Dave Bartholomew

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new orleans, new orleans rhythm and blues, rhythm and blues, new orleans blues, blues… see all

Dave Bartholomew has been active in many musical genres, including rhythm & blues, big band, swing music, rock and roll, New Orleans jazz, Dixieland. Although many artists have recorded Bartholomew’s songs, his partnership with Fats Domino produced some of his greatest successes. In the mid 1950s they wrote more than 40 hit songs for their record label, Imperial Records, including two songs that reached Number One on the Billboard rhythm and blues charts “Goin’ Home” and “Ain’t That a Shame”. He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bartholomew first learned to play the tuba but the trumpet later became his main instrument. His professional career began in New Orleans, when he put together a group that included Alvin ‘Red’ Tyler, Earl Palmer and Lee Allen.

He began recording in 1947 for Deluxe Records, but the company folded and he received little recognition. In 1949, however, he began working with Lew Chudd’s Imperial Records as an arranger, band leader and talent scout. He produced hits from Earl King, Tommy Ridgley, Robert Parker, Frankie Ford, Chris Kenner, Smiley Lewis, Shirley & Lee and Fats Domino, among others. He was responsible for the arrangements on the Fats Domino hits in the fifties including the best seller “Blueberry Hill”. He left Imperial in the mid-1960s and moved between several labels, including his own Broadmoor Records (named for his neighborhood of New Orleans, Broadmoor).

Top Tracks

1	The Fat Man full track	19
2	The Monkey	7
3	Stormy Weather	5
4	Good Jax Boogie	4
5	Jump Children full track	3
6	Four Winds	2
6	Country Girl	2
8	Would you	1
8	I Wanna Know	1
8	Country Gal	1
8	Country Boy	1
8	That's How You Got Killed Before	1
8	Monkey	1
8	Basin Street Breakdown	1
8	when the saints...	1