One of the few R&B artists of the 50s and 60s to have ever written a successful (and brilliant) novel about the music business - “The Day The Music Died”, under his birth name of Joseph C Smith – Sonny Knight epitomised the Los Angeles R&B scene of 70 years ago with his mellow tunes and cool vocals. Although he only ever had one chart hit of note in the 1950s – the much covered ‘Confidential’ – his influence of a generation of young R&B artists is undeniable. And even now he’s beloved of the East Los Angeles ‘lowrider’ music scene, particularly when an ‘Oldies But Goodies’ dance is in session. Ballads and downtempo were Sonny’s chief stock in trade, but he was equally adept at making rock ‘n’ roll - ‘Jail Bird’, ‘Keep A Walking’ and ‘Teenage Party’ for example, not to mention the big Jamaican 50s sound system favourite ‘But Officer’, a tongue in cheek discourse on the Los Angeles Police Department’s attitude to errant drivers.........
