Chuck Wiley (24 December 1937 – 2 December 2020) was a talented piano player and singer and until recently, one of the genuine mysteries of the original 1950's rock and roll scene. No photograph of him had ever surfaced until recently and after making some great records in the late fifties, he suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Chuck Wiley was born Charles Estel Wiley in Cattlesburg, Kentucky, the son of a Baptist minister and a piano playing mother. Chuck was self-taught on piano and in the 1950s was bitten by the rock 'n' roll bug. His rasping voice was just right for the times and that, combined with his hot boogie piano playing, ensured him a healthy living as a musician. It's not easy to classify his style; he was clearly absorbing everything that was going on around him. In his NDT review, Chris Woodford writes that at times he sounds like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and sometimes like something in-between. On several of his tracks, especially the slower ones, there are clear New Orleans influences to be heard as well, almost in the swamp pop style.
Wiley auditioned for legendary Nashville music man Murray Nash, who was very impressed with Chuck's strong voice and his writing ability. During the 1957-1959 period he recorded some twenty different songs, most of which came from his own pen. Six singles were released, on four different labels : Spangle (2, including a single credited to The Rock-Its), United Artists (2, licensed from Spangle), Jax and MusiCenter. Highlights for me are the frantic "Come Back Baby" (probably recorded in 1958, but not released until 1965), "Door To Door", "Tear It Up", "I Wanna Dance All Night" and "It's Love". Piano-led rock 'n' roll doesn't get much better than this. Chuck played piano on the majority of his own sessions, but Hargus 'Pig' Robbins played on all of his Nashville sessions, previous to that. Other session musicians include Buddy Harman (drums), Wayne Moss (guitar) and Chuck Agee (guitar), the co-writer of "I Love You So Much" on Jax.
His performing career started around 1957 in Daytona where he played with Ray Charles and several members of Count Basie's band. He then hired some of those members to play with him, which, at the time was very unusual since most clubs were all white and hiring black musicians was virtually unheard of. From there, Chuck went to Chicago and played on North Clark Street near Wrigley Field. It was here that he worked for the Glasson brothers, who ran clubs that had been owned by Al Capone. It was not long after that he was given his own club, the 8 O'Clock Club in Logan Square on the northwest side of Chicago. It had no business at all. Chuck tried all kinds of bands, but nothing would work. Then he found a black band on the southside of town. After only two nights the place was full. Then came trouble.
The club next door was owned by the mob and Chuck was threatened with violence if he carried on with his new band so he abruptly left and went back to Dayton. Even there, the gangsters came looking for him, but he managed to get protection from the local police. Dave Travis (in his liner notes for both the GeeDee CD and the Stomper Time CD "Nashville Rock 'n' Roll") writes that Chuck woke up in hospital, having been severely beaten up and left in a back alley, but according to Wiley that isn't true.
He changed his name to Johnny K. and was signed to Epic Records in 1969. "Charlie Rich was a friend who put me in touch with a manager, Betty Burger, next-door neighbour to Elvis Presley. Betty contacted Epic Records, who came to Evansville to see Chuck After that, he was on contract with them. He played shows with Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, B.J. Thomas and opened for Jimi Hendrix, who died the following year.
According to Wiley, he recorded at least 25 songs for Epic ("in Memphis, Nashville, Muscle Shoals and Los Angeles"), but only three singles were released in 1969-1971, including remakes of "I Love You So Much" and "Right By My Side". These were credited to Johnny K. Wiley. Unfortunately, he had a car accident, which disfigured his face for almost a year. Although plastic surgeons restored his face, he was dropped by Epic Records’ He ended up in Evansville, Indiana, and had been living there where he played the clubs for the last 40 years.
In 2002 Wiley married Alex and began to run his own recording studio, but near the end of the decade tragedy struck again. A fire destroyed his house. Wiley and Alex lost seven pianos, all their tape recordings and virtually all of their other belongings. Luckily, they were well insured. He and his wife volunteered and played piano at nursing homes across Evansville for several years.
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in September 2011, and had lived in a nursing home since 2013. Chuck was tested positive for Covid-19 and was transferred to the Deaconess Midtown Hospital where he subsequently developed bronchial pneumonia and died 2 December 2020.
(Edited from This Is My Story @ blackcat.nl & Sunset Evansville)