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Cha Cha Hogan
Hogan (top right) with the Ink Spots in 1979
Born
Sumter Joseph Hogan Sr.

(1920-12-08)December 8, 1920
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedNovember 1986 (1986-12) (aged 65)
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Other namesMr. Ink Spot,[1] The Black Foxx
Occupation(s)Comedian, musician, entertainer
Years active1940s-1986
Notable workBrother Eatmore & Sister Fullbosom
"My Walking Baby"

Sumter Joseph "Cha Cha" Hogan (December 8, 1920 – November 9,1986), sometimes credited as "Mr. Ink Spot" or "The Black Foxx", was an American comedian, musician, songwriter and civil-rights activist.

His 1950 song "My Walking Baby" helped popularize the term "rock 'n' roll" and was covered by Professor Longhair as the more famous "She Walks Right In". He may be most well known for his 1971 comedy album Brother Eatmore & Sister Fullbosom and appearances on the sitcom Sanford and Son. He was a member of pop vocal group The Ink Spots in the 1970s and '80s.

Early life

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Hogan was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1920, the son of Daniel and Gertrude Florence Hogan.[2] He was given the nickname "Cha Cha" at age eight.[1]

He served in the Army during World War II.[3] His brother Lester also served in World War II and later worked at a Chrysler factory in Michigan.[4] Hogan worked as a cab driver in New Orleans in the 1940s as he was starting his entertainment career.[5]

Career

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Although he did not record much, Hogan had a versatile, nearly 50-year career as an emcee, comedian, and singer, appearing in mostly black venues across the United States.[6] Music historian Sampson of the website Spontaneous Lunacy judged Hogan as a passionate and charming if limited singer with a "rather undisciplined voice and somewhat derivative style", but a skilled songwriter.[7][8]

Early career: 1940s and 1950s

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Although Hogan apparently first began performing in his hometown of New Orleans, Hogan traveled widely and also was well known in Detroit from the earliest days of his career. In 1948, he appeared in a Detroit Tribune reader poll for male vocalist, finishing second-to-last.[9] He told a newspaper reporter that year that he had worked in many cities, and complained that he had "gained nothing in Detroit but a lot of songs he cannot sell."[10]

In 1949 he was back in New Orleans, and prominent enough to be featured in a local liquor advertisement.[11] His music was championed by New Orleans radio DJ and newspaper columnist Vernon Winslow.[12] Both he and Professor Longhair were frequent performers at the popular Caldonia Inn, before either had recorded.[13]

In 1950, he traveled to Dallas[14] to record for Star Talent Records, a small Texas-based label whose roster included Rufus Thomas, Professor Longhair, and other blues, gospel, and country artists from Dallas, Memphis, and New Orleans.[15][16] The resultant single, "My Baby Loves Me" b/w "My Walking Baby", was released later that year.[17] Professor Longhair covered "My Walking Baby" in February 1950 as "She Walks Right In", released on the much larger label Atlantic Records.[18] Longhair's reinterpretation has been critically acclaimed as one of his signature tunes.[19] Spontaneous Lunacy called Hogan's original "a rambunctious record full of horny enthusiasm, churning rhythms and—by the second half—some really wild, almost demented, vocals by a revved up Hogan, making for an entertaining and extremely memorable debut".[6][18]

Huey "Piano" Smith knew Hogan as a jump-blues shouter in 1950 New Orleans, and credits Hogan with popularizing the term "rock 'n' roll" in "My Walking Baby". Smith was also impressed by Hogan's refusal to allow a white restaurant owner in New Jersey to discriminate against him, calling for the police when the man refused to seat him.[20][5]

By the early 1950s, Hogan was back in Detroit, where he emceed comedy and burlesque shows at the Flamingo Club.[21] He had better career fortune: In an April 1954 version of the earlier Detroit Tribune readers' poll, Hogan was named the best male vocalist in the city, beating John Lee Hooker, who came in second, 565 to 365.[22] In 1953, he was signed to Detroit-based Great Lakes Records,[23] but never released anything on the label.[24]

Later career: 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s

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Hogan continued performing in nightclubs for the rest of his life, working in Detroit as a comic, singer, and emcee, often opening for Motown groups like the Four Tops, but also traveling widely, including New Orleans, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Sacramento, California, and several trips to Singapore.[25][26][27][5][6] He also had a sideline as a songwriter.[28][29][7]

He was noted for a flamboyant appearance; a reporter for the Singapore Monitor described his "smooth shiny pate and a dazzling diamond earring in his left ear."[1]

