From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Wed Oct 30, 2002 6:14 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Tommy Ridgley TOMMY RIDGLEY (By Jean-Marc Pezet) Born Thomas Herman Ridgley, 30 October 1925, Shrewsbury, Louisiana Died 11 August 1999, New Orleans, Louisiana For nearly 4 decades, Tommy Ridgley has remained one of the most popular and best loved rhythm & blues performers in New Orleans. A regal, confident and engaging performer, he has never had a national hit, but he has made an impressive string of recordings which date back to December of 1949. His music has entertained three generations of New Orleanians and reached listeners in all corners of the world. Tommy Ridgley is a most deserving recipient of OffBeat's 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award. Born October 30, 1925, in the Shrewsbury section of Jefferson Parish, Ridgley sang spirituals on the corner of Andover Street and Harlem Avenue with his childhood buddies. During a stint in the Navy, where he served in Okinawa, he taught himself to play blues. After his 1946 discharge, he returned to Shrewsbury and studied music under the G. I. bill. Evenings would often find him at the Dew Drop Inn, then New Orleans's most popular black live music venue. With stage fright behind him, Ridgley began singing with the Bama Band and with Al Anderson's band. In 1949, he moved up to the big league when he was hired by Dave Bartholomew as vocalist. At the time, Bartholomew had just been hired as talent scout, arranger and producer for the Imperial label. Naturally, Ridgley was one of the first artists to record for the label. His initial 78 rpm, "Shrewsbury Blues" (a tribute to his neighbourhood) was a big local hit. A productive writer, Ridgley penned most of his Imperial sides, including "Lavinia," "Monkey Man" and "I Live My Life". Ridgley stayed with Imperial until 1953 when he formed his first group. From 1954 to 1956, the group mainly stayed on the road and often recorded, waxing sides for Decca ("Tra La La"), Atlantic (where he narrowly missed the charts with the instrumental "Jam Up"), Herald ("When I Meet My Girl") and Waldorf, where he used the alias "The Shrewsbury Kid." By the end of the decade, the Untouchables, formed in 1957, had moved to the Dew Drop where they were installed as house band, playing the talent shows, backing out of town acts and playing the early morning jam sessions. The group also backed big stars like Sam Cooke, Clyde McPhatter, Ivory Joe Hunter and Little Willie John, when they appeared at the Municipal Auditorium or Lincoln Beach. Ridgley started the 1960s by joining Joe Ruffino's up-and-coming Ric label. Ridgley's Ric debut, "Is It True" b/w "Let's Talk It Over," a big record around New Orleans, aptly billed him as The New King of the Stroll. Ridgley had several local best sellers on Ric including, "My Ordinary Girl," "Please Hurry Home," "The Girl From Kooka Monga", "Double Eyed Whammy" and Wynona Carr's "Should I Ever Love Again". By the late 1960s, while many once prosperous recording artists were reduced to revert to day jobs, Ridgley continued to hustle gigs and get the occasional recording date. Singles on Johen, Blue Jay, Dew Drop, White Cliffs and International City, were pretty much neighbourhood records, but they kept him working. The initial revival in New Orleans R&B in the 1970s benefited Ridgley. Outside of Fats Domino's band, most of the great New Orleans R&B bands of the 1950s and early 1960s, had dissolved, but Ridgley's band remained untouchable over the years. Now that past hit makers like Irma Thomas, Bobby Mitchell, Ernie K-Doe, Aaron Neville, Benny Spellman and Robert Parker were again starting to work, they needed a crack New Orleans band and the Untouchables usually got the call. Ridgley continued to wax new singles on Hep Me, Sansu, Basin Street, River City, Ronn and Sound of New Orleans. In the 1980s, Ridgley kept busy working around New Orleans in between the occasional European festival date. He cut his first full length contemporary album in 1990, when "How Long" appeared on Sound of New Orleans followed by "She Turns Me On". on the Modern Blues label in 1992 and "Since the Blues Began", a CD on Black Top in 1995. Unfortunately, Ridgley fell ill from kidney failure after the release of the Black Top CD. After several months in the V.A. hospital, Ridgley had recovered and was back playing. In the spring of 1998, Ridgley received a new kidney which pretty much took care of his recurring health problems, resumed playing but died in New Orleans one year later due to cancer. Among the attendees at his funeral were Dave Bartholomew, Cosimo Matassa, Irma Thomas, Snooks Eaglin and Ernie K-Doe. Website: http://www.offbeat.com/ob9901/ridgley.html http://www.tommyridgley.com Recommended listening: TOMMY RIDGLEY & HIS ORCHESTRA "Mardi Gras Jam" BLUE CITY 1307 (24 tracks from the golden period - a bootleg?)