Musician, composer and collaborator with Fats Domino
Born: December 24, 1918;
Died: June 23, 2019
DAVE Bartholemew, who has died aged 100, was an American musician, composer and record producer who was prolific amid the New Orleans music scene of the mid-20th century. He played jazz, swing, R&B and big band, while his work is notable in a broader context for its great influence upon the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s and 60s. Artists of the era including Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly all claimed influence from Bartholemew and covered his music.
As a musician and a songwriter, Bartholemew is best remembered for his partnership with his friend and collaborator Fats Domino, co-writing and lending his band and arrangement skills to many of the singer and pianist’s hits from the 1940s until the break of the 1960s. The Fat Man, their debut single together in 1949, is tentatively credited by many as the first rock ‘n’ roll record.
The pair’s breakthrough hit arrived in 1955 with Ain’t That a Shame, although it’s a questionable testament to the priorities of the time that Domino’s version only came firmly to the public’s attention after the white pop singer Pat Boone had enjoyed a US number one hit with his cover the same year.
Nevertheless, Domino’s recording went to number one in the US R&B charts and number ten in the American pop chart, and sold more than a million copies of its own. It made a quick impression in the UK and has entered the rock ‘n’ roll canon, spawning hit cover versions by the Four Seasons (1963) and Cheap Trick (1978).
Bartholemew also added to his voluminous songbook of classics with a number of tracks not in collaboration with Domino, most of which he wrote with his wife Pearl King. In 1952 the novelty song My Ding-a-Ling appeared, and Chuck Berry had a big hit with it two decades later; Witchcraft (1955) and One Night (1956) were released by the Spiders and Smiley Lewis, respectively, and were later hits for Elvis Presley; and I Hear You Knocking (1955) resurfaced through Dave Edmunds’ popular 1970 version.
David Louis Bartholemew was born on Christmas Eve 1918 in the small town of Edgard, Louisiana, to parents Mary and Louis. He was first taught tuba by his father and then trumpet by Peter Davis, who also taught Louis Armstrong, and, on the family’s move to New Orleans he played jazz and big band music in clubs and on riverboats.
He played in a number of bands prior to the Second World War and put together his own group of players after returning from military service, and it was with this orchestra that he met Lew Chudd of Imperial Records while playing a gig in Texas.
Invited to become Imperial’s New Orleans A&R contact, Bartholemew quickly took on the roles of producer, songwriter, studio musician and arranger, and began working with Imperial artist Fats Domino soon after the pair met. The label was his main home for the next decade and although his career as a songwriter at the very top level was relatively brief, considering he lived for a century, his contribution to rock ‘n’ roll’s founding era was crucial. His songwriting credits reputedly numbered 4,000.
In 1963 Imperial was sold to the LA-based Liberty Records and left the area, while Bartholemew remained behind in New Orleans. Although he worked for other labels – including, briefly, his own Broadmoor Records – the rest of his career focused on performance and occasional recording with his own bands, as well as his continued presence in Domino’s international touring group.
Married to Pearl King for 25 years until her death in 1967, Bartholemew later married Rhea Douse; he had four sons and one daughter.
DAVID POLLOCK
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