Professor Longhair
1
-
Year:
1992
-
Inducted by:
Aaron Neville
-
Category:
Early Influences
Introduction
Get schooled by Professor Longhair.
Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint did. Professor Longhair rattled the keys with a mélange of boogie-woogie, New Orleans parade beats and Caribbean rhythm.
Hall of Fame Essay
1992
“The Bach of Rock,” New Orleans composer Allen Toussaint called him.
The cornerstone of New Orleans rhythm & blues piano, Professor Longhair’s astounding music influenced the work of Fats Domino, Dr. John, James Booker, Huey “Piano” Smith, Art Neville, and Allen Toussaint himself. Longhair’s unique appeal lay in his offbeat songs, his warbling voice and the infectiously syncopated piano style which he once described as a blend of “rhumba, mambo and calypso.”
