Washington DC motor mouth Billy "Fat Boy" Stewart scats and stutters his way through the classic "Summertime" and hits the top 10 in 1966. This and his punchy take on Doris Day's "Secret Love" are both featured on the LP "Billy Stewart Teaches Old Standards New Tricks". Billy also wrote and hit #24 in the charts with the terrific "Sitting in the Park" in 1965.
But it is this revolutionary take on the Gershwin classic that knocks me out...even a month deep into Autumn.
Tragically, Billy Stewart died on January 17, 1970, just two months prior to his 33rd birthday, when the car he was driving plunged into the Neuse River in Selma, North Carolina, killing him and three members of his band.
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