Billy Diamond

William "Billy" Diamond (born October 5, 1916 in New Orleans , † October 20, 2011 in Los Angeles ) was an American R&B bassist who was best known as an early promoter, live bassist and road manager of Fats Domino .

Diamond got a trumpet from Louis Armstrong in 1930 , but decided to use the bass . After the war, during which he worked as a truck driver at Camp Poche , the New Orleans music scene was dominated by Creole musicians playing Dixieland and marching music . Only Dave Bartholomew opened the door for black rhythm and blues . Diamond oriented himself towards this when he founded the "Mellow Riff Trio" with the pianist Johnny Fernandez and the guitarist Rupert Roberts, with whom he played in clubs and on local radio programs.

In 1947 Diamond founded the band "The Solid Senders" (not to be confused with Roy Milton's band ) with Frank Parker on drums, Harrison Verret on guitar and Antoine Domino on piano. Since Antoine was as talented and corpulent as Fats Waller and Fats Pichon , Diamond nicknamed him "Fats Domino". Diamond let Domino sing alongside Little Sonny Jones in his band and suggested that he orientate himself on Paul Gayton . At the Hide Away Club, Dave Bartholomew discovered the band's pianist and gave him a contract with Imperial Records . Domino's subsequent world successes were mostly not recorded with the Solid Senders, but with the studio band , so that Frank Fields played the bass parts instead of Diamond.

Diamond remained Domino's live bassist and played on Going Home Tomorrow in 1952 , when Bartholomew had left Imperial in the meantime, and on those recordings that were made on tour such as Blueberry Hill and Blue Monday . With Domino's increasing success, Diamond also took on the role of tour manager, a role that he gradually expanded at the expense of his musical contribution. In 1962 Domino took a break and Diamond took over the musical direction of the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles, where he looked after the R&B greats of the west coast such as Johnny Otis , Big Mama Thornton , Guitar Shorty , Philip Walker and T-Bone Walker . The club closed in 1969.

Then Diamond successfully promoted for various record companies with the help of his many contacts. He died in Los Angeles in 2011 at the age of 95.

literature

• Jeff Hannusch: The Soul of New Orleans. A Legacy of Rhythm and Blues . Swallow Publications, Ville Platte 2001, ISBN 0-9614245-8-3 , Chapter Thirteen. Billy Diamond: Providing the Bass, S. 88-91 (American English).
• Rick Coleman: Blue Monday. Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll . First edition. Da Capo Press, Cambridge 2006, ISBN 0-306-81531-1 (English).

Web links

• Obituary (English)