Bill Strickland

William "Bill" Strickland was a pioneering Columbus rocker. He helped originate the Columbus rock/R&B sound that influenced so many bands included the Nutrons, Skip Robinson, Four Knights, and the Bishops. Born in North Carolina, as a child showed musical talent, beginning to act on radio when he was only 12 years old. At 14 he formed the western bop ensemble Shorty Strickland & the Southern Strollers, which soon became very popular in the area. Then, with other bands or solo he frequented the nation's capital, where lived in 1943. He signed for Sylvan records, where at first calling him Billy, for his youth, he was he edited the single "Hillbilly Wolf" (1949), opening for the country greats, however in the house he was used more as a composer for other artists. He began to work as DJs in different cities, finally settling in Cincinnati, where his musical style began to turn to rock & roll and he adopted the nickname Wild Bill, Bill the Wild, for the dynamism of his performances. This earned him the opportunity to inaugurate the newly created label Terry with his version of "Ain't She Sweet" (1959), but unfortunately the sales were tiny and had to return to their performances in clubs or bars in the vicinity. After years of unrewarded struggle, in 1965 he saw no other way out than creating his own label to make his songs known. Operating from the studio he set up in his own home in Columbus, Bill played with many different musicians, but one of the early band was the Bill Strickland Trio, with Frank Queen on guitar and Roger Wolfe on drums. Together, these three formed the Fabar record label, named for the first name initials ( F and B and R). His first release "The shape you left me in" (1965), accredited and only as Bill Strickland, who would follow shortly after his version of "Money honey." Strickland worked with a variety of bands and musicians through Fabar, like "I'm on the outside looking in" (Jim Harris & the Sidewinders) or "Bye bye baby" (The 4 Knights ), The Rondells ("Wastin 'time"), Three & One ("Momma, you will not worry me") or The Challengers ("Monkey man" ), surfing with The Outcasts ("The Outcasts theme"), ballads with Bobby Stevens ("Easy to say, with whom Strickland also collaborated, where they recorded the meritorious and rock album "Your picture" and they would also act as accompanist for country singer Bill Robinson. This genre would be passed in the 70s, already accredited as Johnny Lee & the Outcasts. As for Strickland, he kept busy in his studio, making mostly Spinner record material until the 1980s, when he retired to Florida, where he died of cancer when he was only 58 years old.