Ernie K-Doe (February 22, 1936 – July 5, 2001) – Hotcha Mama (1976)
The last single legendary New Orleans singer K-Doe would record for many years was this epic funky jam, released on Allen Toussaint's Sansu Records.
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New Orleans singer/songwriter Ernie K-Doe hit it big with his #1 song “Mother-In-Law” in 1961. He never broke through again on the national stage, although not for lack of talent. His later recordings were local hits and in the 1980s and 90s he became a cult figure in New Orleans.
Ernest Kador Jr. was born and raised in New Orleans. He joined the R&B group The Blue Diamonds in 1954 before going solo. In 1961, he was recording several songs with producer Allen Touissant. One of them was literally tossed in the trash by Touissant before being rescued by one of the backup singers. Years later, Touissant remembered what happened next:
"He thought it was just a delightful song, and he took it out of the trash can when I took a short break, and went over to K-Doe and said, 'Look, try this again, man.' K-Doe did just that, and I'm so glad he did."
That song was “Mother-In-Law,” and it became a massive hit, going to #1 on both the national R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Touissant was drafted into the Army in 1963, and K-Doe continued to record with other producers. But the success of “Mother-In-Law” had pigeonholed him as a novelty artist, making it hard for his later R&B records to gain traction. After Toussaint’s discharge in 1965, he founded Sansu Records, with its house band Art Neville and the Sounds, later known as the Meters.
Toussaint produced and arranged K-Doe’s self-titled second full-length album, released in 1971 on Janus Records. It featured the very funky opening cut “Here Come The Girls,” which was destined to make the UK charts in 2007 after a British pharmacy chain used it in their commercials.
Although his records were not reaching the national charts, they were still local and regional hits, and he opened for many top acts when they toured New Orleans.
In 1975, K-Doe wrote and recorded the first of two singles he would release on Sansu, the beautiful love song “You Got To Love Me.”
The second single K-Doe recorded for Sansu was released the following year in 1976, the phenomenal funky “Hotcha Mama.”
It would be the last song he recorded for many years, becoming homeless for a time before reinventing himself as a radio DJ in the 1980s on New Orleans community stations WTUL and WWOZ.
In the early 90s, he married his longtime friend Antoinette Dorsey Fox. She overhauled his image with a new wardrobe of capes, feathered hats, elaborate suits, and a crown.
They began billing him as the “Emperor of the Universe,” and he returned to performing regularly when they opened the Mother-in-Law Lounge in 1994, a nightclub in New Orleans’ 7th Ward. It quickly became a local institution.
The building was severely damaged during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, flooded with five and a half feet of water, but re-opened the next year in its original location with the help of fundraising efforts led by the nonprofit Hands On Network and assistance from R&B singer Usher.
Antoinette continued to operate the lounge after K-Doe’s death from liver failure in 2001, until she herself passed on Fat Tuesday during Mardi Gras in 2009. It is now owned by New Orleans trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, who re-opened it in 2014 as Kermit’s Tremé Mother-In-Law Lounge.
Rest in Power, Ernie K-Doe.
Further info:
“The Rise, Fall And Redemption Of New Orleans' 'R&B Emperor',” by Karen Michel, NPR Weekend Edition, December 23, 2012.
#soul #funk #NewOrleans #ErnieK-Doe