Junior Parker died this day in 1971 during surgery for a brain tumor. He was only 39 but his influence was a big one on Elvis Presley and many others. He is pictured to the left of Elvis in the photo above. To the right is Bobby "Blue" Bland. Elvis covered "Mystery Train" in 1955 as one of his few singles he recorded for Sun Records. Ike Turner originally signed Parker to Modern Records in 1951. This got Sam Phillips attention who signed him to Sun in 1953 and produced his version of "Mystery Train" at that time. He continued to record for various labels until the time of his death including Duke, Capitol, Mercury and others. Hear several versions of his signature song "Mystery Train" starting with his own...
Junior Parker
Elvis Presley
Brian Setzer
Eric Clapton & Scotty Moore
Rick Nelson
