Gene Vincent

From Wikipedia:

Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, “Be-Bop-a-Lula”, is considered a significant early example of rockabilly. His chart career was brief, especially in his home country of the US, where he notched three top 40 hits in 1956 and 1957, and never charted in the top 100 again. In the UK, he was a somewhat bigger star, racking up eight top 40 hits from 1956 to 1961.

Vincent was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He is sometimes referred to by his somewhat unusual nickname/moniker the “Screaming End”. […]

The very first record Paul McCartney ever bought was “Be Bop A Lula” by Gene Vincent, released in 1956.

Where did you first hear Be-Bop-a-Lula? Can you remember?

I was going to say on the radio, but they didn’t have a lot of rock and roll on the radio. I can’t remember where I first heard it. But I just loved Gene Vincent’s voice and his band, the Blue Caps. I never understood what that was — Blue Caps, you know, so they’re wearing caps and the caps are blue — but it’s a Navy term for waves. And they were in the film The Girl Can’t Help It. So these were all really great fan moments for me.

Were you already driven by rock and roll prior to walking into the back of Curry’s and picking that record out and being totally swallowed up by the sleeve and everything it meant to you? Was the spark already lit then?

Yeah, rock and roll had just arrived, and we’d had years of quite sort of square music. You didn’t realize it was square till rock and roll arrived and you go, “Ah.” I’d heard it on the radio — there were a few programs that played that kind of music and you knew about them and you’d listen to them avidly. Rock and roll was there, and I’d got a guitar, like a lot of other mates, and we’d started with skiffle — “Really Don’t You Rock Me, Daddy” — that was TJ’s base. Then rock and roll came in and it blew the whole thing wide open.

Paul McCartney – Radio interview for BBC Radio 2, May 25, 2026

In 1962, Gene Vincent was on the same bill as the Beatles in Hamburg. In discussion with Ronnie Wood in 2012, Paul McCartney recalled an incident with a pistol at Vincent’s girlfriend’s hotel.

We were in the same club in Hamburg. So you got to know some of these guys well — Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino for a little while. But Gene was great. I mean, he was crazy, like a lot of musicians.

Paul McCartney – Radio interview for BBC Radio 2, May 25, 2026

Songs written or co-written by Gene Vincent