Barbara Pittman

Rock'n'roll singer who dated Elvis Presley

Barbara Pittman signed to Sun Records in Memphis during its celebrated period in the mid-1950s. She had a tough rock'n'roll voice but, despite good songs, had no hit records. She blamed the label's owner, Sam Phillips, for her lack of success. "That was a man's label," she would complain,

and Sam didn't spend any money 'cause I was a girl. He would promote an instrumental . . . rather than promote a woman. I said to him, "Why didn't you tell me that at the time and I could have gone some place else."

Pittman claimed that there had never been anything typical about her from day one. She was born in 1938, one of 12 children, to a poor family in Memphis, Tennessee. She said, "If we'd been any poorer, we'd have starved to death." Her father was an American Indian and her mother was of Irish descent. Her uncle had a pawn shop in the city and she became intrigued by the musicians who came into the shop to hock their instruments.

Surprisingly, Pittman auditioned for Sun Records in 1954, but was told to return when she was older. She sang on shows with the DJ Sleepy Eyed John, who became her manager, securing bookings for $5 a time. She was dismissed from the licensed Eagle's Nest for being under age, but at one show, she witnessed Elvis Presley putting black shoe polish on his hair:

This was before he could afford to dye it properly and it was raining and the shoe polish was running down his face and over his clothes. All these little screaming girls were after him and here's Elvis looking like Al Jolson in make-up.

In 1955 she toured with the western star Lash LaRue for a year, acting first as a babysitter and then singing contemporary hits like "Let Me Go Lover" on the show. In 1956 she recorded a demo of a song that the songwriter Stan Kesler wanted to get to Elvis Presley, "Playin' For Keeps", and this time Sam Phillips was impressed and gave her a $100 advance.

At the time, Pittman was singing with Clyde Leoppard's Snearly Ranch Boys at the Cotton Club in West Memphis. Leoppard's band provided the backing for her first Sun session, on 15 April 1956, the rocking "I Need a Man" and the ballad "No Matter Who's to Blame". Her other songs for Sun and its subsidiaries included "Sentimental Fool", "Two Young Fools In Love", "Everlasting Love" and "Handsome Man", a jazz ballad written by Charlie Rich.

"The Eleventh Commandment" was criticised in the Bible belt, although the new commandment was only "Thou shalt not break a heart." "Sam wanted me to do little girlie tunes like Connie Francis," she said of her singles, "but I come from north Memphis. I was beating up the boys by the time I was three."

Along with June Juanico, Anita Carter and Wanda Jackson, Pittman dated Elvis Presley, who in early 1958 was annoyed about being drafted. "He was very upset about it," said Pittman,

He kept saying, "Why me, when I can stay here and make so much more money? My taxes are more important than sticking me in the service."

Pittman worked on package tours, often with Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, and the Righteous Brothers. Later, she worked as the lead singer with Barbara and the Visitors and the Thirteenth Committee. In 1966, she sang the theme song for the Vincent Price film Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. She returned to Memphis in 1970 and married the rockabilly enthusiast Willie "Cat Man" Gutt.

Pittman came to Europe on occasion and in March this year performed at a rock'n'roll weekend at Pontin's Holiday Centre at Camber in East Sussex. She was not well at the time but her dedicated fans loved to hear "I Need a Man" and "Everlasting Love" performed live.

Spencer Leigh