Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Biography 1990-1999
3 February 1990
Not leaping out of his casket, and his ghoulish sidekick, Henry the Skull, is conspicuously absent (though a miniature likeness surfaces long enough to have a lighted cigarette poked between his lips). Still, with a rubber snake draped round his neck, a bone in his nose and flash paper igniting from his wandlike fingers, 60 years old Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays a concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington (D. C.).
March 1990
The Australian band the Raunch Hands' LP HAVE A SWIG [Crypt Records 021] features their cover version of the Hill / Stevenson tune "Frenzy", inspired by Screamin' Jay Hawkins who had also recorded the song. In September 1992 the song is rereleased on the LP / CD FUCK ME STUPID [Crypt Records 031] and later on the CD MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE CD [1+2 CD014].
- The Raunch Hands (Crypt Records)
15 August 1990
In an episode of Night music, a live-music-performance television program, Hawkins and the Night Music Band present a version of "Ol' man river", originally composed by Jerome Kern for his 1928 Broadway musical Show boat.
October - December 1990
Hollywood, Tracks II: Screamin' Jay Hawkins recording session for Bizarre-Straight Records.
Producer: Robert Duffey
Sound engineer: Steve Batte
Musicians: Steve Batte (piano), Bo Diddley Jr. (guitar), Jill Foor (backing vocals), Dana Garrett (sax), Mark Goldberg (stand-up bass, electric bass), Screamin' Jay Hawkins (vocals, piano), Michael Keneally (guitar, piano, backing vocals, vocal arrangements; sax arrangement, rap), Meredith Marshall (backing vocals), Rik Shannon (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Bara Southern (sax), Julie Syperrda-Duffey (backing vocals)
| 02:54 | Is you or is you ain't my baby
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| 03:30 | I feel alright
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| 03:33 | I put a spell on you [dance version]
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| 03:11 | I hear you knockin'
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| 04:22 | Heart attack and vine
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| 06:00 | Ignant and shit
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| 04:37 | Swamp gas
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| 03:49 | Voodoo priestess
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| 03:22 | Ice cream man
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| 04:07 | I want your body
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| 05:56 | Ol' man river
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| 05:18 | Strokin'
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Strange
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I don't know
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Who's been talkin'
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I believe
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Stone crazy
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Last Saturday night
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Call the plumber
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I wanna know
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Sherilyn Fenn
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Late night Hawkins
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I am the queen
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January 1991
Screamin' Jay Hawkins is on tour in New Zealand with punk band the Hallelujah Picassos from Auckland supporting him.
1991
Video director Tim Pope directs the children's program, Accidentally on purpose, which is written by and stars Joie and Cinque Lee (Spikes brother and sister). The production, for Nickelodeon, also stars Iggy Pop and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
12 April 1991
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays a concert at the Coach House in Los Angeles.
April 1991
The movie A rage in Harlem features a Hawkins performance of "I put a spell on you", among other tunes, in one of its pivotal scenes.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins does guest spots in Arsenio and Carson. In Japan, where he is extremely popular, he makes a series of Walkman commercials for Sony. Royalties from the many remakes of his songs bring in a tidy sum every year, and he continues to tour Japan, Europe, and the USA regularly.
July 1991
Screamin' Jay Hawkins releases his album BLACK MUSIC FOR WHITE PEOPLE. The record contains "Ice cream man" (a song written by the obscure blues guitarist John Brim and covered by Tom Waits in 1973, by Van Halen in 1978) and an untitled country blues track that goes "It was me and Sherilyn Fenn / I had nightmares what it would be like to get in!" The complete song turns up on the 1993 album, STONE CRAZY. Hawkins says he is dissatisfied with his new album...
3 August 1991
Screamin' Jay Hawkins headlines the Palomino in Los Angeles.
At times Hawkins continues to be frustrated by the persona he has created for himself; he has told the New York Times, "For once I want to go out and sing Stardust or Feelings and I want to sing it straight. I want to show that I can do it." But on the whole, Hawkins seems satisfied with his position in the rock and roll stratosphere; "I don't want nothin' else from this world," he has told the Los Angeles Times. "I stuck to the roots, and it carried me this far. I have no complaints."
16-17 October 1991
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays at the Club Ubu in Rennes (France).
