Baker Knight

Perhaps best known for penning the Elvis Presley hit "The Wonder of You," Baker Knight ranks among the most prolific songwriters of the rock & roll era, authoring well over a thousand songs in a variety of musical idioms. Born Thomas Baker Knight, Jr. in Birmingham, AL, on July 4, 1933, he lost his father at the age of six, and spent much of his childhood in the care of a series of relatives. After serving three years in the U.S. Air Force -- during which time he learned to play guitar -- Knight studied technical illustration at the University of Alabama but in his spare time began writing songs, and in 1956 formed a rockabilly combo dubbed the Knightmares, signing to the tiny Kit label to release "Bop Boogie to the Blues." The follow-up, "Bring My Cadillac Back," proved a regional hit and was licensed for national distribution by Decca before it was banned from radio on the grounds it was nothing more than a free commercial for Cadillac. Decca next teamed Knight with arranger Ray Ellis for 1957's "Reelin' and Rockin' (Bippin' and Boppin' Over You)." The record attracted little attention, and when the same fate met "Just a Little Bit More" and "Love-A, Love-A, Love-A," the label terminated his contract.

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