Bobby Charles

Bobby Charles, discovered by Leonard Chess during a mid-'50s talent search, contributed to the creation of South Louisiana swamp-pop music, a mixture of traditional Cajun, Creole, C&W, and New Orleans R&B. He recorded several sides in New Orleans that garnered some attention when Chess released them in the late '50s; their impact with other artists was more substantial. Several of the songs (among them "See You Later Alligator," "I Don't Know Why I Love You but I Do") were covered by Bill Haley and Clarence "Frogman" Henry respectively. With Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew, Charles wrote Domino's classic hit “Walkin’ to New Orleans.”

Charles toured with the Platters, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and B.B. King before retiring from personal appearances in the early ’60s. Throughout the decade, though, he recorded for several labels and did promotional work for Chess Records. By the early ’70s he was living in Woodstock, New York, where Albert Grossman signed him to Bearsville Records. His much-ballyhooed comeback album, Bobby Charles, included guest appearances by the Band, Dr. John, and other notables, but despite an excellent single - “Small Town Talk” (later covered by Rick Danko of the Band) - the LP failed to find a market, and Charles was soon dropped. He appeared on two Paul Butterfield albums (including Better Days, from 1973) and made a rare live appearance at the Band’s Last Waltz concert, Thanksgiving Day, 1976. That same year, two of his compositions were covered on Joe Cocker’s Sting Ray. Wish You Were Here Right Now, issued in 1995, marked Charles first domestic album in 24 years. Secrets of the Heart, which contains a birthday salute to Fats Domino, proved that Charles’ comeback was more than just a one-off affair.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)