Chuck Carbo

Biography

Hayward "Chuck" Carbo (January 11, 1926 – July 11, 2008) was an American R&B singer, best known for his time as a vocalist in the New Orleans group The Spiders. Chuck Carbo was born in Houma, Louisiana, then moved with his family to the Zion City neighborhood of New Orleans in the early 1930s. Chuck and brother Leonard "Chick" Carbo sang in the choir at their minister father's church. Among their influences were the Golden Gate Quartet and the King Cole Trio. The brothers served in the Coast Guard during World II. After the war the brothers became affiliated with the Zion City Harmonizers gospel quartet. Changing the name to the Delta Southernaires, the group performed on Sunday mornings on WWEZ. In 1953 they auditioned for Cosimo Matassa at J&M Studio with the songs John The Revelator and Bye and Bye. Matassa encouraged the group to consider singing Rhythm and Blues. Local guitarist and songwriter Adolph Smith wrote two songs for the newly rechristened Spiders, cut in their initial Imperial Records session. The R&B single was a two-sided hit with I Didn't Want To Do It reaching #3 on the R&B charts and You're The One following at #8. “Chuck wasn’t just an important R&B or doo-wop artist,” says New Orleans musician Deacon John Moore. “He came out of the church. He was one of the members of the Zion Harmonizers, along with Sherman Washington. When the Spiders started recording [R&B], they brought that old-time gospel sound with them. Their first record, ‘I Didn’t Want to Do It’ and ‘You’re the One,’ was a big, local jukebox hit. The jukeboxes were a barometer for local radio and they picked up on it. Then it broke nationally and the group was on its way.” At the first recording session the group had misgivings, so also recorded two gospel songs which were unreleased until 1994. Imperial Records A&R man and bandleader Dave Bartholomew took over the production work for The Spiders' follow-up releases, which were regional and local hits but didn't make the national cha

Bio from Wikipedia