Mick Hartley

Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes, son of Greek immigrants in Los Angeles, died this week at the age of 90. He made his choice early: "As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black." So he spent his life in black music, not only leading The Johnny Otis Band, but discovering artists like Etta James, Hank Ballard, Little Willie John, Jackie Wilson and Big Mama Thornton, whose early version of "Hound Dog" he produced.

This the song he'll be remembered for, introducing the Bo Diddley beat to a wider audience in 1958:

Pan's People never looked like they were having this much fun.

In the late Sixties and early Seventies he made some of his, um, earthiest R'n'B material under the name Snatch and the Poontangs, which featured the blistering guitar of son Shuggie. It's X-rated stuff – well, filthy language, anyway – so NSFW. Two Time Slim, for instance, in the fine tradition of black braggadocio, years before rap came along: "I've been known to eat a wild gorilla from asshole to appetite." Or Signifyin' Monkey. Or The Pissed Off Cowboy. Or, finally, Hey Shine, recycling the old Willie and the Hand Jive rhythm to very different effect. As a reaction to flower power and the hippies it was unbeatable.

To finish on a more wholesome note, here's a fine instrumental featuring Shuggie's guitar again, with a great selection of photos and album sleeves covering a remarkable career.