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James Booker
James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was a New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Booker's unique style combined rhythm and blues with jazz standards. Musician Dr. John described Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." Flamboyant in personality and having an extraordinary technical facility, he was known as "the Black Liberace". Biography Early life Booker was the son and grandson of Baptist ministers, both of whom played the piano.Martin Chilton, "James Booker: revival of a genius"
''The Telegraph'', November 30, 2013.
He spent most of his childhood on the

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New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nueva Orleans) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 according to the 2020 U.S. census, it is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, most populous city in Louisiana and the twelfth-most populous city in the southeastern United States. Serving as a List of ports in the United States, major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast region of the United States. New Orleans is world-renowned for its Music of New Orleans, distinctive music, Louisiana Creole cuisine, Creole cuisine, New Orleans English, uniq ...
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Gospel Music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Gospel music is characterized by dominant vocals and strong use of harmony with Christian lyrics. Gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century. Hymns and sacred songs were often repeated in a call and response fashion, heavily influenced by ancestral African music. Most of the churches relied on hand-clapping and foot-stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Most of the singing was done a cappella.Jackson, Joyce Marie. "The changing nature of gospel music: A southern case study." ''African American Review'' 29.2 (1995): 185. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. October 5, 2010. The ...
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Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price (March 9, 1933May 3, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter, record executive and bandleader, known as "Mr. Personality", after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a hit for Specialty Records in 1952. He continued to release records, but none were as popular until several years later, when he refined the New Orleans beat and achieved a series of national hits. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Early life, family and education Price was born on March 9, 1933, in Kenner, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, and raised in Kenner. His mother, Beatrice Price, owned the Fish 'n' Fry Restaurant. Price picked up lifelong interests in business and food from her. He and his younger brother Leo were both musical. He had formal training on trumpet and piano, sang in his church's gospel choir, and was a member of a combo in high school. Career Art Rupe, the owner of Specialty Records, based in Lo ...
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Smiley Lewis
A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such as emoticons. The smiley began as two dots and a line to represent eyes and a mouth. More elaborate designs in the 1950s emerged, with noses, eyebrows, and outlines. A yellow and black design was used by New York-based radio station WMCA for its ''" Good Guys"'' campaign in the early 1960s. More yellow-and-black designs appeared in the 1960s and '70s, including works by Franklin Loufrani and Harvey Ross Ball.Ethridge, Mark. “Several Firms Claim to Be Originators of Smile Button.” ''Nashua Telegraph''. September 9, 1971. https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-09-1971-3502894/ Today, The Smiley Company holds many rights to the smiley ideogram and has become one of the biggest licensing companies globally. In October o ...
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Joe Tex
Yusuf Hazziez (born Joseph Arrington Jr.; August 8, 1935 – August 13, 1982), known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the styles of funk, country, gospel, and rhythm and blues. His career started after he was signed to King Records in 1955 following four wins at the Apollo Theater. Between 1955 and 1964, he struggled to find hits, and by the time he finally recorded his first hit, "Hold What You've Got" in 1964, he had recorded 30 previous singles that were deemed failures on the charts. He went on to have four million-selling hits, "Hold What You've Got" (1965), " Skinny Legs and All" (1967), " I Gotcha" (1972), and "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)" (1977). Joe Tex was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame six times, most recently in 2017. Early life Joe Tex was born Joseph Arrington, Jr. in Rogers, Texas, in Bell County to Joseph Arring ...
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Shirley & Lee
Shirley & Lee were an American musical duo active during the 1950s and 1960s, consisting of Shirley Goodman and Leonard Lee. They had R&B hits with their songs "Feel So Good," " Let the Good Times Roll," and "I Feel Good." Career Shirley Goodman (June 19, 1936 – July 5, 2005) and Leonard Lee (June 29, 1936 – October 23, 1976) were both born and raised in New Orleans. While attending Joseph Clark High School, they recorded a demo for "I'm Gone," a song Lee wrote, at Cosimo Matassa's studio in New Orleans. Eddie Mesner, the owner of Aladdin Records, heard the demo and asked Mesner to locate Goodman. Initially her religious grandmother was hesitant for her to record R&B and blues music, but after he offered her $1,000 she allowed Goodman to sign with Aladdin. Goodman and Lee re-recorded the song with producer Dave Bartholomew. Released in late 1952, their debut single reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard's'' R&B National Best Sellers chart in January 1953. Although Shirley & Le ...
