Count Demon (Champaign)

Count Demon was a rhythm & blues / jazz drummer, singer and bandleader who moved to Champaign, Illinois in the 1950's.

He is perhaps best remembered these days for a series of hard-to-find R&B 45s that he recorded and self-released during the 1960's.  His career and impact on the Champaign music scene however went far beyond that.

Count Demon was born William Evans in the Canton, Ohio area.  An article in the Massillon (OH) newspaper from August 1940 mentions a "Count Demon Evans, a 1940 high school graduate, who plays the drums."  By 1947 he was drumming and singing with Duke Jenkins' band in Ohio.  Early on Demon was paired with a trumpet player (Satchmo Thompson) and billed as a "novelty duet" as a featured part of Jenkins' floor show.

In May 1949, the Duke Jenkins sextet took up residence at the Brass Rail Club in Chicago.  While in Chicago, they recorded several sides for Aristocrat Records (a direct predecessor to Chess Records) though only one single was ever released.

Listed as Duke Jenkins Aristocrats on the record, the group recorded the instrumental "Bercuese" along with "Baby I'm Sick Of You" which was co-written by Jenkins and Demon.

By 1951, Count Demon had left Jenkins' band and started his own group.  At first they were known as the Quadratones and then eventually the Demons of Jazz.   

Members included Billy Howe (trumpet), Waymon "Punchy" Atkinson (tenor sax), Bob Reeves (bass) and Joe Bradley (piano).

By 1953, they were performing in night clubs across the Midwest.  The group was touted as "the band that plays everything - Novelties - Jumps - Blues - Sweet - Rumbas - Modern Sounds."  On occasion, the quartet was billed along with an exotic dancer.

Demon himself was advertised as "one of the world's maddest drummers" and "the famous composer and recorder of 'Baby I'm Sick Of You,' 'Double Barrel Boogie' and many others."   Another ad lists him as being the composer and recorder of "Beanphobia," "Mi Mi Cato" and "A Woman Is A Wonderful Thing."

Other than "Baby I'm Sick of You," official releases could not be verified for any of the songs mentioned.   An acetate of "Beanaphobia" however was shared on Instagram in recent years.  It was recorded at James Dooley Productions in Canton, OH with the Duke Jenkins Orchestra.  The song is indeed credited to Count Demon and appears to have been a duet with Satchmo (Thompson).  It was produced for Revo Records.

In 1955, Count Demon put the Demons of Jazz on hold and joined Champaign-native Jack McDuff and his band on the road.   Besides McDuff who was playing piano at the time, the group consisted of Bill Yancey on bass, Kilroy Beatty on sax and singer Dahl Scott.   (Ads for the group featured a picture of Count Demon behind a conga drum wearing a sombrero.)

An article in the St. Paul Recorder from February 18, 1955 mentions that Count Demon had just finished a recording of "Slipping and Sliding" with Chance Records in Chicago.  If true, it may have been one of the last sessions done for the label which had already folded by the time that article ran.  

There is no evidence the track was ever released by Chance or any other label.  Count Demon however recorded a live version of "Slippin and Slidin" several years later and released it on his own Po' Boy's Record Company.   The flip side of the 1962 single was "Why Did You Leave Me."

 

Back in 1956 McDuff decided to quit the road and possibly music and returned to Champaign to manage a dry cleaning business.  Count Demon, it seems, decided to join him in central Illinois.

Another jazz musician that relocated to the area around that same time was saxophonist Waymon "Punchy" Atkinson.  Originally from Akron, OH, Atkinson had played with Count Demon in the Duke Jenkins band and the Demons of Jazz.

McDuff famously did not remain in Champaign long but Count Demon did.  By 1958, Demon was performing around the U of I campus, often in the Illini Union at Jazz-U-Like-It.   Count Demon's quartet around that time included Punchy Aktinson on tenor sax, Bill Yancey on bass and Joe Bradley on piano.

