Preston Epps(1930-2019)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born in Oakland, CA, in 1931, Preston Epps learned to play various
percussion instruments, including the bongos, while he was in the US
military during the Korean War, where he was stationed in Okinawa,
Japan. After his hitch was over he moved to Southern California and
began to make some money playing bongos in coffee houses around the
area. He came to the attention of Los Angeles disc jockey
Art Laboe, who owned Original Sound Records
and signed Epps to that label. In 1959 it released his single "Bongo
Rock", which shot to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His follow-up
record, "Bongo Bongo Bongo", sold respectably but didn't reach the
heights that "Bongo Rock" did. In 1960 he released an album, but the
public's taste for bongo music had begun to ebb. He released a string
of bongo music over the next few years, but they didn't go anywhere
In 1957 he appeared (uncredited) as a bongo player in Calypso Heat Wave (1957) and in 1968 he had a small part in Girl in Gold Boots (1968), also as a bongo player. He continued to work as a session musician in the L.A. recording scene in the 1960s and 1970s. He also kept busy playing in various clubs and nightspots into the 1990s.
In 1957 he appeared (uncredited) as a bongo player in Calypso Heat Wave (1957) and in 1968 he had a small part in Girl in Gold Boots (1968), also as a bongo player. He continued to work as a session musician in the L.A. recording scene in the 1960s and 1970s. He also kept busy playing in various clubs and nightspots into the 1990s.