Rockabilly pioneer Charlie Feathers is being remembered 28 years after his death on 29 August 1998, aged 66 following complications from a stroke-induced coma. Though he never achieved the commercial stature of Sun Records contemporaries Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, his distinctive, energetic vocal style and later influence on rockabilly have earned him growing posthumous recognition.

Born into poverty in Mississippi in 1932, Feathers left school at 10 and was taught guitar by blues musician Junior Kimbrough before moving to Memphis and pursuing singing after recovering from spinal meningitis. He recorded songs including “Peepin’ Eyes”, “Defrost Your Heart” and “Bottle to the Baby”, while “That Certain Female” and “Can’t Hardly Stand It” later featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films; Sun founder Sam Phillips suggested Feathers’ difficult temperament limited his career.