1991
Sydney (Australia), Emerald City: Screamin' Jay Hawkins recording session for the album I SHAKE MY STICK AT YOU [AIM Records 1031].
Producer: Peter Noble
Sound engineer: Steve Batte
Musicians: Screamin' Jay Hawkins (vocals, piano)
| Live love or die | |
| Because of you | |
| Don't fool with me | |
| Furburger | |
| Cookie time | |
| The rose | |
| Tear drops | |
| Bushman Tucker | |
| In my heart | |
| Rockin away | |
| Rock Australia rock |
1991
In Australia the album I SHAKE MY STICK AT YOU is released with Jay and Henry, his skull, appearing on the cover.
Around April 1992
Screamin' Jay Hawkins joins Dread Zeppelin in the studio for the songs "Disco inferno" and "Jungle boogie", released on their third album IT'S NOT UNUSUAL (1992) - kind of a parody of the soundtrack to the movie Saturday night fever. Jay keeps insisting that Dread Zeppelin are stealing his act! Though, it was said that Dread Zeppelin's descent began with this album. Soon after singer Tortelvis retires from music to go back to his first love... milk delivery! And the IRS record company drops Dread Zeppelin for not matching the sales of their previous albums.
For more info about Dread Zeppelin visit
- Dread Zeppelin
- UK-led-ED - Dread Zeppelin (Lynn Hoskins)
7 April 1992
Diamanda Galás' gospel, blues and jazz influenced album THE SINGER [Mute/ A. D. A. 61278] includes a cover version of "I put a spell on you" which is later used in the soundtrack to the film Natural born killers (1994). It is the same singer who had said in 1988: "My voice was given to me as an instrument of inspiration for my friends, and a tool of torture and destruction to my enemies. An instrument of truth." Rolling Stone magazine writes: "She summons up a sound that is stripped down and a fury that is razor sharp... Each song on THE SINGER is transformed into a howl, a shriek, a rant against life, death, nature, the history of music and the will of God..." (25 June 1992)
[before 4] September 1992
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays a concert at the Palomino in Los Angeles. Included in the first set is "I put a spell on you".
January 1993
Screamin' Jay Hawkins moves to Levallois-Perret in the suburbs of Paris (France).
12 January 1993
Tab Benoits new CD NICE AND WARM [Justice 1201] includes a cover version of "I put a spell on you".
13 April 1993
Bryan Ferrys cover versions album TAXI [WEA / Warner Brothers 45246] opens with a version of "I put a spell on you" which is also released on CD single in five different mixes: the "single mix" by Bob Clearmountain; the "Yage mix" and the "Yage mix long version" by the Future Sound of London; the "Haunted house mix" by Sven Taits; and the "Council house mix" (05:50) by Richard T. Norris and Sven Taits. Eventually the song is also played as a concert opener in Ferrys shows.
24 October 1993
Screamin' Jay Hawkins performs in Germany at the "Bonner Bluesfestival" in Bonn's Biscuithalle. Also appearing are the Rest, Kim Wilson, Blues'n' Trouble, Louisiana Red, Joanna Connor and Luther Allison.
1993
Screamin' Jay Hawkins has a hit with Tom Waits' song "Heartattack and Vine" which is used in a Levi's commercial shown in Europe. But one thing Tom doesn't do is commercials and he has publicly expressed the view that artists should not do them, as he believes it detracts from their artistic integrity. When the US corn chip manufacturer Frito-Lay used a singer who had perfected an imitation of Waits' voice, Waits sued them successfully for $ 2.5 million for infringement of his right of publicity. With Levis Strauss he negotiated a settlement where they simply ran a few ads apologising for their actions. This apparently soft approach could also have something to do with the fact that the relevant European jurisdictions may not have pushed the law in this area quite as far as the USA.
- Lawtalk: Whose performance is it anyway? (Scott McConnel)
January 1994
Orange (California), For The Record Studio: Screamin' Jay Hawkins recording session for the album SOMETHIN' FUNNY GOIN' ON [Bizarre / Planet 40105].
