Among the many seemingly infinite parade of American singers with unique names and distinctive voices who populated the early years of rock’n’roll, from Fat Domino together with his bluesy croon on Blue Monday to Buddy Holly and his ardent hiccupping on Peggy Sue, few have been extra simply identifiable than Clarence “Frogman” Henry, whose nickname referred to a vocal trick he had developed in his schooldays in New Orleans. Henry, who has died aged 87, had solely three large hits, however they weren’t simply forgotten.
The primary, Ain’t Obtained No Dwelling, was launched in 1957 and instantly established his declare to uniqueness. Having sung the primary two verses in his regular genial tenor register, he switched to a squeaky falsetto, impersonating a woman, earlier than giving his impression of a croaking bullfrog singing the identical tune. It was gimmicky, however gimmicks went a good distance within the period of Purple Individuals Eater and Monster Mash, and the track made it into the US Prime 20.
It was 4 years earlier than he reached the charts once more, this time with (I Don’t Know Why) However I Do, a plaintive ballad propelled into the Prime 5 on a gently shuffling New Orleans rhythm. Later, in 1961, You At all times Damage the One You Love made it to No 12.
These successes, and his performances within the UK in 1962 on a bundle tour with Bobby Vee, Tony Orlando and the Springfields, introduced him an invite to tour the US and Canada with the Beatles in 1964, making him an astonished witness to the primary wave of Beatlemania in North America.
He was born to Ernestine Henry and her husband, Clarence Sr, a railroad porter and beginner musician, in New Orleans’s seventh Ward earlier than the household moved to the Algiers neighborhood, throughout the river from the French Quarter. Clarence Jr took piano classes from the age of eight and was quickly, within the native custom, enjoying the trombone in his highschool band. His piano heroes have been Domino and Professor Longhair (Roy Byrd), the native keyboard giants, and shortly he was enjoying in native bands. After he had shaped his personal trio, his future was formed by an encounter with Paul Gayten, a bandleader who had turn out to be the native expertise scout for Chicago’s Chess label, the house of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.
Whereas sharing the invoice with Gayten’s band on the Pleasure Lounge, Henry carried out a track he had begun engaged on, as he later remembered, whereas attempting to influence patrons to depart a membership at six o’clock within the morning. “Ain’t acquired no house,” he sang, in three successive voices, altering the phrases to match: “I’m a lonely boy/woman/frog.” The frog sound, which he had developed whereas teasing ladies within the schoolyard, got here from inhaling and singing on the similar time.
He recorded the track beneath Gayten’s supervision, however it first appeared because the B-side to a track known as Troubles, Troubles. When Clarence Hayman, a New Orleans disc jockey referred to as Poppa Stoppa, took a liking to the B-side and started enjoying it on the radio, the response from listeners calling in to request “the track by the frog man” persuaded the file firm to start selling Ain’t Obtained No Dwelling across the nation. Because it climbed the charts, Henry fortunately adopted his new sobriquet.
After a fallow couple of years, However I Do got here alongside to revive his fortunes. Written by the Louisiana songwriter Bobby Charles in collaboration with Gayten, it was adopted into the charts by Henry’s model of You At all times Damage the One You Love, an outdated Mills Brothers track. The absence of additional frog impersonations did nothing to hinder their chart success.
Coming back from the Beatles tour, Henry settled right into a routine of enjoying together with his band at golf equipment alongside Bourbon Road. He turned a fixture on the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage pageant, latterly singing from a wheelchair, and had been booked to look once more within the month of his demise.
Though he continued to file for different labels, together with an album made throughout a keep within the UK in 1983, there can be no extra hits. However his revenue acquired a lift when Ain’t Obtained No Dwelling appeared on the soundtracks of a number of movies, together with Forrest Gump and On line casino. And when the rightwing radio character Rush Limbaugh used it to mock homeless individuals, he was not going to say no the additional royalties.
“We do quite a lot of music,” he instructed John Broven, the creator of Strolling to New Orleans (1974), a decade after his heyday. “We don’t cater to at least one model of songs. We do Dixieland, pop, the classics, you realize. We don’t do opera, although. The one factor we do is cleaning soap opera.”
Every of his seven marriages (two of them to the identical spouse) resulted in divorce. He’s survived by 10 kids and 19 grandchildren.
