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Feature
Articles -
The Fabulous Boogie Kings |
Introduction |
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It all began in Mama Ardoin's kitchen in Eunice, Louisiana in 1955. When Doug Ardoin opened his Christmas presents, he found the one thing that he was wishing for - a brand new electric guitar. When Doug put his hands on that guitar, he felt ten feet tall. He knew he could play it, even though he had never had a lesson. Rock 'n' roll music was beginning to emerge as the music of the teenager, and all of the kids in the USA were being mesmerized by this new sound and new beat. As soon as Doug could play a few tunes, he got together with a couple of friends and decided to form a band. He found a drummer that could sing, Bert Miller, and another guitar player, Harris Miller, and they began to jam in Mama Ardoin's kitchen. Not exactly the perfect ingredients for a rock band, but it was all there was. It was not too damn long before the trio jelled into a hot little jam group. After a while, Mama Ardoin's kitchen was overrun by enthusiastic teenage friends of the guys, so the trio had to find a new place to practice. Pretty soon, they decided to name the band, "The Boogie Kings," and they began playing teen dances. They eventually added a bass player, Skip Stewart, and a sax man, Byron Launie, and the band was beginning to sound pretty darn good. The kids were going nuts over this new caucasian group playing black rock 'n' roll. In 1955, the closest thing to live rock music for Louisiana kids was a few black groups from New Orleans that sounded like dog shit. The Boogie Kings had the "magic" from the getgo. It was like God had picked this group to bless and that's all there was to it. They could do no wrong. The band decided to concentrate on black soul music and bypass the Anka's and Sedaka's type of rock. In the late '50s, the band added two more saxophone players, Norris Badeaux and Bryan Leger, then a trumpet player, Willie Harmon, was added and this completed big horn section sound that they were looking for. Even with a horn section, the band never read a note of music. They would just listen to the records that they wanted to learn, and then play them. Why waste time with rehearsals? By the end of the decade of the '50s, the Boogie Kings had acquired Tommy McLain on bass and Clint West on drums. They were both proficient vocalists of the day, and this allowed Bert Miller to be a stand up front man vocalist. The popularity of the Boogie Kings in Louisiana and East Texas, and the talk was that they were the band that could burn all other bands. Not only the fans were overwhelmed with the fantastic sound of this brilliant white rhythm 'n' blues band, but musicians would come from all over the state to get a lesson in the art of rhythm 'n blues performance. One must remember that the popular music scene in the country was going through a complete metamorphasis in the '50s. On the Billboard music charts, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Chuck Berry recordings were beginning to appear alongside of Bing Crosby and Patti Page recordings. The nation was splitting in two because of the new music invasion. It was young against old. The older generation wanted to keep the status quo, but the young set was determined to have their own music, geared to the freedom of the times. Alcohol and drugs were beginning to cause some problems at this time, but the whole country was in a kind of denial about the consequences of these substances. This would come to play a major part in the future of this great band at a later time. After several years of tremendous success, the Boogie Kings began to develop a "macho" attitude about themselves and their music. It was like they began to feel invincible. They were convinced that they were in a class all by themselves. And they were. It hardly mattered where the Boogie Kings performed, they were always admired by fans and musicians alike, and they became very comfortable with their status. It is so sad that the early Boogie Kings were never recorded live, and only did a few bad 45 RPM recordings in the '50s. I would give anything to have a tape of the early performances, but alas, no one had any equipment back in those days. I shudder to think of what may have happened if the band would have achieved the one thing that has always eluded them, namely a hit recording. It was fairly easy to get a record played on a radio station in your home town, and not that difficult to get airplay in a few major markets, but the big boys on the East Coast and the West Coast were in the process of setting up controls on the distribution of these fast selling items. Most of the musicians of the '50s were never to see any money to speak of from their million sellers. Unscrupulous music labels and publishers had realized early on that a fortune could be made very quickly in the music business without the knowledge or consent of the artists. All that the artist was interested in was to simply have a record release, - that was validation enough. We were never taught about the business end of the music business. They wanted to keep us ignorant. Why not? They were getting rich. In my own personal opinion, a hit record would have destroyed this great legend of the Boogie Kings. It would have made enemies out of friends. The very fact that this band, which is still performing today, was able to achieve such a high level of success without the benefit of a hit, is probably the greatest piece of dumb luck that we ever had by all rights, the great Boogie Kings band should have had a hit record. The band was as great as anything else out there at the time. But, even as tight as the band was, with all of the success coming their way in the '50 and early '60, it was only a prelude of things to come. Part 1 of 4 Parts The Fabulous Boogie
Kings |
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