Edwin Joseph Bocage (September 20, 1930 – March 18, 2009), known as
Eddie Bo, was an American singer and pianist from New Orleans.
Schooled in jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk
recordings, compositions, productions and arrangements. He debuted on
Ace Records in 1955 and released more single records than anyone in
New Orleans other than Fats Domino.
Eddie Bo worked and recorded for more than 40 different record
labels, including Ace, Apollo, Arrow, At Last, Blue-Jay, Bo-Sound,
Checker, Chess, Cinderella, Nola, Ric (for which business his
carpentry skills were used to build a studio), Scram, Seven B, and
Swan. Allmusic calls him "a sorely underappreciated veteran of the New
Orleans R&B scene."
Eddie Bo grew up in Algiers, Louisiana and in the Ninth Ward of New
Orleans. He came from a long line of ship builders with the male
members of his family being bricklayers, carpenters and masons by day
and musicians by night. Eddie's mother was a self-taught pianist in
the style of friend, Professor Longhair. The Bocage family was
involved in the traditional jazz community with cousins Charles, Henry
and Peter, who played with Sidney Bechet, contributing to jazz
orchestras before World War II.
Eddie graduated from Booker T. Washington High School before going
into the army. After his army stint, he returned to New Orleans to
study at the Grunewald School of Music. There he learned piano and
music theory, and to sight read and arrange music. At this time he was
influenced by Russian classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz and was
introduced to jazz pianists Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. He began
playing in the New Orleans jazz scene, but switched to R&B after
deciding it was more popular and brought in more money. Like a lot of
other local musicians Eddie frequented the premier blues venue in
town, the Dew Drop Inn on LaSalle Street. He played at the Club
Tijuana under the name of Spider Bocage, later forming the Spider
Bocage Orchestra, which toured the country supporting singers Big Joe
Turner, Earl King, Guitar Slim, Johnny Adams, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown,
Smiley Lewis, and The Platters.
His first released record in 1955 was "Baby", recorded for Johnny
Vincent's Ace Records. His next release, in 1956 on Apollo Records,
was "I'm Wise", which Little Richard later recorded as "Slippin' and
Slidin'". After several releases on Ace he recorded "My Dearest
Darling" in 1957 for Chess Records; the song, co-written by Bo and
Paul Gayten, became a national chart hit in 1960 when recorded by Etta
James. From 1959, he recorded for Ric Records, and had regional hits
including "Every Dog Has Its Day" and "Tell It Like It Is", and in
1961 recorded the novelty dance song "Check Mr Popeye", reissued
nationally by Swan Records, which became one of his best-known
recordings though not a national hit.
During the 1960s, Bo continued to release singles on a string of
local record labels, including Rip, Cinderella, and Blue Jay, though
only a few achieved national distribution. On these records, his style
got funkier, and he used more of his jazz training, helping to create
a distinctively different and influential New Orleans piano style. He
recorded the renowned "Pass The Hatchet" under the nom de disque Roger
and the Gypsies for Joe Banashak's Seven B label as well as "Fence of
Love" and "SGB" (Stone Graveyard Business) under his own name. He
either wrote or produced most of the titles on Seven B records.
He also worked as a record producer, with musicians including
Irma Thomas, Chris Kenner, Johnny Adams, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson,
Art Neville, Chuck Carbo, Mary Jane Hooper, Robert Parker, and The
Explosions. In 1969, at the height of funk, he had his only national
chart hit, "Hook and Sling, Pts. 1 & 2", which reached number 13
on the Billboard R&B chart and number 73 on the pop chart. The
song, on the Scram label, was recorded in just one take. He then
formed his own label, Bo-Sound, and had another regional hit with
"Check Your Bucket".
From the early 1970s Bo worked in the music business only
sporadically, after setting up his own renovation business. In 1977 he
released two albums, The Other Side of Eddie Bo and Watch for the
Coming, which he produced himself. In the late 1980s and 1990s he
recorded with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, with whom he toured Europe,
and resurrected his Bo-Sound label. He joined Willy DeVille to play on
two DeVille records, Victory Mixture and Big Easy Fantasy, and he
toured with DeVille as well. He later played and recorded with Raful
Neal and Rockin' Tabby Thomas under the names The Louisiana
Legends,
He continued to perform frequently in New Orleans and at festivals
elsewhere, and toured intermittently. He also bought a doctor's office
and salon on Banks Street which he and his manager converted into an
eatery for fans called Check Your Bucket after his 1970 hit. Like his
home and recording studio it was hit by Hurricane Katrina while Bo was
on tour in Paris. Due to Bo's carpentry and bricklaying skills he took
on the task of completing the hurricane-damage repairs himself.
Eddie Bo died on March 18, 2009, in Picayune, Mississippi, United
States, of a heart attack, aged 78. After his death, his body was
cremated on the instructions of a woman claiming to be his sister,
although other close relatives of Bo have subsequently claimed that
she was unrelated to him.
A memorial concert was held in his memory on April 1, 2009, with
guests including Dr. John, Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint.
(Wikipedia)
