Dorothy La Bostrie

Dorothy La Bostrie (born May 18, 1928 in Rayland , Kentucky, † November 4, 2007 in Atlanta , Georgia; occasionally written Labostrie or LaBostrie ) was an American songwriter of the genres of rhythm and blues , rock 'n' roll and gospel . Her greatest success was working for Tutti Frutti from Little Richard in 1955.

Life

Dorothy La Bostrie's father, Amos, came from a Creole family in New Orleans , Louisiana, and went to work in the mining town of Rayland, Kentucky with his second wife . After an accident at work, the young family moved to Mobile , Alabama, where La Bostrie grew up. In 1951, La Bostrie first visited New Orleans in search of her father's relatives, whom she soon found in her stepbrother and a few first and second degree aunts. She stayed in town and first worked as a maid and waitress.

In the famous music clubs on Rampart Street, La Bostrie heard the greats of rhythm and blues such as Amos Milburn , Bull Moose Jackson and Louis Jordan , but also the local heroes Paul Gayten , Larry Darnell and Roy Brown . Apart from choir singing and some lyrical attempts during her school days in Mobile, La Bostrie had no active experience as a musician.

In September 1955, Bumps Blackwell, as a producer of Specialty Records , looked for accomplished songwriters for his first-time recording sessions with Little Richard via a radio call . La Bostrie introduced himself to Cosimo Matassa's booked J&M Recording Studio and was immediately assigned to defuse the slippery text by Richards Tutti Frutti . Years later, in an interview with Jeff Hannusch, La Bostrie claimed the entire authorship of the rock 'n' roll classic for himself. On the same day, Richard recorded Dorothy La Bostries I'm Just a Lonely Guy , which eventually appeared as the B-side of Tutti Frutti . Following this success, La Bostrie placed Rich Woman for Li'l Millet at Specialty, but with her refusal to label boss Art Rupe to transfer the copyright of her compositions completely to the label's own music publishers , she could not compete with other songwriters who deal with One-time payments in the three-digit dollar range satisfied.

Joe Ruffino of Ron Records and Ric Records finally gave the songwriter the opportunity to work for his artist Tommy Ridgely and Chris Kenner . La Bostrie also sent her neighbor Johnny Adams the song I Won't Cry to introduce Ruffino and kick off Adams' career. In 1959 she was also responsible for Don't Mess With My Man by the young Irma Thomas . While working for Ron and Ric, La Bostrie got to know the studio musician Edgar Blanchard and his group The Gondoliers as well as the tenor saxophonist Lee Allen , who were frequently booked musicians at the time with many contacts to the music scene in New Orleans. Finally, the songwriter fell out with Ruffino in the dispute over outstanding royalties.

La Bostrie New Orleans stayed with New Orleans for some time in the 1960s, taking on commissioned work for Matassa's White Cliffs Publishing Company. In 1970 her last composition was released on a commercial recording with Mickey Mouse Boarding House by Walter Washington on Scream Records . After an accident in the 1970s, La Bostrie retired to New York. She died on November 4, 2007 while on vacation in Atlanta, leaving two daughters, four grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.

La Bostrie refers to her oeuvre of "several hundred songs, 27 of which have been recorded at least once." A total of 28 compositions are registered with the BMI under her name. She took inspiration for her songs from her everyday environment. In this way she processed snapped phrases from conversations as well as spontaneous observations, which she noted and then expanded into songs. Tutti Frutti , however, remained her only really successful hit that enabled her to make a good living through regular royalties.

literature

• Jeff Hannusch: I Hear You Knockin ' . 5th edition. Swallow Publications, Ville Platte 2005, ISBN 0-9614245-0-8 , Chapter: Dorothy Labostrie. New Orleans Songstress , S. 219-224 (American English, first edition: 1985).

Web links

• Dorothy La Bostrie at All Music Guide (with wrong year of birth 1938; English)
• Interview with La Bostrie

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dorothy La Bostrie in the Internet Movie Database (English)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jeff Hannusch: I Hear You Knockin ' . 5th edition. Swallow Publications Inc., Ville Platte 2005, ISBN 0-9614245-0-8 , Dorothy Labostrie. New Orleans Songstress, S. 219-224 (American English, first edition: 1985).
3. ^ Charles White: The Life and Times of Little Richard. The Authorized Biography . Omnibus Press, London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Copenhagen, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo 2003, ISBN 0-7119-9761-6 , Awop-Bop-Aloo-Mop Alop-Bam-Boom, p. 43-51 (first edition: 1984).
4. ↑ November 2007 Obituaries Orleans Parish Louisiana. (No longer available online.) NOVA (New Orleans Volunteer Association) November 2010, archived from the original on September 28, 2010 ; accessed on August 27, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ BMI registrations for Dorothy La Bostrie ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.