He won the Esquire magazine award for male vocalist during 1945, the Melody Maker award for best 'new' vocalist during 1956, and the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer during 1965.
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Los Angeles became his home for a time, and during 1944 he worked in Meade Lux Lewis's Soundies musical movies.
Tina Turner | Joe Cocker | Big Finish Productions | Joe Louis | Big Brother | Joe Henderson | J. M. W. Turner | Big Ten Conference | The Big Bang Theory | Ted Turner | Joe Satriani | Joe Biden | Turner | Joe DiMaggio | G.I. Joe | Joe Frazier | Big Dipper | Reel Big Fish | Joe Lovano | Fat Joe | Big Ben | The Big Lebowski | Kathleen Turner | Joe Dever | Joe Walsh | Big Finish | Turner Prize | Joe Manchin | Joe Zawinul | Joe Namath |
Big Joe Turner — whose style hardly changed at all between 1938's "Roll 'Em Pete", and 1954's "Shake, Rattle and Roll" — Turner was arguably the greatest exponent of the art.
Barge has toured and played with such notables as Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Big Joe Turner, LaVern Baker, Ray Charles, Chuck Willis, The Rolling Stones and Natalie Cole; and he had roles in major movies starring Gene Hackman, Chuck Norris, Harrison Ford and Steven Seagal.
He was born in 1916 in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and initially studied to be a dentist but he landed a job with National Records producing such performers as The Ravens, Billy Eckstine and Joe Turner.
In addition his duties included booking blues musicians to appear at the club, which included Big Joe Turner, Percy Mayfield, Pee Wee Crayton and Albert Collins.
He interviewed dozens of blues and R&B legends, such as Joe Turner, Lowell Fulson, Ruth Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Bo Diddley, Ike Turner, Hank Ballard, Bobby Day, Richard Berry, Don Julian, Brenton Wood, and Eugene Church, as well as doo-wop enthusiast George Carlin.