I don't know if there are any really famous instrumentalists anymore, but can you imagine having two of them playing the same song and using the same name in public?
In 1955 a honkytonk/ragtime piano record became a national sensation. It was the "Crazy Otto Medley" by Johnny Maddox. The song eventually sold two million copies, but whose copy were folks really listening to? At the time people thought it was something new but in reality the idea was practically stolen from another pianist in Germany.
Fritz Schulz-Reichel was a concert pianist who used the moniker "The Schraege" (the tilted one) when he played his "tipsy wire box" sounding piano for some happy sounding songs in Berlin. Apparently back in the 1950s it wasn't easy to import recordings, so Johnny Maddox recorded the sound that Schulz-Reichel invented in Germany and released it here in the US and voila....a hit was born.
Oddly enough Johnny Maddox's albums call him "The original Crazy Otto" but when Schulz-Reichel eventually released albums in the US, he also used the name "Crazy Otto" leading to the confusion of who really is Crazy Otto! Here's the story taken from the back of one of Johnny Maddox's albums:
"A Cleveland disc jockey, Walt Henrich, was given a German recording by a returning serviceman. The artist on this record was "Der Schraege..." Walt had many phone calls asking where the record could be bought, and since it was not available in the United States, he mentioned it to his station colleague Bill Randall. Randall suggested to Randy Wood, president of Dot Records, that it might be a good piece of material for Maddox. Randy agreed, and Johnny Maddox was re-christened "Crazy Otto" temporarily.
News of this instantaneous smash evidently got back to Germany, because soon Der Schraege himself arrived in this country and recording again, this time calling himself "Happy Otto." On his next release he succumbed to the mounting confusion and became "Crazy Otto," making two of them. After the Crazy Otto craze had abated, the instigator of all this record selling became once more good old Johnny Maddox...."
Johnny Maddox is apparently still around as you can read up on at www.crazyotto.com. He has sold 11 million records and has recorded 50 albums according to that website!
Listen for yourself to Johnny Maddox doing the Crazy Otto by clicking here and then listen to Fritz Schulz-Reichel doing the Crazy Otto by clicking here and see which one you prefer! Same medley by two different Crazy Ottos! Crazy man, crazy!
pics above from Dot record of Johnny Maddox as Crazy Otto and others from the Decca releases of Fritz Schulz Reichel as Crazy Otto!
No comments:
Post a Comment