“Shock Rock” is a rock genre often associated with the likes of Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, and Ozzy Osbourne. In fact, they have a Clevelander named Jalacy Jay Hawkins, A.K.A. ‘Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, to thank for this type of performance.
Born in Cleveland in 1929, Hawkins spent time in an orphanage until he was 18 months old, when he was adopted by a Blackfoot Native couple. His mother decided to put him into foster care, and he grew up in a boarding house his foster mother owned. By the time he was four years old, young Jalacy learned to play the piano and read and write music. As he grew older, he studied classical piano and desired to sing opera, having been influenced by Paul Robeson.
By the time he was a teenager, Hawkins was performing in music venues around Cleveland, such as Gleason’s Musical Bar, one of Clevleand’s first rock ‘n’ roll hotspot located at 5219 Woodland Avenue. The owner, William “Jap” Gleason, began presenting live rhythm & blues music, which was then called “race music.”
Dropping out of East Technical High School in 1942 and enlisting in the Army, Hawkins returned to the Cleveland music scene around 1951 as a pianist and backing vocalist for r&b guitarist Tiny Grimes. This was the start of his eventual career path that took a rather extreme detour, eventually culminating in Hawkins being acknowledged as a pioneer of “shock rock.” Indeed, before a performance, a young Hawkins reputedly told his music tutor “leave before I make your life miserable.” 1
As Hawkins’s career unfolded throughout the 1950s and 1960s, his performances became increasingly bizarre and macabre. Apparently, Alan Freed loved Hawkins’s approach so much that the pioneering rock ‘n’ roll deejay, who popularized the art form during his stint on the Cleveland airwaves, encouraged Hawkins to push his showmanship to a higher level and offered him $300 to come out of a coffin before a show. Eventually, Hawkins began opening many of his shows by emerging from a coffin, wearing a bone in his nose, and using a cigarette-smoking skull named Henry as a prop.
According to Dave Tomar of “Music Influence,” “. . . it was his throaty, gutbucket delivery and schlocky, horror-themed songs that distinguished Screamin’ Jay. His weirdness and originality were without precedent.” 2
His singing style – a combination of guttural, smoky, bluesy grunts – matched perfectly with his on-stage persona. According to “Head Heritage,” “Screamin’ Jay’s voice was . . . unearthly, tortured and seemed to emanate forth from a man both beset AND freeing himself from his demons all at once with the feeling and emotion of a man double his age.” 3
Actually, Hawkins’ work was critical to many rock genres. His music would eventually influence the development of what has become known as shock or goth rock and traces of his influences can also be heard in the work of Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Led Zeppelin. Despite Hawkins’ far-reaching influences, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum has yet to commemorate him.4 This, despite the fact that his most successful recording, “I Put a Spell on You” (1956), was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. 5
Hawkins died at age 70 in France in February 2000 following health complications, a mostly unheralded music pioneer and influence.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screamin%27_Jay_Hawkins ↩︎
- https://musicinfluence.com/rock-and-roll-tales/screamin-jay-hawkins-the-father-of-shock-rockand-57-children/ ↩︎
- https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/screamin-jay-hawkins-i-hear-voices-just-dont-care ↩︎
- https://case.edu/ech/articles/h/hawkins-jalacy-screamin-jay ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screamin%27_Jay_Hawkins ↩︎
