Danny White

Danny White (July 6, 1931 – January 5, 1996) was an influential R&B singer and bandleader who worked in the New Orleans area.

Early years Joseph Daniel White was born at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, the youngest of seven children. He grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood and the Seventh Ward. "There was always lots of music around," he explained. "I sang in church and for plays at school. It was really my teachers who thought I had a good voice and encouraged me."

White had his professional debut as a twenty-year-old Marine while stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. He recounted his first appearance fronting a band, "We used to go to this club called the Offshore Lounge to listen to music. It was a nice place, we'd see people like Al Hibbler there. Well, they had a house band and one night the vocalist didn't show. People started asking the band to do requests but they said they couldn't do them without the singer. I got up and said I could do the requests, and I ended up singing the rest of the night." After the show, the owner approached White with an offer of a full-time job. "I told him I couldn't (accept) because I was a Marine." White and the owner reached an agreement in which White sang on weekends for $10 a night. including "Let's Play", "Educated Fool", and the rocking "Too Late". None were released at the time. Smith knew White from the Dew Drop. "I thought he was a good singer but Johnny never did anything with him." In 1960 White recorded a single for Dot Records and Nashville record producer Shelby Singleton, "Give And Take" b/w "Somebody Please Help Me". The record failed to chart. White's guitarist Irving Banister said, "Danny's records could have been bigger if he was on a national label, and we could’ve toured. We worked only around N.O., and like Sugar Boy (Crawford), we only played at white clubs. We played a lot of Tulane frat gigs, and clubs like the Safari, the Sands, and the Dream Room." Banister continued, "Every night the place was packed. We usually had a job before we played the Dream Room and a lot of people would follow us there." New Orleans R&B legend Irma Thomas spoke of the part segregation played in black musicians' careers. "Early on, when I was working with Danny White And The Cavaliers, when we got off at Safari Lounge in the east we drove to the Sho Bar Lounge on Bourbon Street. We'd start working there at 2:30 A.M. and I did it about three times and said 'never again'". She left, as she explained, because "I didn't like the accommodations. We were in a four-by-four or a six-by-six room – this is the area they wanted us (black) musicians to stay in when we weren't on stage. I'd already done two shows with Danny White at the Safari and, to me, it wasn't worth it to come down to the Sho Bar for the $12.50 they were paying us. To work from 2:30 A.M. to 7:00 A.M.? I don't think so!"

"Danny was never a big-name recording artist," composer Allen Toussaint said. "But he had a great band that used to work at the Sho Bar on Bourbon Street. Danny inspired me to write 'Mother-in-Law' and 'Certain Girl.' Unfortunately, I wasn't recording Danny, so I gave the songs to Ernie K-Doe." Toussaint added, "There was something very influential about Danny that was absorbed by a lot of artists that had big records here." He used Irving Banister to supply the stinging guitar licks. The Rouzan Sisters, Laura, Barbara, and Wanda, made their first recording singing back-up on the song. White's own heartfelt vocals assured the record would be a hit. Atkins played it on his radio show and the record rose to number one in New Orleans. "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" went on to sell 100,000 copies."

White failed to follow up the success of "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" with two more Frisco singles. The next disc White recorded, "Loan Me Your Handkerchief", a song written by Earl King, was leased by Frisco to ABC-Paramount for national distribution. This Wardell Quezergue-produced record, featuring Irving Banister on guitar and Mac Rebennack on piano, sold more than 100,000 copies, rising to the top of the local charts. White and the Cavaliers toured with artists such as Jimmy Reed, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye. White said "We played the Rockland, the Apollo, all the bigger theatres. Universal booked me." "Stax used to lease stuff to other labels too, not just put their own stuff out", White said. "They got me a deal with Atlas Records out of New York, and that's when 'Keep My Woman Home' and 'I'm Dedicating My Life' came out in 1966." In 1968 Allen Toussaint brought White back into the studio to record two sides, "Natural Soul Brother" and "One Way Love Affair", which were released by Nashville record man Shelby Singleton's SSS International with little notice. Two more sides were recorded the following year, possibly in New York City or Washington, D.C., for Kashe Records. By 1969 White had left performing to manage the seminal New Orleans funk band The Meters.

White moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 1972 and worked as a sales manager for a furniture company. He died January 5, 1996, after suffering a stroke. White was survived by his wife and seven children.

Discography

"Give And Take" / "Somebody Please Help Me" Dot Records 45-16188 (1961) "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" / "The Little Bitty Things" Frisco Records 104 (1962) "Never Tell Your Friend" / "Make Her Mine" Frisco Records 106 (1963) "The Twitch" / "Why Must I Be Blue" Frisco Records 109 (1963) "One Little Lie" / "Loan Me A Handkerchief" Frisco Records 110 (1963), ABC-Paramount 45-10525 (1964) "I've Surrendered" / "Hold What You Got" ABC-Paramount 45-10569 (1964) "Moonbeam" / "Love Is A Way Of Life" ABC-Paramount 45-10589 (1964) "Miss Fine Miss Fine" / "Can't Do Nothing Without You" Frisco Records 110 (1965) "My Living Doll" / "Note on the Table" Frisco Records 114 (1965) "I'm Dedicating My Life" / "Keep My Woman Home" Atlas Records 1251 (1966), Atteru Records 2000/1 (1966), Sue Records WI-4031 (1966), Unity Records 1257 "You Can Never Keep A Good Man Down" / "'Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" Decca Records 32106 (1966) "Cracked Up Over You" / "Taking Inventory" Decca Records 32048 (1966) "Another One" unissued (1967) "Natural Soul Brother" / "One Way Love Affair" SSS International Records 754 (1968) "Never Like This" / "King for a Day" Kashe Records 443 (1969)