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About Robert Parker
Hometown
Mobile, AL, United States
Born
October 14, 1930
Genre
R&B/Soul
Saxman and singer Robert Parker was one of the originals in postwar New Orleans R&B and rock & roll, his career starting out right alongside the likes of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. Born in New Orleans in 1930, he took up the saxophone as a teenager and in 1949 was playing behind Professor Longhair, including on his hit "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" that year. Over the next decade, he played with Domino, Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Earl King, Eddie Bo, Frankie Ford, and Huey "Piano" Smith, among many others. He signed as a solo act with Ace in 1958 and cut his debut single, "June Teen" b/w "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," that same year. In 1959, he had his first hit on the Ron label, an instrumental entitled "All Night Long, Pts. 1-2," which charted regionally. He cut sides for Imperial and Booker Records in the early '60s, and in 1965 signed with Nola Records. It was there that he enjoyed his biggest hit in 1966 with the release of his first Nola single, "Barefootin'" b/w "Let's Go Baby," which soared to number two on the R&B chart and number seven on the pop chart. After considerable delay, the label issued ten more singles and an LP from Parker, but he was never able to repeat the success of that first single; oddly enough, although his popularity was intermittent in the United States, Parker did much better with British audiences, and toured England regularly during the second half of the '60s. Parker moved to Silver Fox Records in 1969, and was later shifted over to SSS International, the principal label of Silver Fox's co-owner Shelby Singleton. His own recording career had ended by the close of the '70s, but Parker remained busy as a performer for years afterward, and he capped off his recording history in 1984 with a new version of "Barefootin'." Robert Parker was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in April 2007. He died on January 19, 2020 in Roseland, Louisiana, at the age of 89. ~ Bruce Eder
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