Little Willie was the first to record "Fever", made famous by Peggy Lee. Willie John was with King Records from 1956 until 1963, when the label dropped him, allegedly due to behavioral problems. A combination of factors caused Little Willie’s life to continue on a downward spiral. The partying youngster’s taste for alcohol and gambling led him to frequent somewhat seedy environments, where he sometimes had to endure heckling on account of his short height (about 5’4″). In 1964, John was arrested after a fight in which he attacked another man with a bottle. He jumped bail and left town. Two or three years later another altercation resulted in him allegedly stabbing to death another man which resulted in John receiving a manslaughter sentence. He jumped bail once again, but was finally arrested in May of 1965. Little Willie John ended up spending most of the next two years of his life in prison. They were also his last two years: he died there at the age of 31.