Biography
Born in 1933 in the Crescent City, New Orleans R&B vocalist Edgar "Big Boy" Myles formed the Sha-Weez in 1950 alongside eight fellow students at Booker T. Washington High School. Marv Goldberg explained in a September 1977 Yesterday's Memories profile that the unusual name originated with bandmember Nolan Blackwell's Creole-themed song "Cha-Paka-Sha-Wees," whose title loosely means "We are not raccoons"; after a local radio announcer introduced them as the "'Cha-Paka-Sha-Wees' musicians," the phrase became permanent. Dave Bartholomew placed the group on Aladdin Records, a New Orleans label, for a late-1952 session at Cosimo Matassa's renowned J&M Studios. Although James "Sugar Boy" Crawford had been chosen to front the debut, vocal strain from an earlier show forced Myles into the spotlight; "No One to Love Me" surfaced by year's end, scored locally, and secured Gulf Coast club dates for the ensemble. Aladdin nevertheless withheld the balance of the J&M recordings and scheduled no further sessions. Despite remaining bound to the imprint, Myles and Crawford cut sides for Chess as Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters beginning in late 1953. The Chess debut "I Don't Know What I'll Do" marked the label's first New Orleans recording and received substantial local radio support. Early the next year "Jock-a-Mo" followed and likewise found regional favor; the Dixie Cups later revived the number as "Iko Iko," which became one of the most lasting and celebrated Big Easy R&B releases. The third Chess single, "I Bowed on My Knees," earned a steady engagement at Baton Rouge's Carousel Club yet concluded the Chess association and left more than a dozen tracks unreleased. Myles exited in 1955 to join Li'l Millet & His Creoles, whose roster—bassist Millet, tenor saxophonists Lee Allen and James Victor Lewis, guitarist Ernest Mare, drummer Bartholomew Smith, and Myles' brother Warren on piano—was spotted by Specialty's Bumps Blackwell while performing at Thibodeaux, Louisiana's Sugar Bowl. The band tracked "Who's Been Fooling You?" at J&M in fall 1955; for unexplained reasons the Specialty pressing credited the performance to Big Boy Myles and the Shaw-Wees. A final Specialty release, "Just to Hold My Hand," recorded with New Orleans legends Alvin "Red" Tyler on tenor, Edgar Blanchard on guitar, and Earl Palmer on drums, appeared in late 1956. Myles remained silent on record until 1960, when he cut "New Orleans" for Ace; "Oh, Mary" arrived the following year. After the unsuccessful 1961 V-Tone single "She's So Fine," he stayed away until issuing the lone Pic-One side "You're Gonna Come Crying" for Huey Meaux in 1968. He eventually moved to New York City, where details of his later life remain sparse; Myles died there in 1984.