Earl Grant

Earl Grant (January 20, 1931 – June 10, 1970) was an American pianist, organist, and vocalist popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Grant signed with Decca Records in 1957 and his first single “The End” reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts on October 13, 1958. The album Ebb Tide (And Other Instrumental Favorites) sold over one million copies, gaining gold disc status. He recorded six more singles that made the charts, including “Swingin’ Gently” (from Beyond the Reef), and six additional albums (on the Decca label) through 1968. He also recorded the album Yes Sirree! and the instrumental album Trade Winds, single-tracked on the Hammond organ and piano, featuring the love theme from the film El Cid and Chaplin‘s “Eternally“. This album featured some realistic-sounding “tropical bird calls” produced by his electric organ. “House of Bamboo” was another big-selling single. Grant recorded 30 albums for Decca, mostly on the Brunswick label, a subsidiary of Decca. He died instantly in a car accident in Lordsburg, New Mexico, at the age of 39 when the car he was driving ran off Interstate 10.He was driving from Los Angeles to an intended destination in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, for an appearance at the La Fiesta nightclub. His 17-year-old cousin, Roosevelt Woods III, was also killed in the accident.

Share this post

Leave a Comment