Special Feature DUTC

Feature Song: “I Put a Spell on You”

Dedicated to Danny, the Zuker Family, and The Scarlet Opera

Jalacy J. “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins (1929-2000) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. He is chiefly known and famous for his powerful, shouting vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs, sometimes using macabre props onstage, making him one of the early pioneers of “shock” rock. He began his career in 1951, performing vocals and keyboards for Philadelphia guitarist Tiney Grimes and was subsequently featured on some of Grimes’ recordings. When Hawkins went on to become a solo performer, he often performed in a stylish wardrobe of leopard skins, red leather, and wild hats.

“I Put a Spell on You” (1956) was Hawkins’ most successful recording and was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. It was officially co-written with Herb Slotkin. According to several sources, “Hawkins originally envisioned the tune as a refined ballad, however the entire band, including Hawkins, were intoxicated during the recording session,” and Hawkins screamed, grunted, and gurgled his way through the tune with utter drunken abandon. The resulting performance was no ballad but instead a “raw, guttural track” that became his greatest commercial success, surpassing a million copies, although it failed to make the charts! Hawkins was unable to remember the session and relearned the song from the recorded version. In the meantime, the record label released a second version of the single, removing most of the grunts that had embellished the original performance; this was in direct response to many complaints about the song’s overt sexuality. It was the 50s!

The song became a classic that was covered by a variety of artists, including CCR, Nina Simone, The Animals, Them, with Van Morrison, Bryon Ferry, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Leon Russell, Tim Curry, Joe Cocker, Annie Lennox, and others. Nina Simone’s cover is hauntingly beautiful, and it is also the title of her 1992 autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, by Stephen Cleary.

Despite all of these covers by the above-mentioned artists, the cover I have chosen to feature is by a relatively new band, which is not only amazingly well done, but there is also a personal connection, the reason for my “dedication.”

The Scarlet Opera, originally formed as Petra, is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. They formed in 2016 when Colin Kenrick (keyboards) met fellow CalArts alum Luka (né Matthew) Bazulka (lead vocalist). After hearing Bazulka perform a solo set, he decided to form a band around Bazulka’s amazing voice and range. He enlisted the services of his longtime friends, Daniel (Danny) Zuker (bass, vocals), Justin Siegal (drums, vocals), and Chance Taylor (guitars, vocals). The band’s “sound drew from the bandmate’s theatrical backgrounds, innate musical proficiency, and a variety of influences ranging from rock bands such as Guns N’ Roses to funk-pop artists such as Prince.” In 2022, after a brief hiatus, the band reinvented itself as The Scarlet Opera, the name deriving from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. According to the band, “it stands for the misunderstood and the misrepresented. The music, the shows, the glamour are all devoted to the outcasts, to the sexually liberated, to those who don’t come from wealth to those who are divine.” The band signed with Republic Records and released their first single, “The Place to Be,” in September of 2022. In January 2023, they released their second single, “Big City Thing.” They made their television debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden in March 2023, performing their song “Alive.” Shortly after, they released their first EP, Comedy.

I first met Danny in 2006, the year I began teaching English at a school in Studio City where Danny was a student. By the time I met him, he had acquired the moniker “Zucchini” (last name Zuker), although I never learned the story of how that came to pass. I had the pleasure of watching him perform in the school’s band for a couple of years before he became my student in 11^th and 12^th grades. My memory of him in the classroom is as a passionate young man who questioned just about everything I said, not to be disruptive, but rather to try and dig deeper into whatever we happened to be reading or discussing. It was this “thirst” for deeper understanding that endeared him to me. However, where his passion really came to life, was on the stage as a performer. He was not simply playing the bass; he was “living” the bass, putting his whole being into the music and communicating with his audience in a way that was well beyond his years.

We stayed in touch for several years after he graduated, and I got to see him perform at several venues in Los Angeles over that time. Although we hadn’t seen each other in a while, I did follow what he was up to on social media. While this personal connection might seem like reason enough to feature The Scarlet Opera for this DUTC installment, there is, unfortunately, a more somber reason. I recently attended Danny’s celebration of life ceremony after receiving the devastating news that he had passed away on April 23, 2025, after a five month battle with esophageal cancer. He was 32. As one of over 300 people listening to first his family and then his bandmates pay tribute to the amazing person and entertainer that he was gave me the idea that I needed to do put something in writing. When I was looking for videos of them performing live, I came across this cover that was recorded in October of 2023. One of the things that is often said when discussing covers is how a band or artist makes the song “their own” rather than trying to “copy” what the original accomplishes. This is certainly true of many of the previous versions done by Nina Simone and Annie Lennox, to name a few, but I feel that The Scarlet Opera’s cover takes this concept of “owning” a song to yet another level.

Danny, you may be gone, but you most certainly will never, ever be forgotten.

With a heavy heart…

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. “I Put a Spell on You” 1956

The Scarlet Opera. “I Put a Spell on You” cover 2023

Los Angeles 2025