A review in the Daily Illini from April 1960, described the "Demons" as "a local professional group; they have recorded for World Pacific, and have engagements at places such as the Eldorado, the Porthole, and the Elks."   The locations listed were all local clubs.   The mention of World Pacific Records may have been a reference to Punchy Atkinson having recorded for the label with Wes Montgomery and his brothers.

The band on this particular evening in 1960 included Tim Byrnes on bass, Joe Bradley on piano, Punchy Atkinson and Roland Clark, both on tenor sax.  At some point in the evening a young Denny Zeitlin sat in with the group on piano.  Zeitlin was a student at the U of I at the time.

The review continues, "In the second half, Count Demon surrendered the drums to Swede Perkins, and sang three songs fairly well.  The last, 'In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down,' was a slow pulsating blues of the Count Basie variety.  The audience reaction was overwhelming."

All but one of Count Demon's later recordings feature him behind the mic.  In 1962, he released four singles on Po' Boy's Record Company (54 E. Columbia, Champaign, Ill.):

#300 - My Isabella / I Don't Believe   

#301 - Slippin' and Slidin' / Why Did You Leave Me

#302 - Take It Upstairs Pt 1 / Take It Upstairs Pt 2

#303 - Wanderin' Child / Slow Train 

 

  

Other than "My Isabella" and "I Don't Believe," all of the songs were recorded live (where exactly is unknown).  Most are credited to Count Demon and A. Yarber although "My Isabella" appears to be a cover of Danny Cobb's tune of the same name released in 1955.

Count Demon's most notable song however was the risqué "Take It Upstairs."  

The song, which is full of double entendres and suggestive lyrics, was clearly a crowd favorite.  Advertisements for live performances in the mid-1960's often refer to Count Demon as "Mister Take It Upstairs."  (Listen closely to the lyrics and you can hear him name check "Jack McDuffy" and the Elks where the two of them played often.)

In 1964 the University of Illinois changed their policy regarding the Jazz-U concerts held in the student union making them reserved for students and faculty only.  Count Demon and other local musicians not affiliated with the university were no longer allowed to perform there.

Count Demon went back on the road that year.  He performing in Indiana with the Blue Knights Combo which included Joe Bradley on organ, Cecil Bridgewater on trumpet and Tony Zamora on tenor sax. Also, sometime in the mid-1960's, Count Demon opened the Star Record Shop on First Street in Champaign.

In July 1966 Count Demon and His House Rockers played the 3rd Ward Club in Bloomington, Illinois. Later that year he was back in Indiana, performing live with a group billed as the Jazz Members. At times they were promoted as Count Demon and His Four Members.

The next year he released a single on Star Record and Recording Company (206 1/2 North First Street, Champaign) under that moniker:

Count Demon & His Four Members - "I Got To Work With It" / "C.C. Rider"

  

The single was recorded at RoFran Enterprises in Urbana, Illinois on March 6, 1967.   It was produced by George Tinsley.  The band included Count Demon (vocal & drums), High Priest (Hammond organ), Chuck Fields (tenor sax), LaMonte Parsons (guitar), Freddie Davis (drums, tambourine) and Victor Maguire (bongos). 

The group performed regularly in Indianapolis, Lafayette and Kokomo, Indiana throughout 1967.  They also spent a few weeks at Sasto's in Des Moines, Iowa and Allen's Showcase in Omaha, Nebraska that same year.  

In the late 1960's and early 70's, Count Demon stayed closer to home, playing and singing around Champaign with the Tony Zamora Ensemble.   Pictured below: LaMonte Parsons, Count Demon, Cecil Bridgewater, Dee Dee Garrett (Bridgewater), Tony Zamora and Milton Knox. (Date unknown)

In 1968, Count Demon, along with Cecil Bridgewater and LaMonte Parsons, filmed a performance for WILL-TV in Urbana-Champaign.  "Justice: Color Blind...or Just Blind?" was used in a 1969 documentary series entitled African-American Life in Central Illinois:

In a 1977 Daily Illini article about black jazz musicians in Champaign, several people commented on Count Demon's life and legacy. "Count Demon was one of the 'connecting links.' He stayed a long time, he played a lot of places, he gave jazz a continuity in the black community. " George Pope Jr. remembers his as "a helluva sing and entertainer. He wasn't a song and dance man, but he sang real good jazz, very similar to Mose Allison."

