Jerry Lott

Jerry Lott (January 30, 1938 – September 4, 1983) was an American rockabilly musician, known for writing and recording the single Love Me in 1958.[1][2][3] The single was released by Dot Records in 1960 with the namesake track and "Whisper Your Love" as an A-side and B-side, respectively.

Early life

Jerry Lott was born on January 30, 1938 in Prichard, Alabama, and while in infancy, moved with his parents to Leakesville, Mississippi.[4][5] He and Billie Faye Starling married on November 8, 1958, in George County, Mississippi.[6] He saw Elvis Presley live in 1956 when the Louisiana Hayride came tp the area, and decided to supplement his country music heavily with rock and roll, thus becoming a rockabilly musician.[1][7]

Recordings

In June 1958, Lott recorded "Love Me" and "Whisper Your Love" at Gulf Coast Studios in Mobile, Alabama, with guitarist Frank Holmes, bassist-pianist William Yates, and drummer Hugo Brooks as session musicians. Dot Records issued the songs as the A-side and B-side of the single, Love Me, in January 1960, crediting “M. Lott” as the songwriter; it is classified by Discogs within the rockabilly music genre.[8]

Later accounts suggest that Pat Boone encouraged Lott him to adopt a more distinctive stage persona, leading to his use of the stage name The Phantom, after the comic strip character.[9][5][6]

Injury and paralysis, 1980 interview, and final years

In 1966, Lott was injured in a car crash in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and became paraplegic.[5]

Lott was interviewed in 1980 by Derek Glenister for New Commotion magazine. After seeing Elvis Presley perform with Louisiana Hayride, Lott as the main influence that, as soon as Lott heard his music in 1956, immediately "turned [his] head around" and felt compelled to play heavier, louder, and faster music in line with his "inner self".[7] Accordingly, Lott began using his given name as a stage name to represent his stylistic change.[9][6] Upon the release of the single, Love Me, Jerry "The Phantom" Lott was billed on concert tour as "The Gulf Coast Fireball."[1][7]

In the same interview, He stated that he went into the studio after working for months on "Whisper Your Love" but without a song for the other side of the record, and "someone suggested I wrote something like Elvis ... 'See if you spark rock 'n' roll a little bit'".[6][10] On the second take, the one that was used, he "blew one of the controls off the wall".[6] "Love Me" was also covered by The Cramps, a psychobilly group, and The Bananamen, a side project of British rockabilly band The Sting-rays.[1]

He died in his hometown of Leakesville, Mississippi, on September 5, 1983, aged 45.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "The Phantom". Big Hollow Twang Musical Archive. GeoCities musical archive. 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  2. ^ Stephens, Dave (April 17, 2019). "The Phantom". Toppermost. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  3. ^ Frémeaux & Associés. Dictionnaire Chronologique du Rock 1945-1962 [Chronological Dictionary of Rock] (PDF) (III ed.). Frémeaux & Associés. p. 48. Retrieved August 27, 2025. With his stage name and mask borrowed from a comic book masked vigilante...The Phantom was a country singer before Elvis stormed in. He cut this overexcited rockabilly without warning, which has since become an underground classic.
  4. ^ "Vol.5 - Rockabilly From The Vaults Of Dot Records (CD)". Bear Family Records. Bear Family Records (issuing label). Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Stephens, Dave (April 17, 2019). "The Phantom". Toppermost.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Jerry "The Phantom" Lott - "Love Me"". Seven45RPM. June 17, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c Callahan, Mike; Edwards, David (April 1, 2025). "Randy Wood: The Dot Records Story" (Music history archive). Both Sides Now. Both Sides Now Publications. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  8. ^ ""Love Me" by The Crammps (The Phantom cover)". Sonichits Lyrics. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
  9. ^ a b Pyro, Howie (June 23, 2014). "We have Pat Boone to thank for the most psychotic and deranged rockabilly record of all time!". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  10. ^ Michael Dregni, Rockabilly: The Twang Heard 'Round the World: The Illustrated History, Minneapolis: Voyageur, 2011, ISBN 9780760340622, WwC&pg=PA116 pp. 116–17.
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