Rudy Toombs

Rudolph Toombs (1914 – November 28, 1962) was an American performer and songwriter. He wrote "Teardrops from My Eyes", Ruth Brown's first number one R&B song, and other hit songs for her, including "5-10-15 Hours". He also wrote "One Mint Julep" for The Clovers.[1][2]

Rudy Toombs
Birth nameRudolph Toombs
Born1914 (1914)
Monroe, Louisiana, United States
DiedNovember 28, 1962 (aged 47–48)
United States
GenresJump blues, rhythm and blues, blues
Occupation(s)Songwriter

History

Toombs was born in Monroe, Louisiana. He began as a vaudeville-style song-and-dance man and later became a productive lyricist and composer of doo-wop songs and rhythm-and-blues standards in the 1950s and 1960s. Some of his work was done at Atlantic Records, writing and arranging songs for Ahmet Ertegun. Toombs was murdered by robbers in the hallway of his apartment house in Harlem in 1962.[2]

Ruth Brown credited Toombs as a major reason for her success. She describes him as joyful, exuberant man, so full of life that he passed that ebullience on to her. He taught her how to take a moody blues ballad and make it into a bouncy jump blues.[3]

Songs

Some of Toombs best known songs are listed below.[2]

Artists

His songs (apart from those recordings listed above) have been sung by the following artists:[5]

References
  1. Dawson Jim; Propes, Steve (1992). What Was the First Rock 'n' Roll Record. Boston & London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-12939-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. "Biography for Rudy Toombs". IMDb. Retrieved 2006-11-01.
  3. Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm & Blues. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-061740-2.
  4. "It Hurts to Be in Love – Annie Laurie: Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  5. "Rudy Toombs". AllMusic. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
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