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Rhythm and blues pioneer
Willie Egan was born October 1, 1933 in Minden, Louisiana. The product of grinding poverty, his bayou home was so isolated from the rest of civilization that each year, members of the community were forced to forge a path through the swamp just to reach the main road -- alligators were a threat as well, with
Egan's father losing a hand and his brother sacrificing a foot. When
Egan was nine-years-old, his family sent him to live with his grandmother in Los Angeles; there he began playing the piano parked on his uncle's front porch, learning to play by absorbing records by
Amos Milburn and
Hadda Brooks -- in addition, neighbor Arthur Alexander (not the country-soul legend) taught
Egan to play boogie by penciling numbers on the keys. In 1949, the 15-year-old signed to J.R. Fullbright's Elko Records to cut his debut record, "It's a Shame" -- credited to
Little Willie Egans (the modifier was dropped following a subsequent growth spurt), the single generated little interest, and he returned to playing local clubs before getting a second chance in 1955, signing to Larry Mead's Mambo label and teaming with singer/guitarist Lloyd Rowe for "Don't Know Where She Went." The pairing proved short-lived, however, and
Egan resumed his solo career, recording "Wow Wow" for Mambo as
Willie Eggins and His Orchestra. The single was a hit throughout southern California, and
Egan soon re-surfaced with "Sometimes I Wonder" -- when
Fats Domino complained the song sounded too much like his "Rosemary,"
Egan countered that both of them sounded like
Amos Milburn in the first place. His creative zenith was 1956's "Wear Your Black Dress," a fierce jump blues reminiscent of
Ray Charles. The song was inspired by
Egan's wife, Beatrice -- "Wear Your Black Dress" came about because I almost shot her," he later recalled. "I was sitting at home with a .38 in my lap, waiting for her to come home." After moving to Mead's Vita imprint, he issued the singles "Come On" and "She's Gone Away, But," cutting his last solo effort, "Rock and Roll Fever," in 1958;
Egan then teamed with
Marvin Phillips in his long-running duo
Marvin & Johnny, becoming just the latest in a long line of musical foils. Together
Phillips and
Egan recorded the lackluster "Baby Baby Baby" in 1958, disappearing on the club circuit before signing to Hunter Hancock's Swingin' label for a pair of 1962 sides, "I'm Tired of Being Alone" and "Second Helping of Cherry Pie."
Egan then resumed his solo career, but when he lost his equipment in a nightclub fire, he retired from performing and returned to Los Angeles to work as a hospital orderly. Two decades later, he was subsisting on unemployment when local R&B promoter Steve Brigati tracked him down -- believing
Egan was now dead, the British label Krazy Kat had compiled his solo singles on an LP, Rock & Roll Fever, and sales were proving remarkably strong throughout Europe. Soon
Egan was headlining London's Electric Ballroom, backed by saxophonist
Big Jay McNeely, and for Ace Records he cut a new studio LP, 1984's Going Back to Louisiana. After a long bout with cancer,
Egan died in Los Angeles on August 5, 2004. ~ Jason Ankeny