Richard Davis, described as one of the Count's best friends, remembers him as being "tall and thin. He could eat a lot but he'd never eat right. He led that musician's life. He didn't drink that much, he didn't use drugs or anything. He just didn't need those crutches."

Regarding his place in the community, Davis adds, "He used to operate a record store across the street from Tommy's Barber Shop (at First and Church Streets in Champaign). A lot of people used to confide in Count Demon. He was not only a musician, he was also a teacher. At the same time he was helping you learn about music, he could also help you learn about all that stuff out there (in the world), because he'd been there. Lot of people that set up shop in that record store turn out to be very involved in the civil rights movements of the '60s."

Candy Foster, a Champaign-area soul and blues legend that is still active today at age 89, regards Count Demon as a mentor. In a 2015 interview, Foster said this about Demon:

"He did a whole lot for me, took me under his wing as a young man, 19, 20, and...and showed me the ropes, ‘cause he was an entertainer, he get up there and he’d sing, and dance, and do everything, people were crazy about him. And he did novelties, songs. And all kind of things to keep people laughing, and when he danced, he had long legs, well he goin’ down, had a Mexican sombrero (laughter), he was a great hit, and – and, so, he just – he just knew how to entertain."

Earlier this year Illinois Public Media produced the documentary, Candy Foster: A Musical Witness.  At the 15:30 mark, Foster and others talk directly about the life and legacy of Count Demon.

WESN Show #52 - June 17, 2021

ARTIST	TRACK	LABEL	YEAR	TOWN / CITY
The Gardenias	My Baby's Tops	Federal	1956	Alton
Al Sears and His Rock 'n' Rollers	Goin' Uptown	Herald	1955	Macomb
Count Demon	Take It Upstairs Pt. 1	Po' Boy's	1962	Champaign
Jimmy Binkley and His Combo	Wine, Wine, Wine	Checker	1954	Peoria
Billy Gayles w/ Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers	I'm Tore Up	Federal	1956	Cairo / East St. Louis
Jimmy Bell's Trio	Jimmys Swing Boogie	Aristocrat	1949	Peoria
Preston Jackson and The Rhythm Aces	Three Quarter Stomp Pts. 1&2	Hit	1963	Decatur
Johnny Wright	Gotta Have You For Myself	Stevens	1959	Madison
Byron Gipson	Etta Mae	Specialty	1956	Peoria
Eddie Snow	Ain't That Right	Sun	1955	Springfield
Albert King	Let's Have A Natural Ball!	Bobbin	1960	Brooklyn
Jimmy Binkley and His Combo	You Made A Boo Boo	Checker	1956	Peoria
Preston Jackson and The Rhythm Aces	Joni	Vee Jay	1961	Decatur
Byron Gipson	The One I Love	Specialty	1956	Peoria
Count Demon	I Don't Believe	Po' Boy's	1962	Champaign
Eddie Snow	Bring Your Love Back Home	Sun	1955	Springfield
Little Cooper and the Drifters	Moving Slow	Stevens	1959	East St. Louis
Birdlegs & Pauline	In So Many Ways	Cuca	1963	Rockford
Jmmie Bell Trio	Stranger In Your Town	Premium	1951	Peoria

Ads for local performances by artists on the show

Byron "Wild Child" Gipson (Peoria)

If Little Richard was "the architect of rock 'n' roll," then central Illinois' Byron Gipson was one of his early apprentices with a front row seat to many of Richard's legendary performances and recordings.

During 1955 and 1956 Gipson traveled with Little Richard on his first American tour, acting as Richard's road manager, driver and bodyguard (possibly saving the star's life on one occasion).  Gipson was also present for many of Richard's recording sessions in New Orleans that produced such hits as "Long Tall Sally," "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy."

