Gene Vincent

Vincent Eugene Craddock (11 February 1935 – 12 October 1971), known professionally as Gene Vincent, was an American musician, singer and songwriter who is considered as one of the pioneers of Rock n Roll.

Quotes

I hope my fans remember my name is Gene Vincent and not Gene Autry.
- As quoted in Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran: Rock'n'roll Revolutionaries (2004) by by John Collis, p. 181

Interview with Gene Vincent by Mick Farren, Published by International Times, March 1971

No, not really. I’m a singer. Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man. When I put out a record called "Be-Bop-A-Lula", my only thought was to just make a living singing. But all of a sudden, I was getting $1500 a night. And you take a 19-year old boy and put him in those circumstances … I had a Cadillac and all. It was a bad scene. It shouldn’t have happened on that first record.

It’s like I say. We used to all sit around … me and Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins and we’d talk about things. If one of us had a hit, we’d say: "That’s fabulous. It’s a damn good song." But now, the people that I meet are so damn big headed … it’s not music any more, it’s business. But now … I’ve met Jim Morrison of the Doors … a fantastic person. Really a nice guy, and he takes me back to the people I knew in the old days. Listen, a star is not a star. We never considered ourselves that. I’m always pushing, man, to get something better. And that’s the same with Jim and fellas like John Sebastian.

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Gene Vincent