Producer: Robert Duffey
Sound engineer: Jim Monroe
Musicians: Jeff Aafedt (drums), Oscar Barajas (bass), Erin Barton (backing vocals), Buddy Blue (slide guitar), Octavia Bostick (backing vocals), Jack Duffey (backing vocals), Steve Ebner (trumpet), Felix Flanagan (harmonica), Donna Gast (backing vocals), Screamin' Jay Hawkins (vocals, piano), Robbie Helm (sax), Brynn Horrocks (backing vocals), Mike Keneally (guitar, backing vocals), Craig Mealins (backing vocals), Jim Monroe (percussion)
Note: Screamin' Jay Hawkins is doing the album under pressure as he wants out of his contract and is forced to deliver this recording.
| 03:11 | Somethin' funny goin' on (Buddy Blue) | |
| 04:19 | I am the cool (Robert Duffey / Mike Keneally) | |
| 03:36 | Whistling past the graveyard (Tom Waits) | |
| 03:14 | Rock the house (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 03:30 | Scream the blues (Robert Duffey / Jung) | |
| 03:52 | Brujo (Buddy Blue) | |
| 02:47 | You make me sick (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 03:01 | Give it a break (Robert Duffey / Jung) | |
| 05:32 | When you walked out the door (Robert Duffey / Mike Keneally) | |
| 06:56 | Fourteen wives (Jalacy Hawkins) |
March 1994
Screamin' Jay Hawkins releases his album SOMETHIN' FUNNY GOIN' ON [Bizarre-Straight / Planet 40105] which is a little deceiving compared to earlier albums.
31 July 1994
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays a concert at the Tempodrom in Berlin. The show is recorded by German TV station FAB (Fernsehen aus Berlin).
26 August 1994
Oliver Stone's movie Natural born killers premieres in the USA. It shows the misadventures of Mickey and Mallory: outcasts, lovers, and serial killers. They travel across Route 666 conducting psychadelic mass-slaughters not for money, not for revenge, just for kicks. Glorified by the media, the pair become legendary folk heroes; their story told by the single person they leave alive at the scene of each of their slaughters. The movie soundtrack Natural born killer [Interscope / WEA-Atlantic] includes Diamanda Galas' version of "I put spell on you", mixed together with Jane's Addiction's "Ted just admit it" by producer Trent Reznor under the title "Sex is violent".
31 March 1995
Initial US broadcast of "The X-Files" episode "Humbug" (German: "Der Zirkus"; French: "Faux frères siamois"), featuring Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song "Frenzy" in its soundtrack. Jerald Glazebrook, the Alligator Man, a circus performer afflicted with a rare skin disease, is the latest victim in a series of inexplicable attacks that have ranged over the entire country in last 28 years. When Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive in Gibsonton, Florida, to investigate, however, they find the entire town full of circus performers and carnival freaks. Unraveling the mystery takes them to the limits of the bizarre and the surrealistic, as they must chase a killer through a community of freaks. There are Lanny and Leonard, a siamese twin, who helps the agents with their luggage; Dr. Blockhead, a magician and escape artist, who claims he has trained his body to accept acute pain - he demonstrates his abilities by driving a nail up into his nostril; the Conundrum, a man who eats live animals and just about anything else he can fit in his mouth - Blockhead describes his friend as a "geek"; Sheriff Hamilton, who once performed as Jim-Jim, the Dog-Faced Boy. In the film it is learned that Leonard is capable of extracting himself from his brother's body. Lanny admits that Leonard is seeking another brother with whom he can co-join. Later, Blockhead laments that due to advances in genetic engineering, people with severe abnormalities will not exist. Everyone in the future, he fears, will look like Mulder. Dr. Blockhead and the Conundrum, who suffers from a swollen stomach, pack up their belongings and prepare to leave town. As their vehicle hits the open road, Mulder and Scully realize that the Conundrum may have eaten Leonard...
If you really need more details on this episode click
- Humbug (FOX)
9 May 1995
Elvis Costello releases his 16th studio album KOJAK VARIETY [Warner Bros. CD 9362-45903-2], with its first song being a cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Strange" (02:42) - the original B-side of his 1964 single The Whammy [US: Roulette]. Costello used to play the included songs during his Rude 5 tour in early 1991 and all the songs have been bootlegged before. The CD reaches #21 in Great Britain and #102 in the USA.
