From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sat Sep 14, 2002  1:56 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Archibald

ARCHIBALD

Born Leon T. Gross, 14 September 1912, New Orleans, Louisiana
Died January 1973, New Orleans, Louisiana

Singer / pianist.
When most people think of the song "Stagger Lee," as it's usually spelled,
they think of Lloyd Price and his 1959 chart-topping single. Nine years
before Price's version, however, a single on Imperial Records (spelled
"Stack-a-Lee"), credited to and featuring the pounding piano of Archibald,
reached # 10 on the R&B charts and gave the song its first unified national
exposure in a single rendition. If Archibald never followed this up, it wasn't
for lack of talent or a lot of years in the business of making music.
Born Leon Gross, he took up the piano as a child, initially entertaining at
parties under the name "Archie Boy," which became Archibald. His major
influences included Burnell Santiago, Tuts Washington, and Eileen Dufeau,
among his barrelhouse piano predecessors. Gross enjoyed a healthy career
into his late thirties, despite the interruption of military service during
World
War II, happily playing at the bars in New Orleans and earning a living and
a lot of local respect.
In 1950, he was signed to Imperial Records, part of the same wave that
brought Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino onto the company's roster,
and Archibald made his first recordings in March 1950. During the summer
of that year, he enjoyed his only national hit with the single "Stack-a-Lee,"
produced by Dave Bartholomew. He never saw the national charts again with
any of his sides, recording for Imperial until 1952, and his subsequent
attempts at making records were undermined by poor health, union disputes,
and record-company difficulties. Ironically, though Archibald's early-'50s
sides, such as "Ballin' With Archie," "Shake Baby Shake," and "Crescent City
Bounce" - all of which featured Bartholomew's brash trumpet playing, Joe
Harris, and Clarence Hall, respectively, on alto- and tenor-sax, and as
solid a rock & roll beat as anything on Imperial - could have found an
audience as late as 1958, they were forgotten and mostly overlooked after
their initial release; and despite the fact that his playing and sound were
clearly an influence on the work of such figures as Huey "Piano" Smith and
Dr. John, Archibald wasn't even on the periphery of the rock & roll boom and
never participated in recording even as an elder statesman in the manner of
his slightly younger contemporary Professor Longhair (who cut whole albums
for Paul McCartney's MPL imprint and for Alligator in the 1970s). Archibald
never had a comeback, but he enjoyed long residences at such venues as the
Poodle Patio Club, the Court of Two Sisters, and the Balloy Club.
His powerful New Orleans boogie-piano style undoubtedly influenced younger
New Orleans pianists like James Booker, Huey "Piano" Smith and Dr. John,
but somehow Archibald did not come to grips with the rock'n'roll age. Archibald
died of a heart attack in 1973, leaving behind a pitifully small, but high
quality
recorded legacy.
(Adapted from All Music Guide)

Seven of Archibald's Imperial recordings, including parts 1 & 2 of
"Stack-a-Lee",
are available on Disc 1 of the 4-CD set "Getting Funky : The Birth Of New
Orleans R&B" (Properbox 28).
More on the song "Stagger Lee" and its background:
http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/stagroot.htm