Portrait of Carl Perkins

Birthday profile

Carl Perkins

Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1998)

Born
April 9, 1932
Died
January 19, 1998
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1932

About Carl Perkins

Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) was an American country, rockabilly, and rock and roll guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio in Memphis in 1954. Among his best known songs are "Blue Suede Shoes", "Honey Don't", "Matchbox" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby". According to fellow musician Charlie Daniels, "Carl Perkins' songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins' sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed". Perkins's songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Ricky Nelson, and Eric Clapton, which further cemented his prominent place in the history of popular music. Nicknamed the "King of Rockabilly", Perkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His recording of "Blue Suede Shoes" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Wrote and first recorded "Blue Suede Shoes". Began recording at Sun Studio in Memphis in 1954. Perkins wrote and first recorded the rock-and-roll standard "Blue Suede Shoes". His best-known songs include "Blue Suede Shoes", "Honey Don't", and "Matchbox". He began recording at Sun Studio in Memphis in 1954.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Carl Perkins timeline

  1. Began recording at Sun Studio in Memphis in 1954.
  2. He began recording at Sun Studio in Memphis in 1954.

The world when Carl Perkins was born

Carl Perkins was born in 1932. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1932

  • #1 song"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"
  • Top movieGrand Hotel
  • Best-selling bookBrave New World – Aldous Huxley

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBabe Ruth's "called shot" in the World Series
  • Top headlineFDR elected in a landslide during the Great Depression
  • Technology milestoneAmelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
  • Defining fadMonopoly board game (unofficial versions)
  • Notable inventionPolaroid filters
  • World population2.14 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHerbert Hoover
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population124.8M

1932 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Carl Perkins's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19322026
Gas$0.18$3.45/gal
Average home$5,000$435,000
Average income$2,600$67,500
Movie ticket$0.20$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population124.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.