Earl Grant – born in Idabel, Oklahoma on January 20, 1931 – was a jazz multi-instrumentalist and vocalist best known for his skills on the organ and piano. His musical journey found him attending four different music schools – where he studied trumpet and drums as well as various keyboards – before settling into a career teaching music. While serving in the army, he was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, and performed in local clubs to earn a little extra money. After releasing several singles on different labels in 1956, he signed with Decca Records in 1957. Earl Grant released a series of singles for Decca including the hit “The End,” which reached Number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. In 1958, he released several albums including The Versatile Earl Grant, The End, and Midnight Earl. His first massively successful album was 1961’s Ebb Tide (And Other Instrumental Favorites), which sold over a million copies. Earl Grant’s subsequent singles may not have charted as high as “The End,” he still managed to make the Top 100 with “Evening Rain” (1959), “House of Bamboo” (1960), “Swingin’ Gently” (1962), “Sweet Sixteen Bars” (1962), and “Stand by Me” (1965). However, he did manage to have a holiday hit with his version of “Silver Bells” (1969), which rose to Number 3 and was taken from his album Winter Wonderland. Earl Grant died in a car accident on June 10, 1970, while en route to a play a show in Juarez, Mexico.
