He quit school in sixth grade, and formed his first band, Lonnie Mack and the Twilighters, at age 13. He started out playing roadhouses in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. He became a session musician, backing stars such as James Brown, Freddie King and Hank Ballard. In 1963, at the end of another artist's recording session, he cut an instrumental version of Chuck Berry's "Memphis." He didn't even know that it was released as a single until he heard it played on the radio. It became a top-5 hit.