One-hit wonder Carl Perkins

Blue Suede Shoes is intimately connected with Elvis Presley, but it was first recorded by Carl Perkins, who grew up on a tenant farm in Tennessee and whose first guitar was made from a cigar box and a broomstick. Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes and recorded it on the Sun Records label in 1956. It quickly moved to No.1 on the country music chart. Soon after cuting the record, he was badly injured in a car accident. During Perkins' recovery, Elvis did his own version of the song--competition that was too much for Perkins to overcome. It was Perkins' only big hit, although he also wrote Honey Don't and Dixie Fried. He played guitar behind Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder for their hit Ebony and Ivory and performed with Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny
Cash and other luminaries.

Perkins had trouble with alcohol but managed to kick the habit. He died at 65 in 1998 following a series of strokes.