- The Elvis Costello Home Page
- Elvis Costello: Kojak Variety (Warner Bros.) - album review
- Kojak Variety: The Originals (Beyond Belief - The Elvis Costello Newsletter) - album review
9 June 1995
US premiere of the Wayne Wang movie Smoke, featuring Screamin' Jay Hawkins ("Hong Kong"), Tom Waits and Louis Prima on the soundtrack [Miramax Records 192 024-2]. The plot of this movie, like smoke itself, drifts and swirls ethereally. Characters and subplots are deftly woven into a tapestry of stories and pictures which only slowly emerges to our view. This film tries to convince us that reality doesn't matter so much as aesthetic satisfaction. In the Brooklyn smoke shop of Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel), day by day passes, seemingly unchanging until he teaches us to notice the little details of life. Paul Benjamin (William Hurt), a disheartened and broken writer, has a brush with death that is pivotal and sets up an unlikely series of events that afford him a novel glimpse into the life on the street which he saw, but did not truly perceive, every day. Finally, it's Auggie's turn to spin a tale...
7-16 July 1995
Screamin' Jay Hawkins play at the "Nice Jazz Festival" in France.
19 October 1995
Marilyn Manson release their CD SMELLS LIKE CHILDREN [Uni / Interscope] which includes their own version of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I put a spell on you" (produced by Trent Reznor of The Nine Inch Nails). But it is their cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet dreams (are made of this)" that grabs the airplay. The song is later included in the movie soundtrack of David Lynch's Lost highway (1997).
For more information about Marilyn Manson:
2 June 1996
The performance of Screamin' Jay Hawkins closes the "13th Chicago Blues Festival" at Petrillo's Music Shell in Chicago. Dime-store fright props litter his piano, including a huge rabid rat, a motorized severed hand and a hopping black spider. Set on a platform just to Hawkins' left is a toilet (for the "Constipation blues") and a coffin (sadly never used). The singer, decked out all in red with a long feather boa, assaults the crowd with classics including Ben E. King's "Stand by me" and Jimmy Reed's "Baby what you want me to do", along with Leiber and Stoller's "Alligator wine". The inevitable "I put a spell on you" is followed by "Little bitty pretty one". Hawkins shouts and screams, the 3-foot-long (plastic) bone he frantically waives and the tiny one he puts in his nose, and, most of all, the walking staff complete with cigarette smoking skull, bring broad smiles and hearty guffaws from even the most hardened, long-time blues fans.
5 July 1996
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays at the "20. Internationales Jazz Fest Wiesen '96" in Wiesen (Austria).
9 or 10 August 1996
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays at the "Crest Vocal 96" festival in the French Vallée de la Drôme.
24 November 1996
In the episode "Ghosts" of the US ABC-TV series Lois and Clark (The new adventures of Superman) a real estate con artist has targeted Lois and Clark's neighborhood, using fake hauntings to frighten people into selling their homes. But things get out of control when he accidentally summons the spirit of a murdered house wife and exploits her supernatural abilities to aid in his scam! The episode features Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song "I put spell on you".
- Lois and Clark (The new adventures of Superman) (TNT)
- Lois and Clark (The new adventures of Superman) (TNT)
- The original internet Lois and Clark episode guide
Christmas 1996
The Dread Zeppelin fan club "Physical Jah-Fitti" releases the members only-CD RUINS, including the tracks "Jungle boogie" and "Disco inferno" from the CD IT'S NOT UNUSUAL (1992) with Screamin' Jay Hawkins on vocals.
15 January 1997
World premiere of the David Lynch movie Lost highway (in France). Include d in the soundtrack is Marilyn Manson's cover version of "I put a spell on you" (1995). The US soundtrack album Lost highway [Nothing Records-Interscope/ MCA-Universal] is released on 18 February 1997 and also includes songs by David Bowie, Lou Reed, the Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins... nuff said.
- Original soundtrack: Lost highway (Real Groove Review / Marty Duda)
15 March 1997
The album WHIPDANG! [YNH] by the US band Slide from Somerville (Massachusetts) includes a sample of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song "Voodoo priestess".
25 March 1997
24 years old Christopher G. Wallace, known as Notorious BIG (aka Biggie Smalls), America's biggest rapper (literally), has been gunned down on 9th March in Los Angeles. Now his posthumous "gangsta rap" double album LIFE AFTER DEATH [US: Bad Boy Records / BMG-Arista 78612-73011-2] contains gang-banging, gun-toting, crack-huffing, head-busting, whore-mongering anti-glory and also the song "Kicking the door" (04:52) which is constructed by DJ Premier of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I put a spell on you". The album is in November also released in a clean version [73019] and eventually sells 3.1 million copies and becomes the sixth best selling CD of 1997 in the USA. "You're nobody (till somebody kills you)", Biggie declares on the last track... The investigation in his murder has been stalled by the witnesses' lack of cooperation, and police have made no arrests, despite a $50,000 reward.