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Huey Smith
Huey, used as a given name, is a variant of Hughie. It may refer to: People * Huey (rapper) (1987–2020), American rapper * Huey Dunbar, Puerto Rican salsa singer * Huey Johnson (1933–2020), American environmentalist and politician * Huey Lewis, rock musician, of the band Huey Lewis & the News * Huey Long (1893–1935), American politician, governor and U.S. Senator from Louisiana, known as "The Kingfish" * Huey Long (singer) (1904–2009), American musician * Huey P. Newton (1942–1989), co-founder of the Black Panther Party * Hugh Morgan of the Fun Lovin' Criminals, known as Huey * Iain Hewitson, New Zealand-born chef, nicknamed "Huey" * Laurence Markham Huey (1892–1963), American zoologist * Michael Huey (other), multiple people * Raymond B. Huey (born 1944), American biologist * Treat Huey, Filipino tennis player Places * Huey, Illinois, a village in the United States * Huey Creek, a glacial meltwater stream in Antarctica Military * Bell UH-1 Iroquois, U.S. Ar ...
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Johnny Vincent
John Vincent Imbragulio (October 3, 1927 – February 4, 2000), known as Johnny Vincent, was an American record producer for Art Rupe at Specialty Records. He founded Ace Records in 1955 in Jackson, Mississippi, 165 miles away from New Orleans. Although Vincent started out recording local blues musicians, in 1956 he branched out into New Orleans rhythm and blues and rock and roll. He signed Huey "Piano" Smith and his group, who were able to develop a New Orleans shuffle style distinct from the Fats Domino jumping boogie rhythm. Biography Vincent was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States and died in Jackson, Mississippi. He had moved to Jackson in the late 1940s and opened a record shop and started the short-lived Champion Records label in the early 1950s. Then Art Rupe offered him a job as A&R man at Specialty Records where Johnny worked with John Lee Hooker, Earl King, and Huey "Piano" Smith. His greatest hit was with Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to ...
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Leonard Chess
Lejzor Szmuel Czyż (March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969), best known as Leonard Sam Chess, was a Polish-American record company executive and the co-founder of Chess Records. He was influential in the development of electric blues, Chicago blues, and rock and roll. Early life Chess was born to Polish-Jewish parents in Motal, now in Belarus.Cohodas, Nadine (2000). ''Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records''. New York: St. MartinsBluestogold.com He and his brother, Fiszel, sister, Malka, and mother arrived in New York in 1928 from Poland. They quickly went to Chicago to join their father, Joseph, who was already engaged in the liquor business, which was illegal at the height of Prohibition and controlled in Chicago by Al Capone. The family name was changed to Chess, with Lejzor becoming Leonard and Fiszel becoming Philip. Chess Records Leonard and his brother Phil became involved in the black nightclub scene on the South Side of Chicago ...
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Classified (James Booker Album)
''Classified'' is a studio album by the New Orleans pianist James Booker, released in 1982. It was reissued in an expanded edition in 2013. Production The album was produced by Scott Billington, who recorded several sessions with Booker in 1982. The sessions were at times interrupted by Booker's odd behavior or his stints in jail. ''Classified'' captures both solo and quartet recordings; Booker's Maple Leaf Bar band included bassist James Singleton, saxophonist Alvin Tyler, and drummer Johnny Vidacovich. The Professor Longhair medley came to an abrupt end when Booker left mid-song in order to cash a check. Critical reception Robert Christgau wrote that "in general there's too much reliance on the left hand, with the consequent loss of dynamic subtlety compounded by a klutzy drum mix." The ''Philadelphia Daily News'' praised Booker's "great stomping piano, hich isnot quite as fervent as Fats Domino or as idiosyncratic as Professor Longhair, but mightily infectious all the same." ...
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Bunny Matthews
Will Bunn "Bunny" Matthews III (February 15, 1951 – June 1, 2021) was an American cartoonist and writer from the Greater New Orleans Area. He is best known for his depictions of New Orleans characters and local dialect, especially Vic and Nat'ly Broussard. Early life Matthews was born in Monroe, Louisiana in 1951. His family moved to the New Orleans suburb of Metairie when he was three years old. He graduated from East Jefferson High School in Metairie, and afterwards worked at Jim Russell Records before enrolling at the University of New Orleans. Due to a high draft lottery number that decreased his chances of being sent to the Vietnam War, he dropped out of college and began working as a freelance writer. Career Matthews's characters Vic and Nat'ly Broussard are an overweight husband and wife who speak in what some call the Yat dialect and run a working-class corner bar and po-boy emporium in the city's Ninth Ward. In light of these characters' sometimes unfavorable r ...
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Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orleans to a French Creole family, Domino signed to Imperial Records in 1949. His first single " The Fat Man" is cited by some historians as the first rock and roll single and the first to sell more than 1 million copies. Domino continued to work with the song's co-writer Dave Bartholomew, contributing his distinctive rolling piano style to Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (1952) and scoring a string of mainstream hits beginning with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955). Between 1955 and 1960, he had eleven Top 10 US pop hits. By 1955, five of his records had sold more than a million copies, being certified gold. Domino was shy and modest by nature but made a significant contribution to the rock and roll genre. Elvis Presley declared Domino a "h ...
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