esquerita

Biography

Esquerita was the stage name of Eskew Reeder Jr. (also seen as Steven/Stephen Quincy Reeder Jr.), a flamboyant rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly pianist and singer born in Greenville’s Greasy Corner neighborhood (now the West End) of Greenville, South Carolina, in the mid‑1930s, with 1935 often cited as his birth year.[2][3][5][6] Raised in a deeply religious environment and immersed in Black church culture, he was a self‑taught pianist who began playing at Tabernacle Baptist Church, where his mother directed the choir, and he grew up steeped in gospel music.[1][2] As a teenager he left Greenville to join traveling gospel shows, playing piano with acts such as Little Sister Rosa and Brother Joe May, and by the early 1950s he was already known for his towering pompadour, heavy makeup, and daring stage presence.[1][2] During this period he met a young Richard Wayne Penniman (later Little Richard) at a bus station café in Macon, Georgia, where Reeder’s explosive piano style and wild performance of songs like “One Mint Julep” made a powerful impression on the future rock icon.[1][2]

After a stint recording gospel in New York with the Heavenly Echoes in 1955, Reeder gradually moved from gospel into rhythm & blues and rock ’n’ roll, returning to Greenville in the late 1950s to play local clubs such as the Owl Club, where he appeared in rhinestone gowns, capes, and wigs, performing raw, innuendo‑laden rock sets to mixed Black and white audiences.[1][2] Around 1958 he was “discovered” by Gene Vincent’s circle—specifically guitarist Paul Peek—and soon signed to Capitol Records, adapting his name to Esquerita and cutting 21 tracks for the label; twelve appeared on his blistering 1959 album Esquerita! and a series of late‑1950s singles including “Oh Baby,” “Rockin’ the Joint,” and “Laid Off.”[1][2][3] His music fused sanctified church piano, pounding boogie‑woogie, shrieking vocals, and over‑the‑top showmanship, drawing direct comparisons to Little Richard, even as Little Richard himself repeatedly credited Reeder as a crucial influence on his own style.[1][2][3][4] Though Esquerita’s records gained something of a cult following, especially in the U.K. and France, changing U.S. tastes meant he never broke through commercially on the level of his peers.[3]

Through the 1960s and 1970s, Esquerita recorded for labels such as Okeh, Instant, Minit, and Brunswick, sometimes under aliases like The Magnificent Malochi and, in drag, Fabulash, and he worked the Southern club circuit in cities including Dallas and New Orleans, where he became associated with the famed Dew Drop Inn and performers like Lloyd Price and Fats Domino.[1][3] He later spent time in Detroit, reportedly playing for Berry Gordy before the founding of Motown, and in the 1960s also worked in New York alongside drummer Idris Muhammad, with some of those sessions surfacing only decades later.[1] In the 1970s he even joined Little Richard’s band, and Little Richard went on to record several of Esquerita’s songs, including “Freedom Blues” and “The Dew Drop Inn,” further cementing his behind‑the‑scenes impact on rock and R&B history.[1][4] By the early 1980s Esquerita was living in New York City, eking out a living in small clubs; rediscovered there by Miriam Linna and Billy Miller of Kicks magazine, he briefly enjoyed renewed attention before his death in Harlem on October 23, 1986, from complications related to AIDS, leaving behind a small but highly influential body of work that would later be cited as a key link in the lineage leading from Little Richard to flamboyant stars like Prince and Elton John.[1][2][3][4]

Fun Facts

• Esquerita’s look was so extreme for the 1950s that he became known for a towering pompadour, heavy pancake makeup, a pencil‑thin moustache, and rhinestone‑studded gowns and capes, often performing in multiple wigs at once.[1][2]
• He sometimes recorded and performed under other flamboyant aliases, including The Magnificent Malochi and, when in drag, Fabulash, making it harder for later historians to track his full discography.[1]
• Capitol Records hyped his 1959 album Esquerita! on the back cover as featuring music from “truly the farthest out man has ever gone,” a marketing line that accurately captured just how wild his sound was for the era.[1][3]
• When rock writers Miriam Linna and Billy Miller rediscovered him in a New York bar in 1983, they were so stunned he was still around that they immediately put him on the cover of Kicks magazine and later helped unearth long‑lost demo recordings.[1]

