From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Tue Jan 29, 2002 1:20 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Paul Gayten PAUL GAYTEN (By Dave Penny) Born 29 January 1920, Kentwood, Louisiana Died 26 March 1991, Los Angeles, California. Vocalist/pianist/composer/r&b bandleader. Dave Bartholomew's only serious rival as bandleader/session fixer in the early days of New Orleans r&b was pianist Paul Gayten - a nephew of blues pianist Little Brother Montgomery - who recorded extensively for DeLuxe, Miltone, Regal, OKeh, Checker/Argo and Anna, between 1947 and 1959, hitting the r&b charts with "Since I Fell For You" (# 3) and "True" (# 5) in 1947, "Cuttin' Out" (# 6, credited to Annie Laurie) in 1949 and "I'll Never Be Free" (# 4) and "Goodnight Irene" (# 6) in 1950. His 1957 instrumental "Nervous Boogie" for Argo was a # 68 pop hit. In the 1960s he moved to Los Angeles and founded his own independent label, Pzazz Records before retiring from the business. His early band starred Edgar Blanchard on guitar and Lee Allen on tenor sax, but its main selling point was the sexy voice and sultry good-looks of singer Annie Laurie. His band was also used on Crescent City classics by Chubby Newsome, Larry Darnell, Clarence Henry, Bobby Charles, Sugar Boy Crawford and TV Slim among others. See http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/PGayten.html for more information on this fascinating figure.