Dr. John
b. Malcolm John Rebennack, 21 November 1940, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Dr. John has built a career since the '60s as a consummate New Orleans musician, incorporating funk, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and R&B into his sound. Rebennack's distinctive vocal growl and virtuoso piano playing brought him acclaim among critics and fellow artists, although his commercial successes have not equalled that recognition. Rebennack's musical education began in the '40s when he accompanied his father to blues clubs. At the age of 14 he began frequenting recording studios, and wrote his first songs at that time. By 1957 he was working as a session musician, playing guitar, keyboards and other instruments on recordings issued on such labels as Ace, Ric, Rex and Ebb. He made his first recording under his own name, Storm Warning, for Rex during that same year. His first album was recorded for Rex in 1958, and others followed on Ace and AFO Records with little success. In 1958 he also co-wrote Lights Out, recorded by Jerry Byrne, and toured with Byrne and Frankie Ford. 
By 1962 Rebennack had already played on countless sessions for such renowned producers as Phil Spector, Harold Battiste, H.B. Barnum and Sonny Bono (later of Sonny And Cher). Rebennack formed his own bands during the early '60s but they did not take off. By the mid-60s Rebennack had moved to Los Angeles, where he fused his New Orleans roots with the emerging west coast psychedelic sound, and he developed the persona Dr. John Creux, The Night Tripper. The character was based on one established by singer Prince La La, but Rebennack made it his own through the intoxicating brew of voodoo incantations and New Orleans heritage. An album, ZU ZU MAN, for A&M Records, did not catch on when released in 1965. 
In 1968 Dr. John was signed to Atco Records and released GRIS GRIS, which received critical acclaim but did not chart. This exceptional collection included the classic Walk On Gilded Splinters and inspired several similarly styled successors, winning respect from fellow musicians, resulting in Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger guesting on a later album. The same musical formula and exotic image were pursued on follow-up albums BABYLONand REMEDIES. Meanwhile, he toured on the rock festival and ballroom circuit and continued to do session work. In 1971, Dr. John charted for the first time with DR. JOHN, THE NIGHT TRIPPER (THE SUN, MOON AND HERBS). The 1972 GUMBO album, produced by Jerry Wexler, charted, as did the single, Iko Iko. His biggest US hit came in 1973 with the single Right Place, Wrong Time, which reached number 9; the accompanying album, IN THE RIGHT PLACE, was also his best-selling, hitting number 24. These crafted, colourful albums featured the instrumental muscle of the Meters, but despite a newfound popularity, the artist parted from his record label, Atlantic, and subsequent work failed to achieve a similar status. 
During that year he toured with the New Orleans band the Meters, and recorded TRIUMVIRATE with Michael Bloomfield and John Hammond. The single Such A Night also charted in 1973. Dr. John continued to record throughout the '70s and '80s, for numerous labels, among them United Artists, Horizon and Clean Cuts, the latter releasing DR. JOHN PLAYS MAC REBENNACK, a solo piano album, in 1981. In the meantime, he continued to draw sizeable audiences as a concert act across the USA, and added radio jingle work to his live and recording work (he continued to play on many sessions). He recorded BLUESIANA TRIANGLE with jazz musicians Art Blakey and David Fathead Newman and released IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD, a collection of interpretations of standards, on Warner Brothers Records. Despite employing a low-key approach to recording, Dr. John has remained a respected figure, re-emerging in 1989 with IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD, a collection of standards which included a moody duet with Rickie Lee Jones. His live appearances are now less frequent, but this irrepressible artist continues his role as a tireless champion of Crescent City music.