Huey Long (April 25, 1904 – June 10, 2009) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist and singer who was a member of The Ink Spots. Long's career began in the 1920's as a banjoist before moving to guitar. He became a member of the Ink Spots in the 1940's and participated in spin-off bands in later decades.
He was born in Sealy, Texas (a farm town about 20 miles west of Houston). His brother Sam played ragtime piano, and Huey picked up the chords on his ukulele. He played in clubs around Houston whenever possible, but mostly he shined shoes at the Rice Hotel.In 1925, Frank Davis and his Louisiana Jazz Band arrived at the hotel without a banjo player. Long realized that this could be his opportunity, except he didn't have a banjo. He obtained one on credit and joined the band for that date and several others. In 1933, Long played guitar with Texas Guinan's Cuban Orchestra for the show A Century Of Progress at the World's Fair in Chicago.
He worked as a session musician, playing with Lil Armstrong, the
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divorced wife of Louis Armstrong, on her signature tune, "Just For A Thrill", and Richard M. Jones's Jazz Wizards. Over the next 10 years, he worked with the bands of Fletcher Henderson and Earl "Fatha" Hines and the singers, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan.
In early 1945, while performing with his beloved D'Angelico guitar and a trio at the Three Deuces Café in Manhattan, he was approached by Bill Kenny, the leader of the Ink Spots. Unlike the Mills Brothers who specialised in vocal harmonies, the Ink Spots featured Kenny's high tenor with a deep-voiced narration and the other members wordlessly vocalising in
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the background. Their signature record, "If I Didn't Care", is a fine example, but in 1945, they had just recorded "I'm Beginning To See The Light" with a guest vocalist, Ella Fitzgerald.
The Ink Spots always had one member who also added chords on an acoustic guitar. In 1943, the original guitarist, Charlie Fuqua, had been drafted into the army and replaced by his childhood friend, Bernie Mackey. When Mackey left in 1945, Kenny needed to find a replacement quickly and recruited Long. To complicate matters, an original member, Deek Gordon had set up a rival band, the Brown Dots.
Long recorded several titles with the Ink Spots including "I'm Gonna Turn Off The Teardrops", "I'll Lose A Friend Tomorrow", "Just For Me", and best of all, the beautiful romantic ballad, "The Sweetest Dream". After just nine months, however, Fuqua, now
discharged, turned up at a show and wanted his job back.
discharged, turned up at a show and wanted his job back.
Long played bebop with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and formed his own trio for entertaining troops in Korea and Japan. The doo-wop groups of the 1950s owed a debt to the Ink Spots and they were deservedly, but surprisingly, inducted in the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989.Rather than disappearing in the 1960's, the reverse happened and it seemed that everybody who had been in the Ink Spots was fronting his own group, usually called a variant of the New Ink Spots or, if
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they thought they could get away with it, the Ink Spots. Long fronted one of these tribute acts and then taught music in New York during the 70’s. In later years, as arthritis stiffened his fingers, Long taught himself to play the piano.
He returned to Houston in 1996 and helped his daughter, Anita, establish an Ink Spots Museum, which opened across the road from his home. It magnified Long's tenure with the group, but never mind, right up to his death; customers had the opportunity to meet a real Ink Spot. He would tell them, "God's been good to me."
Huey Long died in Houston, Texas at the age of 105 on June 10, 2009.
(Edited from Wikipedia and mainly obit by Spencer Leigh @ The Independent)