Background
Ferguson, Robert P. was born on May 9, 1929 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Son of Lorenzo and Irene (Thomas) Ferguson.
Ferguson, Robert P. was born on May 9, 1929 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Son of Lorenzo and Irene (Thomas) Ferguson.
He was an early pioneer of the rock and roll sound of the mid-1950s, featuring driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, honking tenor saxophone solos, and outlandish personal appearance. Ferguson sang and played piano in a flamboyant style, wearing colorful wigs. Born Robert Percell Ferguson in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, he was the eleventh of twelve children.
But Ferguson had other ideas.
They moved to New York, where Ferguson branched off on his own, getting a gig at the nightclub Baby Grand Club in Harlem, billed as "The Cobra Kid." He had a recording contract with Savoy Records from 1951 to 1952. Ferguson retired from touring in the early 1970s, but made a number of comebacks.
Backed by the Medicine Men, he recorded his first album, Wiggin" Out, for Chicago"s Earwig Music in 1993. He died in 2006 at the Hospice of Cincinnati, of complications from emphysema and cardiopulmonary disease, aged 77.
His early work was featured in a compilation album H-Bomb Ferguson: Big City Blues, 1951-1954.
Appeared in benefit concerts for musical colleges and senior citizen groups, Cincinnati.
Married Christine Marie Busemeyer, September 24, 1988. 1 child, Robert Hamilton.