Matt Lucas*

Matt Lucas is an American-born rock and roll, rhythm and blues, soul and blues singer, drummer and songwriter whose wild, hard-driving style carried him from Memphis and Missouri club work into the Canadian recording and touring circuit. Born July 19, 1935 in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Lucas grew up around movies, church music, jazz, blues and the rhythm and blues sounds that came up from Memphis radio. Drums became his first serious musical language, and the showmanship of players such as Gene Krupa helped shape the forceful, front-and-centre performing style that later became his trademark.

Before becoming known as a singer, Lucas worked as a drummer in a wide range of tough club settings, moving through Missouri, St. Louis, East St. Louis, Chicago-area rooms and the Southern circuit. Those years gave him a foundation that was broader than straight rockabilly. His records pulled together rock and roll, blues, R&B, country, jazz timing and raw stage energy, often with a beat that sounded closer to a live club floor than a polished studio formula.

Lucas first recorded for Roland Janes’ Good label with “Tradin’ Kisses” / “Sweetest One”, but his breakthrough came with his explosive reworking of Hank Snow’s country classic “I’m Movin’ On.” Recorded in Memphis and first issued in the early 1960s, the single transformed the song into a pounding rock and roll/R&B workout. Released nationally on Smash Records in 1963, it became Lucas’s signature recording, reaching the Billboard Hot 100 and finding especially strong response in Canada, Europe and regional American markets. The record’s intensity also made it difficult to classify: too rough and blues-driven for some pop stations, too country-rooted for others, but exactly the kind of record that later collectors would come to prize.

Following “I’m Movin’ On,” Lucas recorded energetic versions of “Ooby Dooby,” “Maybellene,” and “Turn On Your Lovelight,” along with Detroit soul material including “The M.C. Twine” and “Baby You Better Go-Go.” The latter recordings, made in connection with Detroit producer Ollie McLaughlin, later became favourites among Northern Soul collectors, helping introduce Lucas to a new generation of listeners who heard in his work the very things that had once made him difficult to market: urgency, grit, rhythmic drive and a refusal to stay inside one genre.

Canada became an important part of the Matt Lucas story. After moving north, he became active on the Canadian club circuit and rebuilt his career through live work, television exposure and Canadian recordings. In 1972, he released the LP I’ve Paid My Dues! on Kanata Records, the label founded by Gene Lees. Recorded at Sound Canada Studios, the album placed Lucas more firmly in a blues setting while still carrying the same restless rock and roll spirit. The Canadian single pairing “The Old Man” with “I’m Movin’ On” also gave him renewed attention. Later Canadian-related releases included I’m Movin’ On on Blue Jam Productions and additional blues and rock and roll material that reflected his long connection to Canadian stages and studios.

Lucas’s discography is scattered across many labels, formats and territories, which suits the nature of his career. His records appeared on Good, Renay, Smash, Dot, Karen, Kanata, Quality, Celebration, Blue Jam, Charly, Underground, Redita, Ten-O-Nine and other imprints. Albums and compilations such as I’ve Paid My Dues!, I’m Movin’ On, Back With The Blues, Ride That Train Tonight, Original Hits, I’m Moving On And Other Timeless Rockers, and Back In The Saddle Again show the range of his work, from raw early rockers to blues, soul, standards and later revival recordings.

After years of hard travelling and hard living, Lucas continued to perform in hotel rooms, lounges, cruise ships, festivals and roots music events. His later career included appearances at rockabilly and roots festivals in North America and Europe, where audiences and collectors increasingly recognized him as a one-of-a-kind performer rather than a simple one-hit artist. The 2006 album Back In The Saddle Again, featuring James Burton on guitar and Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica, underlined that renewed respect and placed Lucas alongside musicians with deep roots in American rock and blues history.

Matt Lucas has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and the Southern Legends Entertainment & Performing Arts Hall of Fame. Yet his music has always stood slightly outside neat categories. He was not purely rockabilly, not simply blues, not exactly country, and not standard soul. His best recordings sit at the crossing point of all of them: loud, rhythmic, funny, bruised, full of motion, and built for the stage.

For Canadian listeners, Lucas is especially interesting because part of his catalogue, career recovery and later identity passed directly through Canada. He was a Memphis-born, Missouri-raised performer who found real traction in Canadian clubs, recorded important material here, and left behind music that belongs not only to American rock and roll history, but also to the wider story of Canadian-recorded roots, blues and rock music. Matt Lucas kept moving, and the records still move.

-Robert Williston