Ill Health and Death
In 1963, Bob Tucker joined the Bill Black Combo as a road manager and guitar/bass player.
Black himself had been ill for the past year and a half and unable to travel. Nonetheless, he insisted that the band continue without him. The Bill Black Combo created musical history in 1964 when they became the opening act for the Beatles (at their request) on their historical 13-city tour of America after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Black himself was not well enough to make the tour.
After two operations and lengthy hospital stays, Black died of a brain tumor on October 21, 1965, at the age of thirty-nine. Black died during his third operation that doctors had hoped would eradicate the tumor once and for all. Black was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Presley received criticism for not attending his funeral; however, he believed that his presence would turn the funeral into a media frenzy. He decided instead to visit the family privately after the service to express his condolences. According to Louis Black, Presley said, "If there's anything that y'all need, you just let me know and it's yours."
Black's widow sold Bob Tucker and Larry Rogers both the right to use the name Bill Black's Combo. The band changed to country when it joined Columbia Records, and won Billboard's Country Instrumental Group of the Year award in 1976.
Read more about this topic: Bill Black
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