During that same period, Gipson himself released two singles as Byron "Slick" Gipson and the Sliders for the same label as Richard, Specialty Records.  He also helped write hit songs for Richard and Lloyd Price among others, although he was rarely credited for these efforts.

In 1958, Gipson recorded two singles with Freddie Tieken & The Rockers for Hit Records including "Uncle John," a song he had written for Little Richard as an answer to "Long Tall Sally."  He continued to record sporadically throughout the 1960's.

Though he never received the recognition that he deserved, Gipson remained a lifelong student of music.  In the late 1960's and early 1970's he went back to college to study music and sound production.   He would continue to perform and produce music in and around Peoria for decades until his death from cancer in 1994.

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Born in 1930, Byron Everett Gipson, Jr. grew up on a farm in Gulfport, Illinois.   His family was just one of two black families living in a five-county area.  As a teenager Gipson moved to Iowa and then to Hannibal, Missouri to stay with relatives when his mother and sister died from tuberculosis.

In 1950 he was drafted into the army and served as a bomb expert during the Korean War.  While stationed in Germany, Gipson made his first recordings which he sent back home to his family.  They included a recording of Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and an original tune called "You've Got To Work."

After the service, Gipson moved to California to pursue a professional musical career.  At a popular talent show in Los Angeles, Specialty Records' A&R man Robert "Bumps" Blackwell saw Gipson perform and signed him to the label.   Soon Gipson was writing songs for the label and its artists.

Gipson made his first recordings for Specialty with a group called the Sliders (aka The Pharoahs) which included Judge Dennis, Eugene Jackson, Clarence Alexander and Alexander Lee.  Gipson was billed as Byron "Slick" Gipson.  When asked years later about the nickname, Gipson said "we wore our hair slick and my brother-in-law said I had a slick way with women, 'cause I'd steal guys' girlfriends and they wouldn't even know it." 

Gipson and the group released two singles on Specialty.  "The One I Love" b/w "Honey-Dew" was released in January of 1956.  Early pressings of the single credit Byron Gipson as the artist whereas later pressings show it as Byron "Slick" Gipson and the Sliders.

The second single, "Footloose and Fancy-Free" b/w "Etta Mae," was released in November of 1956.  On the record and in the early reviews it was credited to "Flick" Gipson and the Sliders.   Later pressings corrected it to "Slick" Gipson.

Gipson and the group recorded at least two more songs for Specialty but both went unreleased until a 1993 compilation, Golden Groups, which included "I Want 'Cha Baby" and "My Little Girl" (released as The Pharoahs).

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Little Richard

How Gipson came to be Little Richard's road manager was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.   Gipson was already with Specialty Records before Richard joined the label.  In fact, Gipson claimed to be in the office the day someone first brought a tape of Little Richard in for label owner Art Rupe to hear.  Gipson contends that Rupe was not impressed with Richard initially.  Still the label sent Richard to New Orleans to record at Cosimo Matassa's J & M Studio.  That session produced "Tutti Frutti" and the label quickly had a major hit on their hands.   

When Specialty was booking Little Richard's first tour, Gipson was again in the label's office.  In a 1990's interview Gipson said "The recording company was the booking agent, too, so they hired me. I guess, to get me out of their face or something.  They said, 'Hey, we need a road manager, you want to be a road manager?'"  Just like that, Gipson had the job.  

He added "A road manager in those days was more than a road manager.  He was bodyguard, chauffeur and everything else.  I drove the station wagon, booked the bands in the hotels.  I started with them in the mid part of '55 and was with them a little over a year."  

Gipson was also in charge of counting the tickets and keeping track of the money.   As a result, Gipson carried a gun on the tour though he only kept it loaded with one bullet in the last chamber.   One night after a concert in New Orleans, Gipson had taken the money and the gun to Little Richard's suite at the Hotel Foster.  Shortly after leaving, Gipson realized he had left his wallet in Richard's room. 

