Early life and career

White was born in Galveston, Texas, and grew up in the high-crime areas of South Los Angeles, where he joined a gang at the age of 10. At 17 he was jailed for four months for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires.

While in jail, White listened to Elvis Presley singing It's Now or Never on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. After his release, he left gang life and began a musical career at the dawn of the 1960s in singing groups before going out on his own in the middle of the decade. The marginal success he had to that point was as a songwriter; his songs were recorded by rock singer Bobby Fuller and TV bubblegum act The Banana Splits. He was also responsible in 1963 for arranging Harlem Shuffle for Bob & Earl, which became a hit in the UK in 1969.