# Fever (Little Willie John song)
"Fever" is a rhythm and blues song written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell and first recorded in 1956 by the American R&B singer Little Willie John for King Records. John's version reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart, and [Peggy Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/peggy-lee)'s 1958 cover, which added new lyric stanzas, turned the song into a pop standard that has since been recorded by hundreds of artists.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Writers | Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell, the latter credited under the pseudonym John Davenport because he was under songwriting contract to another company[1](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/) |
| First recording | Little Willie John, King Records, 1956; single King 45-4935, released May 1956 with "Letter From My Darling" as the B-side[1](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/) • [2](https://www.45cat.com/artist/little-willie-john) |
| Chart performance (1956) | Number one on the R&B chart, where it stayed for five weeks, and number 24 on Billboard's pop chart; 23 weeks on the R&B chart overall[3](https://www.rhino.com/article/little-willie-john) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/song/fever-mt0010797774) • [1](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/) |
| Peggy Lee version | Recorded May 19, 1958 for Capitol; peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 5 on the R&B chart and in the UK, and received three Grammy nominations[5](https://www.peggylee.com/songbook/nggallery/image/miss_peggy_lee-original_commercial_sheet_music_volume_i-012/) • [6](https://mostlymusiccovers.com/2023/10/13/cover-to-cover-fever/) |
| Lee's added lyrics | Stanzas about Romeo and Juliet and Captain Smith and Pocahontas, never copyrighted, sung in most subsequent covers[5](https://www.peggylee.com/songbook/nggallery/image/miss_peggy_lee-original_commercial_sheet_music_volume_i-012/) |
| Later recognition | Little Willie John inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, inducted by Stevie Wonder[7](https://rockhall.com/inductees/little-willie-john/) |
## Writing and the original recording
The song began when the singer Eddie Cooley brought the idea to his songwriting friend Otis Blackwell, who helped him finish it[8](https://michiganrockandrolllegends.com/hall-of-fame/legendary-mi-songs/130-fever). Blackwell was a prolific songwriter of rock and roll's early years; his other titles include [Elvis Presley](https://www.edgepedia.org/elvis-presley)'s "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up" and [Jerry Lee Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-lee-lewis)'s "Great Balls of Fire"[9](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/blackwell-otis). Because of a conflicting contract with another publisher, he wrote "Fever" under the name John Davenport, his stepfather's name[10](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/otis-blackwell/).
The song was offered to Little Willie John (born William Edward John, November 15, 1937, in Arkansas, raised in Detroit) as a follow-up to his R&B hits "All Around the World" and "Need Your Love So Bad"[8](https://michiganrockandrolllegends.com/hall-of-fame/legendary-mi-songs/130-fever). According to King Records producer Henry Glover, the eighteen-year-old John did not want to record it, but Glover persisted[1](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/). Sources place the session at the King studios in [Cincinnati](https://www.edgepedia.org/cincinnati) on March 1, 1956[11](https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/little-willie-john-322/) or April 1, 1956, with guitarist Bill Jennings and pianist Jon Thomas among the sidemen[1](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/).
The 1956 recording is a blues tune arranged for alto and baritone saxophones, guitar, and John's snapping fingers[12](https://wagner.edu/music/files/2025/02/Griffin_400_FinalProgram.pdf). It became his career's biggest boost: the single spent 23 weeks on the R&B chart, topped that chart for five weeks, and reached number 24 on Billboard's pop list[1](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/) • [3](https://www.rhino.com/article/little-willie-john) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/song/fever-mt0010797774). It was John's only R&B chart-topper[4](https://www.allmusic.com/song/fever-mt0010797774). In 1956 the song was considered "dangerous" race music (period term for records marketed to Black audiences), and the pop charts were largely foreign territory for an R&B singer like John[13](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Business/American-Hit-Radio-Ryan-1996.pdf).
## Peggy Lee's 1958 version
Early covers by Sandra Meade, Earl Grant, and Ray Peterson preceded Peggy Lee's reinvention of the song in 1958[14](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/peggy-lee-fever-cover-versions/). Her bassist Max Bennett brought the song to her attention after hearing a young singer perform it in a Hollywood bar; Lee found Ray Peterson's 1957 single, decided the tune could become the torch song (a sad, lovesick song of yearning for a lost love) she wanted for her nightclub act, and stripped the arrangement down to bass and drums[15](https://peggyleediscography.com/p/LeeResearchFever.php).
Lee recorded the hit single on May 19, 1958, after returning to [Capitol Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/capitol-records) from Decca[5](https://www.peggylee.com/songbook/nggallery/image/miss_peggy_lee-original_commercial_sheet_music_volume_i-012/). About half of the lyrics in her recording were new: she added the "history lesson" stanzas about [Romeo and Juliet](https://www.edgepedia.org/romeo-and-juliet) and Captain Smith and [Pocahontas](https://www.edgepedia.org/pocahontas), plus choruses ending "Chicks were born to give you fever / Be it Fahrenheit or centigrade"[15](https://peggyleediscography.com/p/LeeResearchFever.php). These added lyrics were never copyrighted, something Lee lamented later in life, and they have been sung in most of the hundreds of recordings that followed[5](https://www.peggylee.com/songbook/nggallery/image/miss_peggy_lee-original_commercial_sheet_music_volume_i-012/) • [15](https://peggyleediscography.com/p/LeeResearchFever.php).
