death_date death_place years_active birth_place image_size name background birth_date genre image article_title birth_name occupation
1 august 1983 los angeles , california , united states 1930s - 1980s detroit , michigan , united states 200px wild bill moore non_vocal_instrumentalist 13 june 1918 r & b jazz blues wild bill moore.jpg wild bill moore
 william m. moore saxophone player
wild bill moore

wild bill moore -lrb- born william m. moore , june 13 , 1918 - august 1 , 1983 -rrb- was an american r&b and jazz tenor saxophone player .
moore earned a modest hit on the hot r&b charts with `` we 're gon na rock , we 're gon na roll '' , which also was one of the earliest rock and roll records .
moore was born in detroit michigan and began playing the alto saxophone at an early age .
however , prior to his musical career , he was an amateur boxer , winning michigan 's golden gloves light heavyweight championship in 1937 , before briefly turning professional .
by the early 1940s , moore abandoned his boxing career in favor of music , and was inspired by musicians chu berry and illinois jacquet to switch to tenor saxophone .
in 1944 , he made his recording debut , accompanying christine chatman , the wife of memphis slim , for decca records .
between 1945 and 1947 , moore was performing and recording in los angeles with slim gaillard , jack mcvea , big joe turner , dexter gordon , and played on helen humes ' hit recording , `` be-baba-leba '' .
in 1947 he moved back to detroit and began recording with his own band , which included baritone player paul williams , later famous for `` the hucklebuck '' .
in december of that year , he recorded `` we 're gon na rock , we 're gon na roll '' for the savoy label which was a modest hit and is remembered today as one of many candidates for the first rock and roll record .
it was one of the first records played by alan freed on his `` moondog '' radio shows in 1951 .
however , by the standards of its time it was quite a primitive recording , notable mainly for the juxtaposition of the words `` rock '' and `` roll '' , and the battling saxophones of moore and williams .
in 1949 , he cut `` rock and roll '' , reportedly featuring scatman crothers on vocals .
moore continued recording and playing in clubs in and around detroit .
in this period he also recorded several jazz albums for the jazzland label .
in 1971 , he was sought out by marvin gaye to play saxophone on the album `` what 's going on '' , notably the track `` mercy mercy me '' .
eventually he returned to los angeles , california and lived there until his death , aged 65 .
in their 1992 book , `` what was the first rock 'n' roll record ? ''
, jim dawson and steve propes dedicated a chapter to moore and his influential `` we 're gon na rock , we 're gon na roll . ''
