Betty Nickell

August 26, 2009 7:53 PM

Betty Nickell, a 72 year old resident of Mansfield, Ohio, recently received some unexpected news. Much to her surprise, she learned that she had been inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

A 45 RPM record of her 1958 song "Hot Dog" (audio auto-plays) recently sold for $500 on eBay.

posted by Joe Beese (16 comments total)

from the "news" link: "I was not willing to sell my soul for success," she said

Well that's not how you play the game!
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:01 PM on August 26, 2009

I really thought the news was going to be that she was pregnant- until I read that second sentence.
posted by mollywas at 8:03 PM on August 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else is a great fucking blog. I've always been somewhat sad that my post about it caused Lee Hartsfeld some distress.
posted by Kattullus at 8:10 PM on August 26, 2009

WOAH, great vocals on that track! GO BETTY GO! I love that stuff. Great pianist too! Rock on!
posted by Ron Thanagar at 8:18 PM on August 26, 2009

For some reason, I thought the link would be an article about some random elderly woman who was accidentally inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, not a pioneering rockabilly artist.
posted by MegoSteve at 9:36 PM on August 26, 2009

Absolutely amazing vocal performance on "I'm Ready".

For some reason, I thought the link would be an article about some random elderly woman who was accidentally inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, not a pioneering rockabilly artist.

Me too. I think it might be the wording. Then again, it made me investigate this, something that I'm very glad for.
posted by Dysk at 9:41 PM on August 26, 2009

Me, I expected penguins. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20.
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:54 PM on August 26, 2009

Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else is a great fucking blog. I've always been somewhat sad that my post about it caused Lee Hartsfeld some distress.

I remember your post, but missed his commentary. (And how he thought you're a she.) Uh, his post is kinda lame and petty and comes off as "some site levied vague criticisms against me, fuck them." But it is a great blog.
posted by desuetude at 10:01 PM on August 26, 2009

So now, Kattullus, you're again responsible for MetaFilter linking to and criticizing his blog. That old devil is going to think you've got something against him. And his 20 cats. You'll have to do a Merv Griffin post as penance. Make sure you play up the church organist and "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" angles.
posted by pracowity at 10:46 PM on August 26, 2009

That's a great photo of her on the Mansfield News Journal link. She looks like she's still rockin' out with her guitar at 72, singin' for Jesus, or not. You can almost see that she's had that visceral connection with her music, all her life, just in her facial expression, and it's the same expression every kid who learned 3 chords to "Hound Dog" made into his mirror, too.

But she still pulls it off, authentically, 50 years after most of them quit tryin'.
posted by paulsc at 1:17 AM on August 27, 2009

Think about it, friends... Betty Nickell started hot and wild and ended up singing for Jesus.
Wanda Jackson started hot and wild and ended up singing for Jesus.
Little Richard started hot and wild and ended up singing for Jesus.
Johnny Cash started hot and wild and ended up singing for Jesus.
Ray Charles and Little Walter started hot and wild, and stole their best songs from Jesus, and stayed son-of-a-bitches to the end.
Jerry Lee Lewis... whew!
Pat Boone started smooth and mellow and sang for Jesus and he's still smooth and mellow and alive and well with a wonderful family and a happy life behind him.
Sister Rosetta Tharp went back and forth, and think she just went where she thought the money was, poor kid.
Franz Liszt started hot and wild and wound up in a monastery singing for Jesus.
Just about everybody in country music started hot and wild and ended up singing for Jesus.
The Louvin brothers started singing for Jesus and were hot and wild at the same time, and even Jesus got uncomfortable when he saw the cover of "Satan is Real."
John Lennon started hot and wild, but wound up singing for Jesus, only no one heard him because he was solitary (though married) and terrified in his home-made hell in the Dakota.
George Harrison started hot and wild and wound up singing for Krishna, which was a big mistake because there is no Krishna.
Joseph Ward Simmons started hot and wild and wound up singing for Jesus as Rev. Run (although I think he may have also needed some appropriate way to use his all black wardrobe).
The coolest thing for Elvis to have done would have been to give up secular music in 1961, and go all gospel -- probably would have saved his life, too.
All of you will wind up singing for Jesus, or not singing for Jesus like this dear lady in Ohio, who has some really hot records under her belt.
posted by Faze at 5:02 AM on August 27, 2009 [6 favorites]

Jesus H. Christ, Faze, you're right.
posted by John of Michigan at 7:15 AM on August 27, 2009

Didn't George Harrison end up singing for Jesus after all? I coulda swore this was the case.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:02 AM on August 27, 2009

You forgot Bob Dylan. Started out "hot and wild", crashed his bike, went to Nashville, eventually sang an awful lot about Jesus, got back to "hot and wild", now he's readying a record for the baby Jesus.
posted by JBennett at 8:18 AM on August 27, 2009

What a find, I'd never heard her music before and she's a rockin' vocalist - especially for her time, I didn't know women were even singing like that in the 50's.
posted by empyrean at 12:58 PM on August 27, 2009

Pat Boone started smooth and mellow and sang for Jesus and he's still smooth and mellow and alive and well with a wonderful family and a happy life behind him.
... paid for with money pirated from the black artists whose music he turned into hits without ever paying royalties. May he rot in hell.

John Lennon started hot and wild, but wound up singing for Jesus, only no one heard him because he was solitary (though married) and terrified in his home-made hell in the Dakota.
Um, where on earth did you get the idea that John turned Christian and sang for Jesus? Have you listened to Double Fantasy, his last album? Or anything else by him?

George Harrison started hot and wild and wound up singing for Krishna, which was a big mistake because there is no Krishna.
George died happy and contented, much-loved and idolized by millions. In what way can you show he was any worse off than any of the others on this list? And, in terms of humanitarianism and good done for others, he frankly soars above everyone else on this list (except Cash and Lennon) like an angel.

All of you will wind up singing for Jesus, or not singing for Jesus like this dear lady in Ohio, who has some really hot records under her belt.
So, Faze, if I'm understanding you correctly, either we will do (X), or we won't do (X)? Wow. Pretty deep.
posted by IAmBroom at 2:46 PM on August 27, 2009