Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 1954. Among his best-known songs are “Blue Suede Shoes“, “Honey Don’t“, “Matchbox” and “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby“.

According to fellow musician Charlie Daniels, “Carl Perkins’ songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins’ sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed.” Perkins’s songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and Eric Clapton, which further established his prominent place in the history of popular music. Paul McCartney said “if there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles.”

Nicknamed the “King of Rockabilly“, Perkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He also received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Carl Lee Perkins was born on April 9, 1932 in Tiptonville, Tennessee, the son of poor sharecroppers Louise and Buck Perkins (misspelled on his birth certificate as “Perkings”).