Dr John | Artist
Malcolm "Mac" Rebennack aka Dr. John aka The Night Tripper, was an American singer, songwriter and musician born 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His music combined blues, jazz, boogie woogie, rock and roll and psychedelia. Rebennack was heavily influenced by the southern creole jazz music of Professor Longhair, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver. At age 13 Rebennack met Professor Longhair and he soon started performing with him as a professional musician. In 1963 his musical career was suspended when he was jailed for two years, guilty of running drugs and a brothel. Rebennack soon became a much sought after session player and worked with artists such as Sonny & Cher, Canned Heat and Frank Zappa. Rebennack's career as a guitarist was curtailed around 1960, when the ring finger on his left hand was injured by a gunshot during an incident at a Jacksonville, Florida gig. After the injury, Rebennack concentrated on bass guitar before making piano his main instrument, developing a style influenced by Professor Longhair. His first solo album, the classic Gris-Gris, was released in 1968 and became an immediate success with its unique mix of creole voodoo and psychedelic rock. Mac went on to make over 30 studio albums and is regarded as a master of American southern music styles. Outstanding albums include Gris-Gris (1968), The Sun Moon and Herbs (1971), Dr John's Gumbo (1972), In The Right Place (1973), Goin' Back to New Orleans (1992) and Locked Down (2012). As a young man, Rebennack was interested in New Orleans voodoo, and in Los Angeles he developed the idea of the Dr. John persona for his old friend Ronnie Barron, based on the life of Dr. John, a Senegalese prince, conjure man, herb doctor, and spiritual healer who came to New Orleans from Haiti. This free man of color lived on Bayou Road and claimed to have 15 wives and over 50 children. He kept an assortment of snakes and lizards, along with embalmed scorpions and animal and human skulls, and sold gris-gris, voodoo amulets which supposedly protect the wearer from harm. The good doctor passed away June 2019 in New Orleans, aged 78, having cleaned up several years prior from a decades-long heroin addiction.
Artist Website: nitetripper.com
Featured Albums: Dr John
Related Artists: Mac Rebennack, The Night Tripper, The Lower 911, The Meters
