Tulsa blues musician dies at 69

Longtime Tulsa musician and singer Verbie Gene ``Flash'' Terry has died after being hospitalized for a series of strokes. He was 69. <br><br>Terry died Thursday night at a Tulsa hospital. <br><br>Terry

Saturday, March 20th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Longtime Tulsa musician and singer Verbie Gene ``Flash'' Terry has died after being hospitalized for a series of strokes. He was 69.

Terry died Thursday night at a Tulsa hospital.

Terry got his start in the Tulsa blues and jazz club scene in the late 1940s.

He played with Jimmy ``Cry Cry'' Hawkins at the legendary Flamingo Club, later headlining there himself.

In the late '50s, Terry signed with Kent Records and -- at one time -- Flash's band included future R-and-B superstar Curtis Mayfield.

By the mid 60s, Terry settled in Tulsa and became one of the first black drivers to drive for M-K-and-O's chartered interstate buses.

He recorded his first disc ``Enough Troubles of My Own,'' in the early 70s, but it wasn't released until 1986.

Terry was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in November.