Frank ‘Iron Jaw’ Oakley, blues harmonica player and unique stage performer, dies at 85
One night in 1965 inside an old club at 12th and Vine, Frank “Iron Jaw” Oakley asked Kansas City blues guitarist Millage Gilbert if he could back up the band with his harmonica for a couple of songs, “plus something else.”
Intrigued, mostly by the nickname, Gilbert agreed to let Oakley sit in with the band. About halfway through the first song, Oakley walked over to a young woman sitting in a chair and — using only his teeth — lifted her off the ground. At least that’s how the story goes, as told by many people who witnessed Oakley lift things with nothing but his mouth.
After setting her down, he lit a cigarette, drank a shot, and took a puff. As a finale, he bit into the shot glass, chewed it up and spit out the shards.
“I said, ‘Well, OK. Now I know why they call him ‘Iron Jaw,’” Gilbert told The Star.
Oakley, a longtime harmonica player and stage performer during, and after, the heyday of Kansas City’s blues scene, died April 8. He was 85.
Born in Raleigh, N.C. in 1935, he had a simple, rural life growing up. He spent most of his formative years working the farm alongside his father, taking frequent trips to town for deliveries with “Nelly” — the family’s pack-mule.
Oakley began performing at 13 years old, according to a 1965 article for the Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama, becoming well-known for his Iron Jaw act, in which he would lift heavy things up with his mouth. If that wasn’t enticing enough, he also danced and was a skilled musician. The Montgomery Advertiser article billed him as having toured and recorded with Buster Brown, whose hit single “Fannie Mae” shot to popularity shortly after its 1959 release.
Long before television shows like “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars” became widespread cultural phenomena, Oakley competed on a similarly-styled variety program called the “Original Amatuer Hour” hosted by Ted Mack.
Contestants would perform before a live audience and were broadcast around the country. Famous entertainers who got their starts on the show included Gladys Knight and Frank Sinatra.
Oakley appeared on the show three times between 1963 and ‘64, family recalled. Predominantly Black clubs and bars where he later performed — including in Indiana, Ohio and Alabama — would boast that he as a three-time winner and his attraction a must-see.
“The biggest show in town,” read one ad in the Indianapolis Star.
“You must see this act to believe it!” said another in Akron, Ohio.
While he spent some time touring around the country as a traveling entertainer, Oakley made his home in Kansas City, Kansas. He was a father to six. And he spent the last 35 years of his life with his wife, Cheryl Gardner-Oakley.
Eugene Smiley, another area musician who played several gigs with Oakley, never forgot the first time they performed together in the early ‘70s.
Smiley recalled Oakley impressed everyone in the joint, picking up a table filled with drinks — again, with just his teeth — and carried it around the dance floor. He didn’t spill a drop, Smiley said.
Many fellow musicians considered Oakley quiet and reserved when he was out of the spotlight. But he would transform into the spectacular center of attention whenever he took the stage.
“He was the show,” Smiley said. “He created a lot of excitement.”
Smiley and Oakley played several gigs together after that first performance. As a harmonica player, Smiley said Oakley was always able to keep up with pretty much any song the band was laying down on a given night.
“Just about anybody can blow the harp, but you put your own ideas and feelings into it and make people feel what you’re doing — that’s what the harp is all about.”
Oakley was later selected by the Kansas City Blues Society among many other local artists for shows seeking to display the talent of local musicians, said Lindsay Shannon, a former vice president of the music collective during the 1980s. Performances arranged by the society spanned the past 35 years, held in street festivals and other venues including the historic Grand Emporium Hotel and Saloon on Main St., between 38th and 39th streets.
“He really was what I would call an old vaudeville act,” Shannon, a radio host for Kansas City’s weekly Sunday Blues Show on 101.1 FM The FOX, said of Oakley.
Known more for producing successful jazz musicians, Kansas City’s blues scene has long been overlooked. Shannon said the blues society was formed to cast a larger spotlight on local musicians and draw attention to the music they produced.
“Jazz grew up in Kansas City, but there was always blues in the background,” Shannon said. “It’s got kind of a checkered history, so to speak.”
Despite his tenancies for showmanship, Oakley often displayed a reserved and quiet nature. His son, Frank Oakley III, recalled times when his father would command attention at home too, often cracking jokes and showing off magic tricks. But Oakley was never one to brag about sharing the same stage as the more famous blues musicians of his day, his son recalled.
As a child, Frank Oakley III dabbled in music but never found the same passion as his father. Instead, he gravitated toward acting and recently held a recurring role in the Netflix series “Sweet Magnolias.” But sometimes the younger Oakley would ask how his father played the blues as well as he did.
“He had what I’m assuming is the most blues response ever: ‘In order to play the blues, you have to go through something,” said Frank Oakley III.
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When his father was buried earlier this month, the family placed one of the harmonicas he loved in the casket with him. Frank Oakley III took another one home as a keepsake.
Oakley is survived by his wife, Cheryl Gardner-Oakley; his children, Mark Stephens, Danny Jones, Frank Oakley III, Joyce Jones, Lisa Jones, and Nikki Oakley; and a host of grandchildren.
Other remembrances
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Ronald Craddolph
Ronald Craddolph Sr., father of three and retired manager with the Ford Motor Company of Kansas City, died April 18. He was 89.
Craddolph was born in 1931 in Gallipolis City, Ohio. He enlisted in the U.S. armed forces in 1947, rising to the rank of sergeant first class before he was honorably discharged in 1952.
Shortly after leaving the military, he met and married Shirley Bernice Bell, the woman who would become the mother of his three children. They lived in Texas while he taught ROTC at Prairie View A&M University while she studied to become a surgical nurse.
The Craddolph family settled in Kansas City, where Craddolph worked as a manager with the Ford Motor Company until he retired.
Craddolph is survived by his sons, Ronald Craddolph Jr., Byron Craddolph and Alyissa Gayle Craddolph- Hughes; six grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.
Daniel Henderson
Daniel Henderson, an area chef with several years in the restaurant business and remembered for his dedication to helping those in need, died April 15. He was 54.
Born in 1967, Henderson grew up, and attended public schools, in Kansas City, Missouri. He later graduated from the Guadalupe Culinary Center with honors, setting the stage for his career in the restaurant industry.
During his career, his family recalled Henderson was dedicated to providing volunteer services by escorting restaurant clients to their cars and distributing food to those in need. He also dedicated his time and talents as a volunteer for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, family said.
In 2010, Henderson married Yvonne M. Standley. The couple eventually became ordained ministers through Faith Alive Ministries, family said.
Henderson is survived by his wife, children and one sibling.
