LOS ANGELES -- Pioneering rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter, drummer, bandleader and disc jockey Johnny Otis made the kind of conscious life choice early on that few people have the inclination, or ...

You know, we'd all seen pictures of Johnny Otis with the nice hair, and he looked like a tall kind of a, like, a Creole man with a nice mustache and a beard, and he - you know, and the nice pompadour ...

JOHNNY OTIS: Well, this goes back to the mid '40s, and it was my first record date with my own band, as I recall. And we did three things. I went to the producer after we had completed the third one ...

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Today, we continue our archive series R&B, rockabilly and early rock 'n' roll. Before Elvis Presley recorded "Hound Dog," it was recorded by Big Mama Thornton. The ...

Let's continue our archive series R&B, rockabilly and early rock 'n' roll with rhythm and blues singer Etta James. She got her start at the age of 15 when she was discovered by Johnny Otis, who we ...

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.