H-Bomb Ferguson

Robert Percell Ferguson (May 9, 1929 – November 26, 2006), who performed as H-Bomb Ferguson, was an American jump blues singer. He was an early pioneer of the rock and roll style of the mid-1950s, featuring driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, honking tenor saxophone solos, and outlandish personal appearance. Ferguson sang and played piano in a flamboyant style, wearing colorful wigs.

Early life Born in Torest, Charleston County, South Carolina, on condition he learned sacred melodies. Ferguson had other ideas, recalling "After church was over, while the people was all standing outside talking, me and my friends would run back inside and I'd play the blues on the piano."

Career At the age of 19, Ferguson was on the road with Joe Liggins and the Honeydrippers. They moved to New York, where Ferguson branched off on his own, getting a gig at the nightclub Baby Grand Club in Harlem, billed as "The Cobra Kid." whose drummer Jack "The Bear" Parker (according to most sources) gave him the nickname "H-Bomb" and became his manager. His debut was followed by releases on Atlas and Prestige, before he signed a recording contract with Savoy Records in 1951. Backed by the Medicine Men, he recorded his first album, Wiggin' Out, for Chicago's Earwig Music in 1993.

Death and legacy Ferguson died in 2006 at the Hospice of Cincinnati, of complications from emphysema and cardiopulmonary disease, aged 77.

His early work was featured in a compilation album, H-Bomb Ferguson: Big City Blues, 1951-54. A documentary was made of his life, entitled The Life And Times Of H-bomb Ferguson.