Now that we’re truly in the month of October (and not just the extended schedule that I coerced Turrtle into letting me write) we’re getting more and more into Halloween-related music. Continuing with our October theme, this week we have a rockabilly artist who was in the music business for 42 years until his passing in 2006. While that may not seem like too much of a Halloween theme, get this: his one and only hit single to reach the top 40 charts at number 11 was a song entitled none other than “Haunted House.” This week’s artist is Jumpin’ Gene Simmons.
While you may be thinking “Gene Simmons? The guy from KISS? Andy, you’re crazy, he’s not dead!” You’re certainly right about that, but the Gene Simmons we’re talking about today is the name that gave the famous Demon of KISS, Chaim Weitz, his stage name. Our Gene Simmons was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1933, the same town where the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, was from. It was also the King who helped Simmons start his recording career, making them labelmates at Sun Records. It wasn’t until the early 60’s when Simmons joined Hi Records where he recorded the song “Haunted House.” Originally song by Johnny Fuller in 1958, Simmons’ cover was released in August of 1964 and stayed in the charts until October of that year.
Great Halloween songs weren’t all that Simmons was about; Simmons was an excellent rockabilly artist whose energetic stage antics earned him the name “Jumpin’.” Jumpin’ Gene also had the unfortunate happenstance of having many of his recordings lost or damaged before they were ever released, which some people (myself included) believe may have been what kept this rock and roller from reaching his greatest potential in the music industry. One such recording, recovered and released much later on in Simmons’ life was the song “Peroxide Blonde and a Hopped Up Model Ford,” which went on to be covered by Brian Setzer in his tribute to Sun Records.
Gene Simmons’ last piece of work was “Indian Outlaw” which he wrote in 1994. The song was used by Tim McGraw and the world didn’t see any material by Simmons until 2001 when Hi Records released his complete collection, many of which were lost tracks. Five years later, four months after Simmons’ death at age 73, Sun Records released Drinkin’ Wine which debuted many songs that had been lost or unreleased since their original recording. So we can now get our fix of Jumpin’ Gene Simmons here and wherever you can find their recording. Enjoy!
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