Famed New Orleans jazz pianist, singer and songwriter Eddie Bo passed away on March 18, 2009 from an apparent heart attack. He was 79.
Bo was scheduled to perform at this years New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and in a statement to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Festival producer Quint Davis said: “He was one of the last great New Orleans piano professors, kind of a bridge between Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint, everyone now has to remember to check their bucket on their own, without Eddie to tell us.”
Bo grew up in the 9th Ward of New Orleans and after a stint in the army, he studied arranging and composing at the Grunewald School of Music, which is a training ground for scores of professional musicians.
His first record was released in 1955 for Ace Records, a novelty dance song called “Check Mr. Popeye.” His next release, on Apollo Records, was “I’m Wise,” a ditty that Little Richard later recorded as the song “Slippin’ and Slidin.’” Bo also wrote the Etta James’ song, “My Dearest Darling,” which landed on the top of the rhythm and blues charts in 1959.
In 1969, at the height of the funk movement, he wrote and sang the Scram Records hit “Hook and Sling,” which peaked at #13 on the R & B charts and scored another hit the next year with the cut “Check Your Bucket.”
Bo wound up releasing more singles than any other New Orleans artist except for Fats Domino and produced artists such as Irma Thomas, Chris Kenner, Robert Parker, The Vibrettes, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Johnny Adams, among others and recorded and worked for more than forty different record labels including Ace, Apollo, Checker, Chess, Nola, Ric and many more.
In the 1970’s, Bo worked in the renovation business (he was a skilled carpenter) and essentially disappeared from the music business only to come back at the end of the decade with two new albums, “Another Side of Eddie Bo” and “Watch for the Coming” (which he produced himself).
In the 1980s and 1990s, Bo recorded with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and resurrected his Bo-Sound record label. He also played with Willy DeVille, Victory Mixture and Big Easy Fantasy as well as tour and record under the names The Louisiana Legends, The District Court and The Hoodoo Kings.