Her version peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, charted at number 5 on the R&B chart and the UK Singles Chart, reached number 2 in Australia, and drew three nominations at the first Grammy presentations in 1959[5](https://www.peggylee.com/songbook/nggallery/image/miss_peggy_lee-original_commercial_sheet_music_volume_i-012/) • [6](https://mostlymusiccovers.com/2023/10/13/cover-to-cover-fever/). It became the song most closely associated with her[5](https://www.peggylee.com/songbook/nggallery/image/miss_peggy_lee-original_commercial_sheet_music_volume_i-012/). Peggy Lee's website describes her version as having stripped away the horns, electric guitar, and gospel voices, written new lyrics, and accompanied her finger-snaps with only bass and drums, while Elvis Presley's version followed Lee's arrangement[16](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-willie-john-p24464/biography) • [19](https://www.peggylee.com/thirty-years-of-fever/).
## Later covers and legacy
"Fever" has crossed many genres in cover versions by Elvis Presley, Beyoncé, Madonna, The Doors, James Brown, Sarah Vaughan, Bette Midler, and Toots & the Maytals, among many others[1](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/). [The Cramps](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-cramps) included a version on their 1980 debut album *Songs the Lord Taught Us*, changing the closing lyric to name the band; [The McCoys](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-mccoys) released a rock and roll reading on *Hang On Sloopy* in 1965; and [Michael Bublé](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-buble) recorded it for his 2003 self-titled album[17](https://americansongwriter.com/4-great-covers-of-peggy-lees-best-known-song-fever/).
Little Willie John's own later life ended badly. Convicted of manslaughter after a 1964 knifing incident outside a Seattle show, he was sent to the Washington State Penitentiary and died there on May 26, 1968, at age 30; sources variously record the cause as a heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia[3](https://www.rhino.com/article/little-willie-john) • [16](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-willie-john-p24464/biography) • [18](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/little-wille-john/1373824632). He was inducted into the [Rock and Roll Hall of Fame](https://www.edgepedia.org/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame) in 1996, with [Stevie Wonder](https://www.edgepedia.org/stevie-wonder) as his presenter[7](https://rockhall.com/inductees/little-willie-john/). AllMusic calls his "Fever" the definitive version, and artists from [Sam Cooke](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-cooke) and James Brown to B.B. King and Al Green have acknowledged their debt to him[16](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-willie-john-p24464/biography).
## References
1. [Fever — Little Willie John (King, 1956), Blues Foundation](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/fever-little-willie-john-king-1956/)
2. [Little Willie John Discography, USA, 45cat](https://www.45cat.com/artist/little-willie-john)
3. [Little Willie John, Rhino](https://www.rhino.com/article/little-willie-john)
4. [Fever — Little Willie John, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/song/fever-mt0010797774)
5. [The Peggy Lee Songbook: Fever, peggylee.com](https://www.peggylee.com/songbook/nggallery/image/miss_peggy_lee-original_commercial_sheet_music_volume_i-012/)
6. [Cover to Cover "Fever", Mostly Music Covers](https://mostlymusiccovers.com/2023/10/13/cover-to-cover-fever/)
7. [Little Willie John, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame](https://rockhall.com/inductees/little-willie-john/)
8. [Fever, Michigan Rock and Roll Legends](https://michiganrockandrolllegends.com/hall-of-fame/legendary-mi-songs/130-fever)
9. [Blackwell, Otis, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/blackwell-otis)
10. [Otis Blackwell, Blues Foundation](https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/otis-blackwell/)
11. [John, "Little Willie", Encyclopedia of Arkansas](https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/little-willie-john-322/)
12. [Griffin 400 Final Program, Wagner College Music](https://wagner.edu/music/files/2025/02/Griffin_400_FinalProgram.pdf)
13. [American Hit Radio, Chapter One: 1955–1959](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Business/American-Hit-Radio-Ryan-1996.pdf)
14. ['Fever': The Best Cover Versions Of The Classic Peggy Lee Song, uDiscover Music](https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/peggy-lee-fever-cover-versions/)
15. [Peggy Lee — Research About The Song Fever, Peggy Lee Discography](https://peggyleediscography.com/p/LeeResearchFever.php)
16. [Little Willie John Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-willie-john-p24464/biography)
17. [4 Great Covers of Peggy Lee's Best-Known Song, "Fever", American Songwriter](https://americansongwriter.com/4-great-covers-of-peggy-lees-best-known-song-fever/)
18. [Little Willie John, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/little-wille-john/1373824632)
19. [Thirty Years of Fever - Peggy Lee](https://www.peggylee.com/thirty-years-of-fever/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Standard and pre-rock popular songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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