H-BOMB FERGUSON
(Robert Percell "Bob" Ferguson)
(6CD)
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Torest, Charleston County, South Carolina, he was the eleventh of
twelve children. His father was a Baptist preacher who paid for piano
lessons for his son, on condition he learned sacred melodies. But Ferguson
had other ideas. "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."
At the age of 19, he 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."
A blues shouter, he first recorded as Bob Ferguson in New York in 1950, for
Derby Records, 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. Several saxophone-driven singles
followed, in the style of Wynonie Harris, and "Good Lovin'" was at least
regionally successful though it failed to reached the national charts.
