Dickie Harrell

about

Dickie "Be-Bop" Harrell was the original drummer for Gene Vincent's Blue Caps. His restrained brush playing and background screams on Vincent's first and most famous hit, "Be-Bop-A-Lula," gave that record -- one of the signature records of early rock 'n' roll -- much of its tension and feel. Like Vincent a native of Norfolk, Va., Harrell began playing with Vincent when he was only 15 years old. Vincent, then in the Navy, had badly injured his leg in a motorcycle accident, and was recuperating at a Navy hospital. Harrell stayed with the Blue Caps for a little more than a year before quitting, bored with life on the road. Vincent and the Blue Caps had a falling out over money at the end of the '50s, and Vincent, already crippled from his earlier injury, was hurt again in the car accident that killed Eddie Cochran, a friend and fellow early rock star. His fortunes faded in the United States, but he remained a popular live act in England, where he was a hero to, among others, the Beatles, whose early black leather look was an imitation of Vincent. Vincent died in 1971, alcoholic and mostly forgotten. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Dickie Harrell worked in hazardous materials for the government for 37 years before retiring two years ago. He now sells Blue Caps-related merchandise. Over the years, four of the surviving Blue Caps -- Harrell, guitar player Johnny Meeks and singers Tommy Facenda and Paul Peek -- have occasionally reunited

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