Brenston was born in
Clarksdale, Mississippi. Brenston's birth date has long been the source of speculation. The birth date on his headstone, August 24, 1928, is the same date on his army enlistment records. However, in 1974, Brenston stated that he was born on August 24, 1927. His obituary in the
Clarksdale Press Register gave his birth date as August 15, 1930, a date endorsed by researchers Bob Eagle and Eric S. LeBlanc. Brenston had a troubled youth and often ran away from home. It has been theorized that his mother, Ethel Brenston, falsified his age so that he could join the army. Brenston claimed he served more than three years in the
82nd Airborne, but records show that he enlisted on January 19, 1946, and was released on December 18, 1946. Returning to Clarksdale from army service, Brenston learned to play the
tenor saxophone and linked up with Ike Turner in 1950 as a tenor sax player and occasional singer in Turner's band, the
Kings of Rhythm. The local success of the band prompted
B. B. King to recommend them to studio owner
Sam Phillips in
Memphis, Tennessee, where the band made several
recordings in early March 1951, including "
Rocket 88", Turner led the band but provided no vocals for "Rocket 88". Brenston later said that the song was not particularly original; "they had simply borrowed from another jump blues about an automobile,
Jimmy Liggins' "Cadillac Boogie" ". Turner continued to maintain that he wrote the music and that he and the band jointly wrote the lyrics. Phillips licensed the recordings to
Chess Records in Chicago, which released "Rocket 88" as by
Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats instead of Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm featuring Jackie Brenston. The record soon reached
number one on the U.S.
Billboard R&B chart. It sold approximately half a million copies. Turner and the band had been paid $20 each for the record. The exception was Brenston, who sold the rights to Phillips for $910. Phillips later claimed that this was the
first rock and roll record. Phillips used income from the success of the record to start
Sun Records the following year. The success of the record caused friction within the group. After one further recording session, Brenston left Turner's band to pursue a solo career. Brenston later went on to perform in
Lowell Fulson's band for two years. By now an
alcoholic, Brenston continued playing in local bands. Brenston's final recording session was in Chicago with
Earl Hooker's band in 1963, In spite of brief fame from "Rocket 88", Brenston did not achieve success in his career. "He never had another hit and became an alcoholic ... Brenston finally quit music, became a truck driver and died forgotten in 1979". He died of a
heart attack at
V.A. Hospital in Memphis on December 15, 1979. ==Legacy==