Biography
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Years Active
1957 – present (67 years)
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Founded In
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
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Members
- Bobby Marchan
- Huey "Piano" Smith
Huey "Piano" Smith (born 26 January 1934 in New Orleans) is an American rhythm and blues pianist whose sound was influential in rock 'n' roll.
Huey's influence on New Orleans music in the mid 1950s was profound, and it was often said Huey Piano Smith’s band was like a finishing school for Nola singers and musicians.
Smith wrote his first song on the piano, "Roberson Street Boogie" (named after the street where he lived), when he was only eight years old, and performed the tune with a friend. They billed themselves as Slick and Dark. Smith attended McDowell High and Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. When Huey was fifteen he began working in clubs and recording records with his flamboyant partner, Eddie Jones, who rose to fame as Guitar Slim. When he was eighteen, in 1952, he signed a recording contract with Savoy Records, which released his first known single, "You Made Me Cry".
In 1955, Smith turned 21, and became the piano player with Little Richard’s first band for Specialty Records. The same year he also played piano on several studio sessions for other artists such as Lloyd Price. Two of the sessions resulted in hits for Earl King ("Those Lonely Lonely Nights"), and Smiley Lewis ("I Hear You Knocking").
In 1957, Smith formed "Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns" with blues singer and female impersonator Bobby Marchan, and signed a long term contract with former Specialty record producer, Johnny Vincent at Ace Records. They hit the Billboard charts with several singles in succession, including a breakout Top Five R&B hit entitled "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu". The song was originally an instrumental, and then Huey decided to do the same song on the flip side, but this time with lyrics.
In 1958, Vin Records, a subsidiary of Ace Records, released a popular single "Little Chickie Wah Wah" with Clowns singer Gerri Hall, under the billing of Huey and Dewey. Meanwhile, Ace Records released several more singles from "Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns", including "We Like Birdland", "Well I'll Be John Brown", and "Don't You Know Yockomo". Their most famous single, released the same year, "Don’t You Just Know It" b/w "High Blood Pressure" hit number 9 on the Billboard Pop chart and number 4 on the Rhythm and Blues chart.
In 1959, Ace Records erased Marchan's voice from the now classic single Smith composed, arranged and performed entitled "Sea Cruise", and replaced it with a more energetic vocal track by white singer Frankie Ford. The tune was a huge hit for Ford.
Smith left Ace Records for Imperial Records, to record with Fats Domino's noted producer (and fellow Louisianan) Dave Bartholomew, but the national hits did not follow. Instead, Ace Records again overdubbed new vocals by Gerri Hall, Billy Roosevelt and Johnny Williams on another one of Smith’s unreleased tracks, to produce the last hit single credited to Huey "Piano" Smith, entitled "Pop-Eye".
Thereafter, Smith joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the years following, he made several comebacks, performing as "Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns", "The Hueys", "The Pitter Pats", and as "Shindig Smith and the Soul Shakers", but he has never attained his former degree of success.
In 2000, Huey "Piano" Smith was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
In 2001, Smith's work appeared on the soundtrack of the hit film Snatch. with the song, "Don't You Just Know It."
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