The “Golden Hits Of The 50s” 

Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After

EARL GRANT 

“THE END“

 (Sid Jacobson, Jimmy Krondes)

Decca 30719

No. 7     October 13, 1958 .

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Rock’n’rollers never gave more than a passing notice to Earl.  Countless parents in the early ’60s

described Earl’s style to their teenagers as “relaxing.”   A word like that was the kiss of death to a

self-respecting hep cat and boppers and rockers just couldn’t understand.  Man, it didn’t have no

beat; it wasn’t blues, and it wasn’t jazz, either.  Nonetheless, Earl sold piles of plastic by tinkling the

ivories and crooning, in a Nat “King” Cole vane, all those standards only Mom and Dad could

appreciate.

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Born in Oklahoma City on January 20, 1933, little Earl took to playing the organ even before he set foot

in kindergarten.  When not touching the keys, Earl was blowing trumpet or pounding on drums.  Earl’s

dad was a Baptist minister, and while still a mere tyke, the little one would perform at his pop’s church

services.

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 Earl went on to study at the Kansas City Conserva­tory of Music, the New Rochelle Conservatory, the

University of Southern California, and Chicago’s DePaul University.  Thereafter, Earl became a music

teacher.  During World War II, while stationed as a soldier at Fort Bliss, Texas, he started his career as

a singing organist in nearby nightclubs, signing with Decca Records in 1958.

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“The End” was his first release and his hit.  Got it with the first shot—though never, never to be again.

Five more singles did make the Hot 100, and two of Grant’s albums sold well enough to place on the top

pop albums chart.  Earl was heavily heard on the “beautiful music” stations, showed up often on

Billboard’s easy-listening chart, and appeared in several motion pictures such as Tender Is the Night

(1962), Imitation of Life (1959), and Tokyo Night (1959).  While Earl’s big moment on the charts may

have passed by the late ’60s, Decca Records never slowed down the flow of new releases.  And bubbly

Earl never cut back on his TV and nightclub appearances.

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After a performance at the La Fiesta Club in Juarez, Mexico, on June 10, 1970, Earl Grant was killed

in an automobile crash near Lordsburg, New Mexico.