| Genres: |
Jazz
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R&B / Soul
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| Descriptive "tags": |
new orleans • rhythm and blues • blues • r&b • rock-n-roll • new orleans funk • new orleans rhythm and blues • new orleans soul • toi dub • bayou rnb
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| Decades Active: |
1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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| Links online: |
Official Homepage
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Wikipedia
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Biography
30 October 1925, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 11 August 1999. Originally a pianist, Ridgley played with a dixieland group and Earl Anderson’s band in 1949 before his powerful R&B voice made him one of New Orleans’ most respected singers for nearly three decades. His first record was ‘Shrewsbury Blues’, named after a district of the city and produced by Dave Bartholomew for Imperial Records in 1949. He also recorded the humorous ‘Looped’ before Ahmet Ertegun’s Atlantic label came to record in New Orleans in 1953. The label recorded Ridgley singing ‘I’m Gonna Cross That River’ and ‘Ooh Lawdy My Baby’, with Ray Charles on piano. Both were highly popular locally. ‘Jam Up’, an instrumental with Ridgley on piano, later appeared on anthology albums. In 1957, it was the turn of Al Silver of the New York-based Ember label to fish in the New Orleans talent pool. He recorded Ridgley in a more mellow...
Read the Full Biography of Tommy Ridgley
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