Huey "Piano" Smith

Emerging from New Orleans' storied piano lineage, Huey "Piano" Smith followed the paths of Professor Longhair and Fats Domino to earn recognition among the Crescent City's leading R&B figures. He also stood out as one of R&B's finest comic talents, with his strongest sides rivaling the Coasters in relaxed, playful wit, though his lyrics frequently favored sheer absurdity over polished storytelling. His gritty approach fell short of the mainstream crossover draw enjoyed by Domino or the Coasters, restricting his audience, and he never achieved their level of steady output owing to an uneven flow of songs. Even so, at his height Smith embodied New Orleans R&B at its most buoyant and energetic, a quality fully displayed on the enduring signature number "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu."

Born in New Orleans on January 26, 1934, Smith took up the piano at age 15. Early in the 1950s he accompanied guitar icons Earl King and Guitar Slim, soon establishing himself as a sought-after session player whose work graced releases by Smiley Lewis (the classic "I Hear You Knockin'"), Lloyd Price, and Little Richard. By the mid-1950s he had formed his own group, the Clowns, which prominently featured local blues singer and female impersonator Bobby Marchan as lead vocalist. After signing with Ace Records, Smith & the Clowns delivered a breakthrough Top Five R&B single in 1957 with "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu," a track that, despite its eventual status as a rock & roll standard, missed the pop Top 40 because of cautious white programmers. In 1958 he achieved his greatest commercial success via the double-sided hit "Don't You Just Know It"/"High Blood Pressure," which climbed to the pop Top Ten and the R&B Top Five. The following year Smith recorded the original "Sea Cruise," yet Ace enlisted white teenage R&B singer Frankie Ford to overdub vocals on the existing track in hopes of broader airplay, resulting in a national success.

Further attempts at humorous illness-themed novelties, such as "Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues," failed to replicate earlier gains. Marchan departed after landing a solo hit with "There Is Something on Your Mind" in 1960, leaving the Clowns to be fronted by female vocalist Gerry Hall and male singer Curley Moore. Brief stints on Imperial preceded a return to Ace that produced one final charting entry, "Pop Eye," in 1962. Throughout the 1960s Smith recorded for Instant while touring both with the Clowns and with alternate ensembles the Hueys and the Pitter Pats. Unable to regain chart traction, he ultimately embraced the Jehovah's Witnesses and withdrew from the music business for good. Huey "Piano" Smith passed away in his sleep at his Baton Rouge, Louisiana residence on February 13, 2023, at the age of 89.