"I was going down to the Dew Drop Inn.  Fats Domino was there, and Ray Charles was playing there, too.  I went back to the hotel to get my billfold; the Dew Drop Inn was only about three blocks away.  I went in there and this kid's with Richard playing with a gun, clicking it.  I opened the door and seen this kid clicking that gun and I said, 'Hey, put that gun down - there's a bullet in there!'  I hollered at him, I scared him, and he turned and it went off."  Gipson was shot in the leg.  He carried the bullet in his leg for the rest of his life.  

About the incident, Gipson said, " I wasn't hurt that bad.  I still have copies of the hospital bills somewhere."  In another interview he added "I saved Little Richard's life.  He wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for me hollerin' at that kid.  He sure was dead.  The kid clicked it right in his face."

In addition to saving Richard's life, Gipson claimed to have written his hit song "Ooh, My Soul."  As to how he wrote it, Gipson said "he was always going, every time he'd see somebody, 'Ooh, my soul, honey, did you see him right there?  Ooh whee!'  That's why I wrote that song.   I sung it to him, he didn't get it all but he got enough of it.  Then he added a couple more verses to it." The song was released in 1958 and reached no. 31 on the US pop chart and was no. 15 on the R&B chart.  Despite his claim, Gipson was not given any writing credit on the song.

Similarly, Gipson claimed to have written "Baby Please Come Home" which was a hit record for Lloyd Price on Specialty Records.  "They added a chorus to it, wasn't no chorus when i wrote it."  Again, Gipson was not credited.  

Perhaps because of the poor treatment he received from his own record label, Gipson would use pseudonyms and sell songs to other labels around that same time.   One example was "I Need Someone" which was released by Amos Milburn on Aladdin Records in 1956.  The song was officially credited to "Junior Everett" but was really Gipson.  

Sometime in 1956, Gipson left the tour and broke ties with Specialty Records.  Years later, Gipson said he got tired of the road, especially having to deal with the extreme racism in the South.  He recalled stories of police beatings as well as being chased by the Ku Klux Klan. 

Gipson did not return to Los Angeles, however.  Instead he first moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and then Quincy, Illinois.   It was in Quincy that Gipson met local sax player Freddie Tieken and his band.  The two soon hit it off and "Wild Child" Gipson with Freddie Tieken and the Rockers was born.

In addition to singing with the group, Gipson played piano and guitar.  In a 1991 interview, Gipson said he took the nickname "Wild Child" as a gag to draw people to his music.  Together the group performed up and down the Mississippi River and across the Midwest.

In 1958, the group made several recordings at Boulevard Studios in Chicago.  The session was paid for by the group's guitarist John Moorman.  The result was two singles released on Hit Records.   

The first was "Uncle John" / "Sitting Here Cryin'" released in late 1958.  Both songs were written by Gipson.

The single was a regional hit and was re-issued nationally on the Laurie label as well the Astra label.  According to Freddie Tieken, the single made it to number 24 on Billboard's R&B chart.

The next single was "Lost Control"/ "Kool" which was released sometime in 1959.  Again both songs were written by Gipson.

In an interview years later Gipson stated that the group actually recorded 10-15 songs for Hit Records.  It is unclear whether or not any of those other recordings still exist.

Before the end of 1959 Gipson parted ways with Tieken and the Rockers.  Gipson moved to Peoria where he would live the rest of his life.   About the move, Gipson said, "I liked Peoria because it had so many bands, the music was flourishing.  I got tired of travelling, getting cheated out of your money and stuff.  Hit Records, we got cheated out of that money, too.  It's a never-ending thing."

Over the next seven years, Gipson would perform with several of his own bands around the Peoria area.   First the Violators, then Katz & Jammers and finally the Soul Merchants.   Some of the people that performed with Gipson during this period include John "Pops" McFarlane (brother to Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane of Spanky & The Gang) and Tim Drummond, a bass player who went on to play with Neil Young, Bob Dylan and many others.

