# Were any early Rock n Roll stars WWII veterans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029 "2013-07-09T11:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/21 "2013-07-10T01:52:40Z")
Does Elvis count as early? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/22 "2013-07-10T02:05:25Z")
> [@Glazer](#): > > Does Elvis count as early? The one who was ten when WWII ended, and who entered the military after the Korean War ended? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/23 "2013-07-10T14:23:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Les Paul was a WWII veteran. Good call, though his [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_paul#Early_life) notes that he served in the Armed Forces Network as a musician. Still, he did serve. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/24 "2013-07-10T18:54:10Z")
Members of Blue Oyster Cult were crewman in the Jagdgeschwader 7 fighter unit in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/25 "2013-07-10T19:21:16Z")
All of the Beatles were born during WW2- but the “5th Beatle,” producer George Martin, was a pilot in the British Royal Navy during WW2. He says he never saw any real action or combat, however. He was born in 1926 and enlisted rather late in the war. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/26 "2013-07-10T19:57:08Z")
> [@Glazer](#): > > Does Elvis count as early? Tom Parker served in the US Army before WWII, receiving a medical discharge in the 1930s. I think he rose to the rank of Colonel somewhat later. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/27 "2013-07-10T20:19:19Z")
[George Martin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Martin) was in the Royal Navy at the end of WWII but didn’t see combat. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/28 "2013-07-11T00:45:14Z")
Wow, some great responses! And I always assumed Colonel Tom Parker was a Colonel the same way Harlan Sanders was. Having just read his Wikipedia entry, I still kind of suspect that was the case… ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/29 "2013-07-12T02:18:22Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Not early but late 1960s Los Angeles group Spirit drummer Ed Cassidy served in the Navy in WWII > [Ed Cassidy - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Cassidy) Ed Cassidy was perhaps the most unusual rock star of the last 1960s, he was totally bald when long hair was a major political statement, and well over forty when no one over thirty should be trusted. Today, I don’t think too many young fans (teens or college aged) would notice if a drummer for a new band was around 42-44. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/30 "2013-07-13T02:17:51Z")
Dave Bartholomew, musician and bandleader, best known as Fats Domino’s songwriting and producing partner, [served](http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C108) in the U.S. Army in World War II. He’s still with us at 92. Harry Belafonte isn’t a rock star, but he had a #5 pop hit with “The Banana Boat Song.” He is a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. Jackie Brenston, who played sax in Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm on “Rocket 88,” arguably the first rock ‘n’ roll record, was a WWII Army vet. Johnnie Ray would have been old enough to serve in WWII, but he would have been 4F because of his hearing loss. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/31 "2013-07-13T09:27:33Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Jackie Brenston, who played sax in Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm on “Rocket 88,” arguably the first rock ‘n’ roll record, was a WWII Army vet. We have a winner! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/32 "2013-07-13T17:03:54Z")
Even better; Chess Records originally released it as by “Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats.” It went to #1 R&B. Bill Haley covered it a few months after Turner’s band recorded it. This was four years before “Rock Around the Clock.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/33 "2013-07-13T20:41:05Z")
Ok, not rock, but jazz great Dave Brubeck was in the army in WWII and established the first racially integrated army band. His story was that he was an infantryman and was saved from being sent to the front as a replacement by a colonel who hear him playing in a rec hall. ---
**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/34 "2013-07-13T21:21:07Z")
I would think there would have been very few rockers in active service in WWII. Rock and Roll was initially a teen phenomenon in the 50s meaning that the musicians popular with the teens were probably in their twenties at the time and would have been in their teens in WWII, thus too young to serve. However, plenty of musicians from the Swing Era that preceded rock and roll did serve in the military. It was considered de rigeur and most musicians with prominent careers on the radio served, if only for 6 months in entertainment groups. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/35 "2013-07-14T19:23:29Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Chuck Berry was the right age – he was seventeen in '43 – but he was behind bars in '44 and '45 (and '46, and most of '47). Chuck Berry’s long-term pianist (and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in the ‘sidemen’ category) Johnnie Johnson joined the Marines during WWII. Ended up in Bobby Troup’s all-serviceman jazz band. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/36 "2013-07-15T13:45:38Z")
> [@agnesnitt](#): > > I would think there would have been very few rockers in active service in WWII. Rock and Roll was initially a teen phenomenon in the 50s meaning that the musicians popular with the teens were probably in their twenties at the time and would have been in their teens in WWII, thus too young to serve. Exactly, which is why I wondered if there were any. The events that demarcate one generation from another frequently leave a few people on the cusp of both. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/37 "2013-07-15T14:18:14Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > We have a winner! Really, I think you had a winner in Post #4. The Drifters didn’t rock hard, but listen to “[Money Honey](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8oNHMNCSjQ)” (1953) and tell me that doesn’t satisfy the question. Not only was Pinkney was with the group from the beginning and the last surviving original member, but he was a decorated WWII Army veteran and, according to Wikipedia, pitched in a sandlot team in the Negro League! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/38 "2013-07-16T01:57:55Z")
Agreed! Another inspiration for this thread was that many literary heroes of the boomer generation–Vonnegut, Mailer, Kerouac–were veterans of WWII. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/39 "2013-07-16T02:35:00Z")
> [@agnesnitt](#): > > However, plenty of musicians from the Swing Era that preceded rock and roll did serve in the military. It was considered de rigeur and most musicians with prominent careers on the radio served, if only for 6 months in entertainment groups. Two veterans of the WWII RAF bands were Cliff and Betty Townshend…they had a couple of sons who went into rock ‘n’ roll. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029/40 "2013-07-16T02:51:40Z")
Another Fifties R & B artist who was sort of a proto-rocker and who served in the US Army during WW2: Eddie Jones, AKA Guitar Slim. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbtlHawo7-s) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-early-rock-n-roll-stars-wwii-veterans/663029.md?page=1)