- (The unofficial homepage of the late rapper Notorious BIG aka Biggie Smalls)
- Notorious BIG (The Dark Eyes)
- Song: Kick in the door - the lyrics
- [http://members.aol.com/subseven/bigdisco.html The unofficial Notorious BIG discography</a> (Michael Smith)
- LIFE AFTER DEATH by the Notorious BIG (Music Boulevard) - with sound samples, also of "Kick In The Door"
- Life after death - two articles on the album
27 May 1997
Robben Ford's jazz instrumental collection BLUES CONNOTATION [Records 970083] features a cover version of "I put a spell on you". The songs were recorded in 1988 and 1992. The album had already been released in Germany in 1996 under the name of Jerry Granelli as A SONG I THOUGHT I HEARD BUDDY SING [ITM Pacific].
July 1997
Memphis (Tennessee), Sam Phillips Recording Service: Screamin' Jay Hawkins recording session for the album AT LAST for the French independent label Last Call (run by Patrick Mathe).
Producer: Jim Dickinson
Sound engineer: Roland Janes
Musicians: Frank Ash (guitar), Bertram Brown (backing vocals), William Brown (backing vocals), T-Bone Tommy Burroughs (violin), East Memphis Slim (keyboards, percussion), Screamin' Jay Hawkins (vocals, piano), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass), Kelley Hurt (backing vocals), Sam Shoop (bowed bass), Jim Spake (saxophone)
| 04:42 | Listen (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 02:09 | Because of you (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 04:25 | Coulda', woulda', shoulda' (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 04:28 | Petluck (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 04:19 | You took me (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 02:38 | Deceived (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 02:32 | I'll be there (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 02:13 | I played the fool (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 02:14 | Shut your mouth when you sneeze (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 03:41 | Life goes on (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 04:31 | You want love (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 06:49 | Make me happy (Jalacy Hawkins) | |
| 06:40 | I shot the sheriff (Bob Marley) |
31 October 1997
In the episode The curse of Frank Black of the US TV series Millennium Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song "Little demon" can be heard repeatedly. It's Halloween night, and Frank is haunted by ghosts of the recent and distant past - and seemingly destined to relive them by powers beyond his control.
16 November 1997
In their list of top skaters of the year Associated Press announces Elizabeth Punsalan and her husband Jerod Swallow from Pontiac (Michigan) as the top skater team. The two often used to skate to the music of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Little demon" and "I put a spell on you" this season.
18 December 1997
After a wait that seems as long as his nearly four-decade career, Screamin' Jay Hawkins takes Washington's 9:30 Club stage, wearing a wildly patterned suit, wailing, snorting, cock-a-doodle-dooin', grumpin' 'and squawkin' his way through the show.
7-25 January 1998
53 years old Peggy Shaw's solo performance "Menopausal Gentleman" is shown at Josie's Cabaret and Juce Joint in New York. Included is a spasmodic lip-syncing to Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I put a spell on you" as well as an elegant foot-and-hand dance illuminated by small lights in her sleeves and pant legs. She says: "People think that in menopause, women get to be a lot like men: They grow beards and get dried out. I guess that's people's definition of a man: a hairy, dried-out woman."
February 1998
69 years old Screamin' Jay Hawkins marries his ninth wife - a 29 years old woman from Kamerun.
26 February 1998
During the 9th annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation dinner and awards ceremony at New York's Sheraton Hotel, hosted by Smokey Robinson, Screamin' Jay Hawkins is honored with the Pioneer Award. Resplendent in white tie and tails, carrying a bone and a skull, he whoops and growls and hoots a a medley including "I put a spell on you". This year's recipients also include Gladys Knight and the Pips, the O'Jays, the Five Satins, Ernie K-Doe, Ruth Brown, Tyrone Davis, David Fathead Newman, gospel singer Faye Adams, Atlantic Records co-founder Herb Abramson, Kim Weston, Bobby Byrd, and the Harptones. Presenters included Stevie Wonder, Paul Shaffer, Branford Marsalis, Ashford and Simpson, Ray Benson, Bootsy Collins, and too many more to mention. The band included, Maceo Parker, Lenny Pickett, Ry Cooder, Hamiet Bluiett, Ron Tooley, Fred Wesley, Bruno Speight, Jerry Preston, Larry Goldings and Will Boulware. Among the attendants was "The artist formerly known as Prince". There was a live broadcast feed and multitrack recording of the event.
