Cecil Gant

Cecil Gant (April 4 1913 - February 4 1951) was an American blues singer and pianist.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Gant worked local clubs through the mid 1930s up until the Second World War, when he enlisted in the United States Army. Though his piano was blues-based, vocally he was a crooner of considerable cross-over appeal. He sang at a War Bond rally in Los Angeles, California, signed with the Gilt Edge record label, and recorded the self-penned ballad "I Wonder" late in 1944, billed as "Pvt. Cecil Grant."

"I Wonder" reached number one on the Harlem Hit Parade (as the "race" chart was called then) and sold impressively nationwide. Gant then went on tour billed as "The G.I. Sing-sation," dressed in Army khaki and breaking attendance records at major venues, attracting both black and white audiences. But he was unlucky, and perhaps too early: it was left to Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine to find the lucrative "sepia Sinatra" market. Gant had other releases on King Records (1947), Bullet Records (1948-49), Downbeat/Swingtime (1949), and Imperial Records (1950), but his moment of juke box glory was gone.

Gant died of a heart attack in Nashville in 1951, at the age of 37. He is buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Compilation albums

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dz6wtr5tkl1x "Best of 1944-1948" (All Music Guide)]
* [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000065BYB "We're Gonna Rock" (Amazon)]

ee also

*List of West Coast blues musicians
*List of Boogie-Woogie musicians
*List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart
*List of number-one rhythm and blues hits (United States)
*R&B number-one hits of 1945 (USA)
*West Coast blues
*First rock and roll record

External links

* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/encyclopaedia/g/G125.HTM Music Web]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:cq5e8qbtbtb4 All Music Guide]
* [http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/cecilgant.txt Geocities fansite]
* [http://blacknashville.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/cecil-gant-1913-1951/ Blog post about his burial]