Bobby Charles (born
Robert Charles Guidry, February 21, 1938,
AbbevilleAbbeville is a city in and the parish seat of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States, 150 miles west of New Orleans. The population was 11,887 at the 2000 census...
,
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singerSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
and
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
.
An ethnic
CajunCajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
, Charles grew up listening to
Cajun musicCajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
and the
country and western musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
of Hank Williams. At the age of 15, he heard a performance by
Fats DominoAntoine Dominique "Fats" Domino is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter.-Imperial Records era :...
, an event that "changed my life forever," he recalled.
Charles helped to pioneer the south Louisiana musical genre known as
swamp popSwamp pop is a musical genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles, it combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and traditional French...
. His compositions include the
hitsA hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"See You Later, Alligator," which he initially
recordedSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
himself as "Later Alligator", but which is best known from the
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by
Bill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
; and "
Walking to New OrleansWalking to New Orleans is a 1960 song by Bobby Charles, written for and recorded by Fats Domino.Domino was a hero of Charles. Domino had previously recorded the Charles tune "Before I Grow Too Old"...
", written for Fats Domino.
"(I Don't Know Why I Love You) But I Do" was a 1950s classic that Charles composed which Clarence "Frogman" Henry had a major hit with and which was on the soundtrack to the 1994 blockbuster
Forrest Gump.
Bobby Charles (born
Robert Charles Guidry, February 21, 1938,
AbbevilleAbbeville is a city in and the parish seat of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States, 150 miles west of New Orleans. The population was 11,887 at the 2000 census...
,
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singerSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
and
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
.
An ethnic
CajunCajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
, Charles grew up listening to
Cajun musicCajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
and the
country and western musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
of Hank Williams. At the age of 15, he heard a performance by
Fats DominoAntoine Dominique "Fats" Domino is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter.-Imperial Records era :...
, an event that "changed my life forever," he recalled.
Charles helped to pioneer the south Louisiana musical genre known as
swamp popSwamp pop is a musical genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles, it combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and traditional French...
. His compositions include the
hitsA hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"See You Later, Alligator," which he initially
recordedSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
himself as "Later Alligator", but which is best known from the
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by
Bill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
; and "
Walking to New OrleansWalking to New Orleans is a 1960 song by Bobby Charles, written for and recorded by Fats Domino.Domino was a hero of Charles. Domino had previously recorded the Charles tune "Before I Grow Too Old"...
", written for Fats Domino.
"(I Don't Know Why I Love You) But I Do" was a 1950s classic that Charles composed which Clarence "Frogman" Henry had a major hit with and which was on the soundtrack to the 1994 blockbuster
Forrest Gump. His composition "Why Are People Like That?" was on the soundtrack to the 1998 movie
Home Fries.
Because of his south Louisiana-influenced
rhythm and bluesRhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
vocalThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary sound source...
style, Charles has often been referred to as
blackThe term black people usually refers to a racial group of humans with skin colors that range from light brown to nearly black. It also has been used to categorize a number of diverse populations into a common group. Some definitions of the term include only people of relatively recent Sub Saharan...
, when in fact he is
whiteWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
.
On November 26, 1976, Charles was invited to play with
The BandThe Band was a rock music group active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999. The original group consisted of four Canadians: Robbie Robertson ; Richard Manuel ; Garth Hudson ; and Rick Danko , and...
at their farewell
concertA concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. The music may be performed by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band. Informal names for a concert include "show" and "gig"...
,
The Last WaltzThe Last Waltz was a concert by the Canadian rock group, The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
. Charles played "Down South in New Orleans", with the help of
Dr. JohnMalcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combines blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll....
and The Band. The performance of "Down South in New Orleans" was not captured on
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
however, and did not appear in the film based on the concert with Charles only appearing briefly in the concert's final
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
, "
I Shall Be Released"I Shall Be Released" is a 1967 song written by Bob Dylan.The Band played it on their debut album, Music from Big Pink , with Richard Manuel singing lead vocals, and Rick Danko and Levon Helm harmonizing in the chorus...
" (he is largely blocked from view during the song). The song, sung by Charles with
drummerA drummer is a person who plays drums, particularly a drum kit , marching percussion or hand drums. The term percussionist applies to a musician performing on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to one who plays classical or Latin percussion. Most bands for Rock, Pop, Jazz, R&B etc...
Levon HelmMark Lavon Helm , better known as Levon Helm, is an American rock musician and actor most famous as the drummer for the rock group The Band...
and
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Rick DankoRichard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
, was recorded and later released on a box set of
The Last WaltzThe box set The Last Waltz is a 2002 four-disc re-release of the 1978 album The Last Waltz documenting the concert The Last Waltz, the last concert by The Band with its classic line up. A full forty tracks are taken from the show in addition to rehearsal outtakes...
concert performances.
He co-wrote the song "Small Town Talk" with Rick Danko of The Band. "Promises, Promises (The Truth Will Set You Free)" was co-written with Willie Nelson.
Charles has continued to
composeA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
and record (he was based out of Woodstock,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for a time) and in the 1990s he recorded a
duetA duet is a musical composition or piece for two performers. In classical music the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to...
of "Walking to New Orleans" with Domino.
In September 2007, The
Louisiana Music Hall of FameThe Louisiana Music Hall of Fame is an IRS certified 501 non-profit organization based in the state capital of Baton Rouge, La...
honored Charles for his contributions to Louisiana music with an induction.
External links