Dr. Rick Ferris

My early musical influences were big band,C&W, and early RnR ( mostly the Sun recording artists,i.e.,Elvis,Jerry Lee, Carl & Roy,etc. ), while growing up in Rochester in the early 50s. Like most kids,I was hearing about artists primarily from AM radio. All of us were “flipping the dial”,trying to catch the DJs from NYC,Chicago,Phili., to find out what artists were breaking. Then one glorious day,I came upon the “hound ” broadcasting live from the club Zanzibar. This was really exotic, broadcasting from a club rather then a sterile studio. I was hooked from day one ! The next thing that stood out was his ” big Heavy” theme. I never heard big band rhythm and blues before.I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that 78rpm recording.In fact,as I recall, most of his programming consisted of R&B. I was desperate to buy and enjoy this music that George was playing.I joined the Hound Dogs to qualify for the discount”hound sounds”.The local record store would block off a section just for that music and we could purchase it at discount prices. George was a major influence in my discovery and life long love of R&B music. God bless you George.