LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Johnny Otis, singer of the 1958 hit "Willie and the Hand Jive", has died in California at the age of 90. Otis died on Tuesday in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, his friend ...

Johnny Otis, the “godfather of rhythm and blues” who wrote and recorded the R&B classic “Willie and the Hand Jive” and for decades evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio ...

Not many people pack as many careers into a life as Johnny Otis, who died earlier this week at the age of 90 in his home state of California. Author, disc jockey, talent scout, legislative staffer, ...

Otis, who died in 2012, started out leading a big band. Later, as a talent scout, he discovered such performers as Big Mama Thornton, Esther Phillips and Etta James. Originally broadcast in 1989. This ...

In a new biography titled "Midnight at the Barrelhouse –– The Johnny Otis Story" (University of Minnesota Press, 2010), George Lipsitz, professor of Black Studies and sociology at UC Santa Barbara, ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Johnny Otis, who made the R&B classic "Willie and the Hand Jive" and evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio host, has died in California at 90. His ...

The choice put him on a path to a life in music during which he created the sensually pulsing 1958 hit 'Willie and the Hand Jive.' It also gave him a deep connection to black culture that helped him ...

Otis, who had been suffering from health issues for several years, died at his Altadena home on Tuesday, said his manager, Terry Gould. Otis, who was white, grew up in a black section of Berkeley, ...