- News Flash: R&B Awards honor Gladys Knight and others (Music News of the World, 02.03.1998)
29 March 1998
Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays at the "Not in our name: Dead men walking The concert" benefit, a fund-raiser at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The show raises money for a campaign against executions.
1998
Screamin' Jay Hawkins releases the album AT LAST [Last Call / Valley Entertainment VE 15008-2], including a cover of Bob Marley's song "I shot the sheriff" which proves to be successful in France. There is also a limited edition with a bonus CD existing - it includes an 18 minute ni ghtclub rap on the second CD.
15 April 1998
Screamin Jay Hawkins plays a concert at L'Olympia in Paris. Recording of the album LIVE (OLYMPIA, PARIS 1998) (1999).
9 June 1998
The Creedence Clearwater Revival revival band named Creedence Clearwater Revisited releases their live recorded double CD RECOLLECTION [US: MCA-FUEL 2000] [Europe: SPV Records] which includes their own cover version of "I put a spell on you" (04:36) - though inspired by the weak version of Creedence Clearwater Revival!
- I put a spell on you - sound sample in .MPEG format
14 June 1998
"El gran" Screamin Jay Hawkins - "mítico entertainer afroamericano" - closes the "10 festival de blues de Getxo" in Spain.
- X festival de blues de Getxo - in Spanish
5 July 1998
Screamin Jay Hawkins closes the local jazz festival in Orléans (France) in replacement for Bootsy Collins.
8 September 1998
Release of the CD album SONGS OF THE WITCHBLADE [DreamWorks Records / Geffen Records] which is the first-ever soundtrack to a comic book and includes Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I put a spell on you". The album is inspired by the inventive and phenomenally successful Top Cow Productions comic series Witchblade - distributed in 52 countries and translated into six languages.
15 September 1998
Keyboard player Merl Saunders releases his album MERLE SAUNDERS AND HIS FUNKY FRIENDS LIVE! [Sumertone Records 2193] which contains live performances from 1989 to 1996, including a cover version of "I put a spell on you".
29 September 1998
MIL Multimedia releases the Screamin' Jay Hawkins' compilation CD SHE PUT THE WAMMEE ON ME [MIL Multimedia 6121].
6 November 1998
Screamin' Jay Hawkins appears at the "Blues festival at Riverwalk times and stages" in Fort Lauderdale (Florida), playing at the downtowner saloon stage.
29 November 1998
Premiere of Alex de la Iglesia's movie Perdita durango in Germany. Screamin' Jay Hawkins plays the role of Adolfo.
16 December 1998
Baby Jane Dexters new CD I GOT THUNDER [Cabaret 5006] includes a cover version of "I put a spell on you".
28 February 1999
Screamin' Jay Hawkins and the Chicken Hawks play a concert at the Kaufleutensaal in Zürich (Switzerland). The band consists of Frank Ash (guitar), DJ Marty (sax), Jose Baba (drums), Freddie Fall (bass) "The man on the bass with the handsome face with his fingers runnin' everywhere". The set:
- Band only: [...] - [Teeny weeny] - C. C. rider
- Screamin' Jay Hawkins and the Chicken Hawks: [Every word I say / Okay] - [...] - Frankly speaking - I wanna know - Pretty girls - D. C. - [a blues] - I want your body - What'd I say - Constipation blues - Stand by me - Bite it (Last night) - Alligator wine - I put a spell on you - Itty bitty pretty one - Shout - I'm lonely - Please don't go - Let it roll
November 1999
Screamin' Jay Hawkins' album LIVE (OLYMPIA, PARIS 1998) [Loudsprecher / Indigo] is released.
12 February 2000
Screamin' Jay Hawkins dies in Neuilly-sur-Seine (France) near Paris at the age of 70. According to the Associated Press he underwent surgery earlier in the week to treat an aneurysm at the Ambroise Pave clinic and subsequently suffered multiple organ failure.
Hawkins was often quoted as saying, "When I go, I don't want to be buried. I've been in too many damn coffins already!"