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Black gospel church tradition (Tabernacle Baptist Church, Greenville) - Esquerita was raised in the Black church, began playing piano at Tabernacle Baptist Church where his mother directed the choir, and developed his self‑taught piano style and vocal approach in a gospel context. (Early gospel performances; recordings with the Heavenly Echoes (1955)) [1940s–mid‑1950s]
• Little Sister Rosa and Brother Joe May - Traveling gospel performers with whom he played piano after leaving Greenville as a teenager, shaping his performance chops and touring experience. (Touring gospel shows (no specific commercially released titles cited with Esquerita by name)) [Early 1950s]

Key Collaborators

• Heavenly Echoes - Gospel group with whom he recorded in New York during his transitional period from gospel to secular music. (Gospel recordings in Brooklyn/New York credited to Heavenly Echoes (1955 sessions)) [1955]
• Paul Peek (of Gene Vincent’s band) - Guitarist who heard Esquerita in Greenville clubs and effectively ‘discovered’ him, helping connect him to Capitol Records. (Connection leading to Capitol singles such as “Rockin’ the Joint,” “Oh Baby,” and “Laid Off,” and the album Esquerita!) [Circa 1958–1959]
• Gene Vincent - Rockabilly star who championed Esquerita’s talent; his enthusiasm persuaded Capitol Records to sign Esquerita. (Indirect collaborator in securing the Capitol deal that produced the album Esquerita! and related singles) [Late 1950s]
• Idris Muhammad - Jazz/R&B drummer with whom Esquerita recorded in New York in the 1960s; these sessions surfaced many years later. (Unreleased at the time; later‑issued New York recordings with Idris Muhammad (titles vary by compilation)) [1960s]
• Lloyd Price and Fats Domino - New Orleans R&B stars he worked and socialized with at the Dew Drop Inn after moving through Dallas and New Orleans. (Live performances and club work at the Dew Drop Inn rather than specific jointly credited records) [Late 1950s–1960s]
• Little Richard - Friend, mutual influence, and later bandleader; Esquerita joined Little Richard’s band in the 1970s, and Richard recorded several of Esquerita’s compositions. (Little Richard recordings of “Freedom Blues” and “The Dew Drop Inn,” along with Esquerita’s tenure in his touring/recording band) [1950s friendship onward; band membership in the 1970s]
• Miriam Linna and Billy Miller (Kicks magazine) - Writers and label people who rediscovered Esquerita in New York, put him on the cover of Kicks, and helped locate and release unreleased demos. (Archival releases of previously unreleased Esquerita demos; Kicks magazine cover feature) [Early–mid 1980s]

Artists Influenced

• Little Richard - Richard repeatedly acknowledged that he learned much of his wild piano style, vocal approach (including high‑pitched wails), and flamboyant stage persona from Esquerita, whom he met in Macon in the early 1950s. (Early Specialty Records hits such as “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Lucille,” as well as later recordings of Esquerita songs like “Freedom Blues” and “The Dew Drop Inn.”) [1950s onward]
• Subsequent flamboyant rock and soul performers (e.g., Prince, Elton John – noted by historians) - Music historians and critics argue that Esquerita’s influence on Little Richard helped shape the lineage of androgynous, piano‑pounding, high‑energy rock performance later embodied by artists such as Prince and Elton John, even if they did not work with Esquerita directly. (Later works by these artists that draw on the Little Richard tradition of flamboyant rock performance, itself partly rooted in Esquerita’s example.) [1960s–1980s and beyond]

Discography

Albums

Top Tracks

1. Rockin the Joint (Crazy Crazy Feelin)
2. Rockin' The Joint (Rockin’ The Joint)
3. Hey Miss Lucy (Esquerita!)
4. Esquerita And The Voola (Rockin’ The Joint)
5. Sinner Man (Sinner Man: The Lost Session)
6. Rockin' The Joint (Vintage Voola)
7. Believe Me When I Say Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay (Esquerita!)
8. Dew Drop Inn (Vintage Voola)
9. Crazy Crazy Feeling (Esquerita!)
10. Hole In My Heart (Esquerita!)

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia
• MusicBrainz

Tags: #fats-&-his-cats, #r&b, #rock-and-roll