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.
.jpg)
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. Taking the name the Delta Southernaires, the off-shoot 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.
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 charts.
Carbo continued to perform intermittently for the next several decades, though he took odd jobs (including as a truck driver) whenever he could not make a living performing. Through the 1970s, he sat things out on the sidelines while the music business continued to go through many changes. In the 1980s, there was beginning to be a musical resurgence in his hometown. Early that decade he sang at a benefit concert for WWOZ , the city's cultural jewel of a community radio station, and got such positive feedback and enjoyed the experience so much that he was inspired to get back into performing. That led to occasional gigs a local clubs and appearances at JazzFest.
In 1988 Carbo recorded his first solo album Life's Ups and Downs on 504 Records, featuring guitarist Alvin Robinson, Dr. John, and Edward Frank. Second Line On Monday was released as a single. The flip side Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On (by Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham) got attention and airplay on WWOZ in New Orleans. This led to a follow-up album Drawers Trouble on Rounder Records in 1993 featuring Dr. John and Edward Frank.
A second full-length The Barber's Blues followed in 1996. Those albums provided a fitting coda to Chuck Carbo's career so long on hold, proving that he not only still had what it takes, but that he was definitely one of the most distinctive in a long line of great New Orleans singers. "When I sing, I'm Chuck Carbo," the singer remarked in 1997, "and I don't try to copy anybody else. I'm glad my fans responded to that. To me, they are the greatest. I love them all."
Carbo and his wife Gloria were the parents of nine sons and daughters. His granddaughter, Rolexis Delaney Schinsing is an actress who has appeared on HBO show Treme, OWN's Queen Sugar, and Daytime Emmy nominated network BYUtv's show Relative Race. Carbo died in July 2008, in New Orleans at the age of 82.
(Edited from Wikipedia, Home of the Groove, Funky 16 Corners & wwoz.org)
Here's a clip of Chuck Carbo singing this Spiders classic live at UGHA in November 1994