Joe Clay is an American rockabilly musician from Gretna, Louisiana. Clay first began performing at age 12 in a country band, who were offered a spot performing on local radio station WWEZ. RCA subsidiary Vik Records signed him a few years later, while he was still in his teens; he recorded in New York with guitarists Mickey Baker and Skeeter Best, bassist Leonard Gaskin, and drummers Bobby Donaldson and Joe Marshall. In 1956, he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a few months before Elvis Presley played there, and played a cover of The Platters' hit "Only You". Clay would later play guitar on some of Elvis's recordings, but his manager would not let him tour outside the New Orleans area, and he never scored a hit. After being dropped from RCA, he continued performing in New Orleans for over 30 years. In the 1980s, the rockabilly revival in Europe resulted in renewed interest in Clay; he then toured England in 1986. Further info about Joe Clay is from source LP 'Ducktail' in 1986; Bear Family Records BFX 15224. Drove a school bus for 15 yrs. in the New Orleans area [More at Wikipedia]

January 1st, 1939 in Gretna  /  Died:   Sep 26th, 2016