EARL GRANT | MUSICIAN
Earl Grant was born in Idabel, Oklahoma. Though he would be known later for his keyboards and vocals, Grant also played trumpet and drums. Grant attended four music schools, eventually becoming a music teacher. He augmented his income by performing in clubs during his army service, throughout which he was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas.[1][2] Grant signed with Decca Records in 1957 and his first single "The End" reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single "Ebb Tide" sold over one million copies, gaining gold disc status.[1] He recorded five more singles that made the charts, including "Swingin' Gently" (from Beyond the Reef), and six additional albums (mostly 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. In all, Grant recorded 30 albums for Decca, mostly on the Brunswick label, a subsidiary of Decca.[2]
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Several of his albums featured tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson.[3]
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Grant also made a few appearances in films and on television, including Tender Is the Night (1962),[4] Juke Box Rhythm (1959),[5] and The Ed Sullivan Show (1960).[6]
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Grant sang the title theme for the 1959 film Imitation of Life in a way very close to an imitation of Nat King Cole.
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He died instantly in a car accident in Lordsburg, New Mexico, at the age of 39[1] when the car he was driving ran off Interstate 10.[2] He was driving from Los Angeles to an intended destination in Juarez, Mexico. His 17-year-old cousin was also killed in the accident.[7]
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On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Earl Grant among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[8]
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