The legendary guitarist Scotty Moore, has died in Tennessee at the age of 84. Moore is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley and was the guitarist for “The King” Elvis Presley, from 1954 and played on all the classics including “That’s All Right“, “Good Rockn’ Tonight“, “Milk Cow Blues Boogie“, “Baby Let’s Play House“, “Heartbreak Hotel“, “Mystery Train“, “Blue Suede Shoes“, “Hound Dog“, “Too Much“, “Jailhouse Rock” and “Hard Headed Woman“.
His early background was in jazz and country music, he led a group called “Starlight Wranglers” before Sam Phillips at Sun Record put him together with then teenage Elvis Presley. Phillips believed that Moore’s lead guitar and Bill Black’s double bass were all that was needed to augment Presley’s rhythm guitar and lead vocals on their recordings. In 1954 Moore and Black accompanied Elvis on what would become the first legendary Presley hit, the Sun Studios session cut of “That’s All Right“, a recording regarded as a seminal event in rock and roll history.
Moore had also starred in four Elvis movies Loving You, jailhouse Rock, King Creole and G.I. Blues. In 1960 Moore took a job as production manager at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records and continued to work with Elvis on 60s hits “Good Luck Charm”, “(You’re The) Devil in Disguise” and “Bossa Nova Baby”. In 1964 Phillips fired Moore and he went on to record a solo album ‘The Guitar That Changed The World‘ before reuniting with Elvis for his ‘68 Comeback Special‘
Moore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Moore played his last show at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis in 2007. He was ranked 29th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2011, and in 2015 Moore was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
Rest easy legend, thank you for the music….
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