Blueberry Hill

The music for "Blueberry Hill" was composed by Vincent Rose and the lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis.[2] It was recorded six times in 1940.

Sammy Kaye recorded and released the first recording of the song on RCA Victor Records with vocals by Tommy Ryan on May 31, 1940.[3][4] Gene Krupa's version was issued on OKeh Records[5] on June 3. Singer Mary Small recorded a vocal version on the same label with Nat Brandwynne's orchestra, released June 20, 1940.[6]

The first hit version and the most successful in 1940 was by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, which reached #2 on the US charts featuring Ray Eberle on vocals.[7] This was the most famous version in the 1940s. It was recorded in Chicago on May 13, 1940 and released on RCA Bluebird Records as catalog number B-10768-A. It was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog numbers BD 5632 and MH 92.

Other 1940 recordings were by Kay Kyser, Russ Morgan, Connee Boswell, Johnny Messner, and Jimmy Dorsey.

Gene Autry recorded the song in 1940 also and the song appeared in his 1941 film The Singing Hill.

Dennis Day performed the song on the radio comedy program The Jack Benny Program (November 10, 1940).

Louis Armstrong's 1949 recording on Decca Records with Gordon Jenkins charted in the Billboard Top 40, reaching number 29.

"Blueberry Hill" was an international hit in 1956 for Fats Domino and has become a rock and roll standard. It reached number two for three weeks on the Billboard Top 40 charts, becoming his biggest pop hit, and spent eight non-consecutive weeks at number one on the R&B Best Sellers chart.[8] The version by Fats Domino was also ranked number 82 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[9][10]

The song has appeared in the following movies and TV shows:

• The Singing Hill (1941)
• Let the Good Times Roll (1973)
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
• Summertime Blues (1988)
• Blueberry Hill (1988)
• 12 Monkeys (1995)
• 9 Dead Gay Guys (2002)
• The Term or Srok (2014)
• The Sixties, TV mini-series (2014)
• Mike & Mike, TV (2016)
• Capone (2020)
• The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

• On the American television show, Happy Days, this was Richie Cunningham's favorite song.[11][12][13]
• Joe Edwards' restaurant Blueberry Hill, on the Delmar Loop in St. Louis, Missouri, where Chuck Berry frequently played, is named after the song.[14]
• Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin made a cover performance of the song on December 10, 2010 before an audience of international film and television celebrities, in support of a charity for ill children. Videos of his performance quickly went viral worldwide.[15]