Larry Hamilton, a singer/songwriter who might be best known for a self-titled 1997 NYNO CD produced by Allen Toussaint, died December 28, 2011. Born in Galveston, Texas, March 23, 1951, he moved to New Orleans as a youth. At the age of seven, he began taking piano lessons with Ray Charles as his major influence. [...]
Obituary: Michael Aaron (1962-2011)
Some guitarists like myself don’t have that fluid, natural style that some are born with, no matter how hard they practice. Michael Aaron was born with it. The first time I saw Michael was in the mid to late-‘90s at the Dragon’s Den. My band had a weekly show there with Jerri Cain Rossi opening, [...]
Six Degrees of Coco Robicheaux
Debbie Davis stood just inside the doorway of Three Muses, singing “When I’m 64.” It was Friday night on Frenchmen Street, the day after Thanksgiving, and she held the festive crowd’s attention. “I saw the ambulance go by but I didn’t think anything of it,” she says. “Someone came into the club and told me [...]
Obituary: Billy Diamond (1916-2011)
Billy Diamond, who was instrumental in the launch of Fats Domino’s career, passed away in Los Angeles, October 20 from natural causes. He was 95. Diamond was born in New Orleans on October 5, 1916, and grew up on Louisiana Avenue. “Louis Armstrong actually gave me a trumpet in 1930, but I never learned to [...]
Obituary: Kenny Holladay (1957-2011)
I was sitting on one of the benches on Jackson Square, playing with Mickey “Slewfoot” when Kenny Holladay ambled up with his gig bag and said hi to Mickey, all the while eyeing my 1930s wooden-body National. “How you doing? That’s a nice guitar.” “You want to check it out?” Kenny’s reputation as one of [...]
Obituary: Wardell Quezergue (1930-2011)
On the bright late summer morning of September 12 the crème fraiche façade of Corpus Christi-Epiphany Church gleamed optimistically amid this still-blighted Seventh Ward neighborhood along St. Bernard Avenue. Inside the packed church, many of the surviving players from the glory days of New Orleans R&B gathered to send off Wardell Quezergue, an arranger so [...]
Obituary: Benny Spellman (1931-2011)
Benny Spellman, who accounted for the wonderful two-sided 1962 national hit “Lipstick Traces” b/w “Fortune Teller,” and supplied the baritone interjections on Ernie K-Doe’s number one hit “Mother- In-Law,” died June 3 at an assisted living facility in Pensacola, Florida, of respiratory failure. He was 79. “Benny was a great entertainer,” confirms Irma Thomas, who [...]
Obituary: John Berthelot (1942-2011)
John Berthelot, composer, arranger and founder of Great Southern Records passed away on Wednesday, February 23. Funeral services were private. Born at Touro Infirmary, Berthelot began taking clarinet lessons in grade school and majored in music education at Loyola University in New Orleans. He became a member of the Contours, playing saxophone, and backing artists [...]
Obituary: Herman Ernest (1951-2011)
[Updated] During the recording of Dr. John’s Tribal album, James Demaria videotaped Herman Ernest overdubbing rhythm tracks. “This is the updated version of New Orleans funk,” he explained, adding a pattern on a cowbell. “This separates the men from the sidemen.” He was partially talking trash for the camera, but he was also someone [...]
Obituary: Sherman Washington (1925-2011)
For 70 years, Sherman Washington, Jr. led the Zion Harmonizers, helping bring gospel music out of the churches and into the larger music community. Washington, who passed away on March 14 at the age of 85, joined the Zion Harmonizers shortly after they were organized in 1939 by the late Pastor Benjamin Maxon. Within two [...]
