Titus Turner

Titus Turner earned lasting renown chiefly as a songwriter despite steady recording activity throughout the 1950s and 1960s, penning enduring numbers that include “Leave My Kitten Alone,” “All Around the World,” and “Sticks and Stones.” The Atlanta-born performer first entered a studio for OKeh in 1951, ultimately cutting nine singles for the imprint, among them “Got So Much Trouble.” Commercial results remained elusive, prompting a shift to Mercury’s Wing subsidiary, where chart breakthroughs still failed to materialize. Little Willie John nevertheless delivered a major success in 1955 with Turner’s “All Around the World,” a composition Little Milton later reinterpreted under the title “Grits Ain’t Groceries.” Turner and John joined forces on “Leave My Kitten Alone,” a track subsequently taken up by artists ranging from the Beatles to Elvis Costello. While on the King roster in 1959, Turner achieved his initial hit with the answer record “The Return of Stag-O-Lee,” crafted in response to Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee”; his vocal resemblance to Price was likewise leveraged on the follow-up “We Told You Not to Marry,” itself positioned as a reply to Price’s “I’m Gonna Get Married.” Ray Charles scored a major success with the gospel-tinged “Sticks and Stones” ahead of the 1961 appearance of Turner’s biggest seller, “Sound Off,” which served as the title cut of his only studio album. Subsequent releases such as “Party Train” and “Miss Rubberneck Jones” could not sustain that momentum, leaving him to issue little-noticed sides for Enjoy, Columbia, Atco, Murbo, Philips, and Josie across the balance of the decade. His final recording, 1969’s “His Funeral, My Trial,” closed the discography; Turner passed away in Atlanta in 1984.