Floyd Cramer
Born 27th. October 1933 - Samti, Louisiana
Died 31st. December 1997 - Nashville, Tennessee

Floyd Cramer - THE top Country / R & R pianist. Listen to Elvis's Earlier hits. Any piano? Probably Floyd - including the little solo on "Heartbreak Hotel". Jim Reeves? Most of Jim's hits after '53 have Floyd on them. He was signed to RCA by Chet Atkins in '58 and most of the the piano "bits" on Nashville type records on the label (for the next ten or so years) were Floyd. Happier in the studio than on stage his first big hit was "Last Date" (got nowhere in the UK but #2 in the US pop charts). The follow up "On the rebound" got to #1 in the UK and #4 in the US.
In 1984 Floyd got a call from Michael Jackson asking him to play "Last Date" at a surprise party for Michael's mother. There aren't many greater compliments, no matter what you think of Michael Jackson.