Robert Percell Ferguson (May 9, 1929 – November 26, 2006), who performed as H-Bomb Ferguson, was an American jump blues singer. He was an early pioneer of the rock and roll style of the mid-1950s, featuring driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, honking tenor saxophone solos, and outlandish personal appearance. Ferguson sang and played piano in a flamboyant style, wearing colorful wigs.
Bobby Ferguson was the 11th of twelve children born to Irene and Reverend Alonzo Ferguson. At age six, he began playing piano in his father's store front Baptist church. Deciding that the boy had talent, the Reverend paid for piano lessons for his son, demanding that he stuck to sacred melodies on the 88s. Ferguson had other ideas, recalling "After church was over, while the people was all standing outside talking, me and my friends would run back inside and I'd play the blues on the piano.”
At the age of 19, Ferguson was on the road with Joe Liggins and the Honeydrippers. They moved to New York, where Ferguson branched off on his own, getting a gig at the nightclub Baby Grand Club in Harlem, billed as "The Cobra Kid." A blues shouter, he first recorded as Bob Ferguson in New York in 1950, for Derby Records, whose drummer Jack "The Bear" Parker (according to most sources) gave him the nickname "H-Bomb" and became his manager. His debut was followed by releases on Atlas and Prestige, before he signed a recording contract with Savoy Records in 1951. Several saxophone-driven singles followed, in the style of Wynonie Harris, and "Good Lovin'" was regionally successful though failing to reached the national charts.
