Photo by Claude Jones
B. B. Cunningham Jr. was lead singer of the
Memphis rock band the Hombres. The band scored a hit for 13 weeks in
1967 with the song "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)."
The late Memphis musician B.B. Cunningham will be recognized with a
place on the Beale Street Brass Note Walk of Fame, with a ceremony set
for May 29 at 6 p.m. inside the recently opened Jerry Lee Lewis’ Club at
310 Beale St.
Cunningham was killed in October 2012 while working as a security guard, investigating an incident at the Cherry Crest Apartments.
Born into a musical family — his father was crooner Buddy Blake and
his brother Bill Cunningham would help found pop-soul group the Box Tops
— Cunningham had a long and interesting career. A graduate of Messick
High, he played in a series of teen combos, eventually forming the
Hombres who scored a chart hit with the garage classic “Let It All Hang
Out” in 1967. After the Hombres’ career slowed, Cunningham worked behind
the scenes at the famed Sounds of Memphis Studios.
In 1971, he moved to Los Angeles where he served as chief engineer at
Independent Recorders, working with the likes of Billy Joel, Elton
John, and Lou Rawls. He would ultimately return to Memphis a few years
later, launching his own studio.
Starting in the late-’90s, Cunningham spent 15 years as a member of Jerry Lee Lewis’ band. He released a solo album,
Hangin’ In, in 2003, and continued to perform with various local outfits until his passing.
The Brass Note event is free and open to the public. Cunningham’s
honor will mark the 125th note that’s been awarded since the program was
founded by Performa in 1986. For more information, go to
bealestreet.com.
Noted Memphis musician B.B. Cunningham
Jr., a longtime member of Jerry Lee Lewis's band, was killed in a
shooting early Sunday morning, according to police and a member of his
family.
The incident happened just before 2 a.m. Sunday morning at the Cherry
Crest Apartments in Southeast Memphis. According to police, the
70-year-old Cunningham, a security guard in a neighboring apartment
complex, heard a shot in the Cherry Crest Apartments and went to
investigate. When police arrived at the complex at 1460 Cherry, both
Cunningham and a 16-year-old boy were found dead from gunshot wounds.
Reached at his home in the Washington D.C. area, Cunningham's brother
Bill, a founding member of '60s Memphis pop-soul band the Box Tops,
could only verify that his brother had been shot and killed in the
incident.
Sunday afternon, bloodstains and a latex glove left behind by police
could be seen in the courtyard of the rundown apartment complex.
Byny Garcia lives in a unit on the second floor, across the courtyard
from the shooting. He was listening to music when he and his wife heard
the gunshots.
"It's like five or six shots. I don't think anything about this because it's common," he said.
Garcia pointed to the bloodstains near a sapling, saying that's where
the teenager fell. Cunningham was about 30-40 feet away, near a
stairway.
"I liked him. We have a good memory from him," Garcia said about
Cunningham. "He'd take care of the old people and the Spanish kids. He
was a good person. We don't feel good at this moment."
Garcia said his wife, who didn't speak English, saw a black man and a
white woman flee from the scene, possibly in a green Honda.
During a career that spanned more than 50 years, Cunningham proved
one of the most versatile talents in Memphis, working as a musician,
frontman, songwriter, session player, engineer and producer.
Born Blake Baker Cunningham Jr., he was the product of a musical
family. His father was a crooner who recorded under the stage name Buddy
Blake, cutting a pair of pop vocal numbers for Sam Phillips' Sun
Records and Memphis International label in the 1950s.
At 14, the junior Cunningham became the youngest member of the local
musicians union. He helped his father run the family's Cover Records
label, for which he served as session player, producer and artist,
releasing a series of solo sides in the late-'50s and early '60s.
A student at the musically fertile
Messick High
— home to members of Booker T. and the MGs, guitarist Reggie Young and
many others -- B.B. Cunningham led the Six O'Clock Boys, scoring a small
regional hit with "Ivory Marbles." He established a national reputation
in 1965 as member of the touring version of Ronnie and the Daytonas,
known for the song "G.T.O."
That band would eventually morph into the Hombres. Cunningham would
play keyboards and sing for the group, which scored a #12 chart hit with
"Let It All Hang Out" in 1967. A classic of the garage band era,
Cunningham's reading of the song would endure — it would be featured in
the early-70s Nuggets album, be used in Cameron Crowe's 2005 film
"Elizabethtown," and in recent ads for Foster's Lager.
After the Hombres career slowed, Cunningham went to work behind the
scenes at the famed Sounds of Memphis Studios. In 1971, he moved to Los
Angeles where he served as chief engineer at Independent Recorders,
working with the likes of Billy Joel, Elton John, and Lou Rawls.
He would ultimately return to Memphis a few years later, launching
his own studio. Since 1997, Cunningham had also been a member of Jerry
Lee Lewis' band. He released a solo album, Hangin' In, in 2003, and
continued to play with and inspire several generation of local musicians
up until his passing.
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