Cecil Gant

Cecil Gant (April 4, 1913 – February 4, 1951) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, whose recordings of both ballads and "fiery piano rockers" He returned to Nashville, Tennessee and worked there as a musician, as well as touring with his own band, In 1944, after performing at a War Bond rally in Los Angeles, California, he recorded his composition "I Wonder" for the tiny black-owned Bronze record label. When it started to become locally popular, he re-recorded it for the newly established white-owned independent Gilt-Edge record label. His recording of "I Wonder" was released under the name "Pvt. Cecil Gant", as were later releases on the label. and its B-side, the instrumental "Cecil Boogie", reached number 5 on the R&B chart. Gant wrote most of his own songs. Billed as "The GI Sing-sation", his two follow-up records on Gilt-Edge, "The Grass Is Getting Greener" and "I'm Tired", also made the R&B chart. Arnold Shaw identified "I Wonder" as the song that "ignited the postwar blues explosion", On some of his later records, Gant was credited, for unknown reasons, as Gunter Lee Carr. contemporary sources refer to a heart attack, possibly brought on by Gant's alcoholism. He is buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Compilation albums I'm Still Singing The Blues Today (Oldie Blues) I Wonder: The Best of Cecil Gant 1944–1948 (P-Vine Records) We're Gonna Rock (Indigo UK)