Eddie Bo
| Eddie Bo | |
|---|---|
Eddie Bo at his club Check Your Bucket in New Orleans (2004)
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edwin Joseph Bocage |
| Also known as | Spider Bocage |
| Born |
September 20, 1930 New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
| Died | March 18, 2009 (aged 78) Picayune, Mississippi, United States |
| Genres | Blues, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1955–2009 |
| Labels | Bo-Sound, Ace, Chess, Ric, Apollo, Soulciety, Scram, Seven B, Blue Jay |
| Website | Eddiebo.com/ |
Edwin Joseph Bocage (September 20, 1930 – March 18, 2009), known as Eddie Bo, was an American singer and pianist from New Orleans. Schooled in jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk recordings, compositions, productions and arrangements. He debuted on Ace Records in 1955 and released more single records than anyone else in New Orleans other than Fats Domino.
Eddie Bo worked and recorded for more than 40 different record labels, including Ace, Apollo Records, Arrow, At Last, Blue-Jay, Bo-Sound, Checker, Chess, Cinderella, Nola, Ric (for which his carpentry skills were used to build them a studio), Scram, Seven B, and Swan. He is described at Allmusic as "a sorely underappreciated veteran of the New Orleans R&B scene."
Eddie Bo grew up in Algiers, Louisiana and in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. He came from a long line of ship builders with the male members of his family being bricklayers, carpenters and masons by day and musicians by night. Eddie's mother was a self-taught pianist in the style of friend, Professor Longhair. The Bocage family was involved in the traditional jazz community with cousins Charles, Henry and Peter, who played with Sidney Bechet, contributing to jazz orchestras before World War II.
Eddie graduated from Booker T. Washington High School before going into the army. After his army stint, he returned to New Orleans to study at the Grunewald School of Music. There he learned piano, music theory and to sight read, and arrange music. It was at this time that he was influenced by Russian classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz and was introduced to bebop pianists Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. He began playing in the New Orleans jazz scene, but made a switch to R&B after deciding it was more popular and brought in more money. Like a lot of other local musicians Eddie frequented the premier blues venue in town, the Dew Drop Inn on LaSalle Street. He played at the Club Tijuana under the name of Spider Bocage, later forming the Spider Bocage Orchestra, which toured the country supporting singers Big Joe Turner, Earl King, Guitar Slim, Johnny Adams, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown, Smiley Lewis, and The Platters.
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