William Ballard "Bill" Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist. He is best known for his compositions "Honky Tonk" and "Hippy Dippy", and variously working with the Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan. ![]()
William Ballard Doggett was born February 16, 1916, on the north side of Philadelphia. At age nine, Doggett was attracted to the trumpet, but his family could not afford one. Bill's mother, Wynona, was a church pianist and his inspiration. Within a few years, he switched to the piano and was hailed as a child prodigy by the time he was thirteen. At fifteen, he formed his first combo, the Five Majors. While attending Central High School, he found work playing in the pit orchestra at the Nixon Grand theater with the Jimmy Gorman Band.
Eventually, he inherited Gorman's fifteen-piece orchestra. His career as a band leader was short-lived as he came to the conclusion that the field was over crowded. In financial distress , he ![]()
sold the band to Lucky Millender and joined Millender himself. In 1939, Doggett with Jimmy Munder, Benny Goodman's arranger, form an orchestra. Later that year Doggett made his first two recordings as part of Lucky's band, "Little Old Lady From Baltimore" and "All Aboard," released on the Varsity label.
sold the band to Lucky Millender and joined Millender himself. In 1939, Doggett with Jimmy Munder, Benny Goodman's arranger, form an orchestra. Later that year Doggett made his first two recordings as part of Lucky's band, "Little Old Lady From Baltimore" and "All Aboard," released on the Varsity label.Doggett returned to Millender's orchestra as a pianist in 1941. He appeared on the next eight of Millender's recordings. In late 1942, he joined the Ink Spots and became the group's arranger and pianist. He stayed with the group two years during which he recorded five singles with them.
The next ten years, Doggett toured and recorded with several of the nation's top singer and bands, including Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Louis Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald and Lionel Hampton. ![]()
In 1949 he joined Louis Jordan, as a pianist replacing Wild Bill Davis. Doggett was a featured performer on many of Jordan's classic Decca recordings including "Saturday Night Fish Fry' and "Blue Light Boogie." Doggett credited his time with Jordan for educating him to the finer points of pleasing an audience.
When Doggett decided to form another combo he was torn with should he use the organ in a "pop" music setting. Like most musicians of that time, Doggett felt the sound of the organ was sacred and should be reserved for a church setting. However, when on he own he decided that he needed a fresh sound to set him apart from other piano combos. It was an agonizing design, but he felt it was the right one in switching to the organ. In late 1951 he formed ![]()
a trio and quickly landed a recording contract with Cincinnati's King Records.
a trio and quickly landed a recording contract with Cincinnati's King Records.While with King 1952-56, more than a dozen singles were released. Many were moderately successful within the rhythm and blues community and some even caught on with the jazz fans. Most of the records were delivered in the mildly swinging groove reflecting his years with Millender and Jordan. He also recorded in the slow blues style perfected during his years with Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots.
His best known recording is "Honky Tonk", a rhythm and blues hit of 1956 which sold four million copies (reaching No. 1 R&B and No. 2 Pop), and which he co-wrote with Billy Butler. The track topped the US Billboard R&B chart for over two months. He won the Cash Box award for best rhythm and blues performer in 1957, 1958, and 1959.
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Doggett remained with King Records until 1960. The next few years he recorded for Warner Brothers. After that Columbia, ABC-Paramount and Sue for sporadic singles and albums. His strong drawing power allowed him to work jazz festivals in America and Europe. It was during the mid sixties rock and roll had changed forms and left him behind. At the same time his popularity in the jazz community had declined. Finding it hard to get regular bookings, he turned his efforts toward the passage of civil rights passage using his concerts to promote public awareness.
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By the 1970s, Doggett had re-established himself in the jazz community and regular offers of bookings started to come in. He played regional jazz clubs in New Orleans, Cleveland and New York State. A long-time resident of Long Island, New York, Doggett continued to play and arrange until he died on November 13, 1996, three days after suffering a heart attack.
(Info edited from History of Rock & Wikipedia)
Here’s a TV gig in France. Billy Martin - tenor sax; Benny Goodwin - guitar; Walter MacMahon - bass; Kenny Clayton - drums.