“White Silver Sands” (Bill Black Combo) #9 4/25/1960

Not many people can say they were present when rock and roll took off. Bill Black was Elvis’s upright bass player in the beginning. He and guitarist Scotty Moore played on most of the King’s early records and were on stage for all the craziness, but they departed just before Presley was drafted in ‘58. Bill returned to Memphis and assembled Bill Black’s Combo, who had this Top 10 instrumental in April 1960. It was a remake of Don Rondo’s 1957 vocal hit. Black died in 1965 from a brain tumor at 39.