recording a track titled "Song For Jerome Green".


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