#43: Honky Tonk by Bill Doggett with Tommy Brown
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: January 1957
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #9
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Honky Tonk”
William “Bill” Ballard Doggett was born in Philadelphia in 1916. From the mid-1930s, Doggett worked with bandleader Lucky Millinder, American Federation of Musicians (for black Americans) bandleader, musician and arranger Frank Fairfax, and jazz tenor saxophonist and arranger James Mundy. In 1942, he was hired as the Ink Spots pianist and arranger. In 1945 he recorded “Be-Baba-Leba” which climbed to #3 on the R&B charts in the USA. During the 40s and into the 50s, Bill Doggett worked with Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, Johnny Otis, Illinois Jacquet, and others. In 1951 he signed a record deal with King Records. Doggett had four Top 20 R&B hits in 1953-54: “Mooniest”, “Early Bird”, “No More In Life”, and “High Heels”.