In 1962, Gipson recorded for Chess Records in Chicago but the recordings were never released.  In 1965, Gipson did release a single for IT Records out of Quincy, Illinois.  The label and studio were owned by Gipson's old bandmate Freddie Tieken and fellow Rocker Jack Inghram.  "Sweet Roll'n Stone" & "My Kinduva Blues" were both written by Gipson (aka Jr. Everett) and released in September of 1965.

In 1966 Gipson formed his last group, the Peoria Soul Merchants.  They released one single sometime that year on C.A.B. Records:    "Boogaloo Train To Peoria" / "Coal Mine no. 2"

 

In 1967, Gipson continued to perform in clubs but he was now a one man band, billing himself as Wild Child Gipson and His Funk Machine.  

At the same time, Gipson decided to go to college and study music.   He first attended the newly opened Illinois Central College in East Peoria where he also joined the jazz ensemble.  He continued to perform with the ensemble for years afterward and would even go on to teach music at ICC sometime later.

Gipson continued his music studies at Illinois State University and then later attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY to study sound production.  

By the mid-1970s, Gipson had set up a recording studio in his home.  The Peoria Journal Star referred to it as "the smallest recording studio in Peoria, a one man operation at 1506 W. First."   At the time, Gipson was producing what he called "personal interest tapes" on demand which included anything from audio letters, original poetry, educational tapes and Halloween special effects.

For years Gipson also produced customized soundtracks for exotic dancers and strippers across the country.   At the same time he continued to perform as a one man show in nightclubs and lounges around Peoria.  In 1985, Bill Knight of the Peoria Journal Star wrote this about him, "Gipson was Peoria's first local 'rock star,' a R&B machine who churned out hits and hot nights at local nightspots for years."

His last single of original music was released in 1989.  The song "Bobby 'Kewanee' Brains" was a country & western duet with Sharon Bryant about his friend and favorite bartender.  It was released on Music 55 Records and was being distributed by The Basketcase where Brains worked.

In the early 1990's Gipson said "I'm back playing R&B stuff now, New Orleans stuff.  I finished 18 new songs.  I've recorded them about ten different times, but I'm not satisfied with them."   Those recordings it appears were never released.  Gipson passed away from cancer on January 30, 1994.  He was 64.

Shortly before his death when asked to reflect on his life and his time with Little Richard in the 1950's, Gipson said, "I wouldn't give a million dollars for what I learned, but I wouldn't give two cents to do it again  Everything we did was nothing."  He added, "We were all buddies, trying to write songs, trying make some money, get a Cadillac, get a girlfriend.  Now it's all history, a big thing, but it wasn't nothing to us."

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A version of this article was published in the November-December 2020 issue of Illinois Heritage.  

Listen to a selection of Byron "Wild Child" Gipson's early recordings below.

ARTIST	TRACK	LABEL	YEAR	NOTES
Byron Gipson	The One I Love	Specialty	1956
Byron "Slick" Gipson & The Sliders	Footloose and Fancy-Free	Specialty	1956
Amos Milburn	I Need Someone	Aladdin	1956	written by Gipson
The Pharoahs	My Little Girl	Specialty	(1955)	aka The Sliders (unreleased)
Byron "Slick" Gipson & The Sliders	Etta Mae	Specialty	1956
Byron "Slick" Gipson & The Sliders	I Want 'Cha Baby	Specialty	(1955)	(unreleased)
Byron Gipson	Honey Dew	Specialty	1956
Lloyd Price & His Band	Baby Please Come Home	Specialty	1957	possibly written by Gipson
Little Richard	Long Tall Sally	Specialty	1956
Wild Child Gipson w/ Freddie Tieken & The Rockers	Uncle John	Hit	1958
Wild Child Gipson w/ Freddie Tieken & The Rockers	Lost Control	Hit	1959
Little Richard	Ooh! My Soul	Specialty	1958	possibly written by Gipson
Wild Child Gipson w/ Freddie Tieken & The Rockers	Sittin' Here Cryin'	Hit	1958
Wild Child Gipson w/ Freddie Tieken & The Rockers	Kool	Hit	1959