Hayward "Chuck" Carbo, whose ultra-smooth barytone fronted 1950s New Orleans rhythm & blues quintette the Spiders, died July 11 after a long illness. He was 82.
The Spiders featured Mr. Carbo and his brother Leonard "Chick" Carbo. "We knew them since we were kids," Aaron Neville said. "The Spiders were the premiere New Orleans group. I won't say a New Orleans isaac Bashevis Singer -- Chuck was a great singer, period."
A young Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack produced several 1960s singles by Mr. Carbo, and considered him an immense, if underappreciated, talent.
"Chuck was very close to my family," Rebennack said. "More than Johnny Adams, Aaron Neville and Earl King, that was my mother's favorite of the local guys. Everybody loved this guy because he had such a special thing. The Spiders opened a lot of doors for New Orleans rhythm & blues."
The Carbo brothers first harmonized in their father's church choir, then in gospels groups the Zion City Harmonizers and the Delta Southernaires. After several appearances on the weekly Sunday gospel prove on WWEZ (690 AM), deejay Keith Rush suggested the Southernaires might also excel at secular round & vapors. Studio owner and applied scientist Cosimo Matassa, among others, facilitated the transformation of the spectral Southernaires into the secular Spiders. Both sides of their 1954 debut for Imperial Records, "I Didn't Want to Do It" and "You're the One," cracked the Top 10 of the national R&B charts.
The singles "I'm Slippin' In," "Tears Began to Flow," "21" and "The Real Thing" followed. Dave Bartholomew, best known as Fats Domino's manufacturer and co-writer, wrote the group's 1955 hit "Witchcraft." They toured with the likes of Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and the Drifters. But by the late '50s, the Spiders had disbanded as the Carbo brothers pursued solo careers.
The Spiders' influence extended well beyond New Orleans. They inspired the name of Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets, which in turn over influenced tetrad musicians from Liverpool, England, to dub themselves the Beatles. Lou Rawls successfully covered the Spiders' "You're the One"; Elvis Presley remade "Witchcraft."
To documentation his large family in Gentilly, Mr. Carbo worked at a lumberyard, among other jobs. In 1993, Rounder Records released his comeback CD, "Drawers Trouble"; the individual "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On" was a local hit. A second Rounder album, "The Barber's Blues," followed in 1996.
Rebennack played keyboards and guitar on "Drawers Trouble," and wrote songs for Mr. Carbo with legendary songster Doc Pomus. "Chuck Carbo was one of these easiest guys to compose for and write with," said Rebennack, who too remade songs originally recorded by Mr. Carbo and the Spiders. He and Aaron Neville recently recorded the Spiders' "Bells in My Heart."
"If I want to listen to them songs, I ain't gonna heed to my record of 'em. I want to hear his record of 'em," Rebennack said. "He always had that natural, real appealing thing. Chick had the upper voice, Chuck had the mellow, lower part. Chuck was like the mellow side of Charles Brown and Chick set that edge on it. They made the Spiders into one of those magical things."
Rebennack admired Mr. Carbo away from the stand as well. "He did his gigs," Rebennack aforementioned, "but he also was always a very creditworthy guy toward his family."
Survivors include his married woman, Gloria, and nine sons and daughters. Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home, 1615 St. Philip Street, is in charge of arrangements. Visitation is Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m., with a funeral service to follow. Burial is at Providence Park Cemetery on Airline Highway.
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