From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Oct 1, 2002  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Willie Egan

WILLIE EGAN

Born Willie Lee Egan, 1 October 1933, near Minden, Louisiana;
died 5 August 2004, Inglewood, CA

Singer / pianist.

Willie Egan is a boogie-woogie bluesman of undeserved obscurity.
Born to poor sharecropper parents in bayou country, he moved to Los
Angeles at the age of nine, to live with an uncle who had a old upright
piano. Living next door was a music teacher named Arthur Alexander
who taught him to play boogie woogie. His first record, "It's a Shame"/
"Willie's Boogie" came out in 1954 on the small Elko label. He cut his
best records in 1955-56, for the Mambo and Vita labels in Pasadena,
owned by Larry Mead. At least six singles were released, good rockin'
material that demonstrated why he was known in Los Angeles clubs as
the House Rocker. But poor distribution and scarce airplay kept him
from flourishing outside of several ghetto markets. Johnny Otis called
him Eggins and some of his records are credited to Willie Egans or
Willie Eggins. With the exception of Lloyd Rowe's "Potato Stomp" and
Johnny Otis's "Come On", Willie composed his own material. "Wear
Your Black Dress" (1956) is his best recording and he rerecorded it in
1983 with the British group Juice on the Loose.

In 1957 Egan teamed up with Marvin Phillips, one half of Marvin & Johnny,
who had scored R&B hits on Specialty and Modern. There were several
Johnnys and Willie was the last. Two singles were released, one very bad,
one excellent ("Tired Of Being Alone" on Swingin'). Willie gave up music in
the seventies, but was rediscovered in the eighties. In 1983, Ace Records
(the UK label) flew him, Big Jay McNeely, Chuck Higgins and Young Jessie
to England for a concert, and while there he recorded a well-regarded studio
album called "Going Back To Louisiana". Back in the US, he made further
recordings and enjoyed a brief success on the college circuit. But Willie's
taste for gin oftentimes made him an unpredictable performer, and in
addition there isn't much call for an old boogie-woogie bluesman in today's
market, even one as good as Egan.

CD: Willie Egan, Come On (Relic 7047). This has 14 tracks by Willie (the
Mambo and Vita recordings) and 11 tracks by other artists (Big Boy Groves,
Harmonica Slim, Effie Smith, JImmy Thomason). Liner notes by Jim Dawson,
from which I have copied extensively.
 
Updated 23 April 2005