In 1969, he recorded the single "Just Because You've Been Hurt" b/w "Grit Gitter" for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania label Soulville Records.[30][31][5] A reviewer in Cashbox magazine called "Grit Gitter" a "striking soul instrumental with a high-stepping rhythm line that should bring reaction".[32]

His biggest recording success was the 1971 comedy album Brother Eatmore & Sister Fullbosom, an X-rated "party record" drawn in part from historic vaudeville routines, released on the Los Angeles label Laff Records and credited to "Cha Cha Hogan, The Black Foxx."[5][6] The album was an underground hit in the black community,[33] and got a four-star rating in Billboard.[34] Some copies of Richard Pryor's Laff release Craps (After Hours) were misprinted with Brother Eatmore & Sister Fullbosom on the second side.[35][36][37]

He befriended comedian Redd Foxx, who invited him to appear on two episodes of his hit sitcom Sanford and Son in 1973 and 1975.[38][39][5]

Hogan was the lead singer in two versions of pop vocal group The Ink Spots managed by Stanley Morgan and George Holmes in the 1970s and '80s,[40][1] recording with the group on 1979's The Best of the Ink Spots.[41][42] Due to his connection with the band, he began to be known by a new nickname, "Mr. Ink Spot".[1]

Personal life

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He was married twice, to Marribell Imogene Shelton in 1950 in New Orleans,[43] and to Dorothy Elaine Beacham in 1972 in Nevada.[44]

Death

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Hogan died in November 1986 in Las Vegas, which had been his home for several years.[5][25]

Selected discography

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Brother Eatmore & Sister Fullbosom
Review scores
SourceRating
Billboard[34]
  • Cha Cha Hogan, "My Baby Loves Me" b/w "My Walking Baby" (Star Talent Records, 1950)
  • Cha Cha Hogan, "Just Because You've Been Hurt" b/w "Grit Gitter" (Soulville Records, 1969)
  • Cha Cha Hogan, Brother Eatmore & Sister Fullbosom (Laff Records, 1971)
  • The Ink Spots, Best Of The Ink Spots (Murray Hill Records, 1979)[42]
  • Various Artists, The Star Talent Records Story (Airline Records, 2015) includes Hogan's two 1950 songs[45]
  • Various Artists, Soulful Sounds From Soulville (Get Hip Archive Series, 2020) includes Hogan's "Grit Gitter"[46][30]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e D'Rose, Pat (1983-05-21). "Call me Cha Cha". Singapore Monitor. Singapore. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  2. ^ Eagle, Bob L.; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. EBSCO ebook academic collection. ABC-CLIO. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-313-34424-4. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  3. ^ "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8T2-YZB : 5 December 2014), Sumter J Hogan, enlisted 26 May 1941, Jacksonville Aaf, Florida, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 1263923, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
  4. ^ Leonard, Ann (2007-04-02). "Classic inspired bored 12-year-old ; Visiting librarian at ND particularly interested in books about black life". South Bend Tribune (ProQuest Historical Newspapers). South Bend, Indiana.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Brock, Jerry (2015). "Baby Doll Addendum and Mardi Gras '49". The Jazz Archivist: A Newsletter of the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive. 28. Tulane University Libraries. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  6. ^ a b c d Sampson. "Cha Cha Hogan: Biography and Discography". Spontaneous Lunacy - The History Of Rock 'n' Roll Song By Song. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  7. ^ a b Sampson (2020-04-08). "Cha Cha Hogan: "My Baby Loves Me"". Spontaneous Lunacy - The History Of Rock 'n' Roll Song By Song. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  8. ^ Sampson (2020-04-09). "Cha Cha Hogan: "My Walking Baby"". Spontaneous Lunacy - The History Of Rock 'n' Roll Song By Song. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  9. ^ Beattty, Robert (1948-09-04). "Candy Johnson Wins Tribune's Second Annual Band Poll". Detroit Tribune. Detroit, Michigan. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  10. ^ Gymbee (1948-02-14). "The Gay Way". Detroit Tribune. Detroit, Michigan. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  11. ^ Baptiste, Bala James; Ward, Brian (2019). Race and Radio: Pioneering Black Broadcasters in New Orleans. Race, Rhetoric, and Media Series. University Press of Mississippi. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-4968-2208-6. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  12. ^ Coady, Christopher (Spring 2019). "New Orleans Rhythm and Blues, African American Tourism, and the Selling of a Progressive South". American Music. 37 (1). University of Illinois Press: 95–112. doi:10.5406/americanmusic.37.1.0095. JSTOR 10.5406/americanmusic.37.1.0095. S2CID 194619662. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  13. ^ Brock, Jerry (2018). Vaz-Deville, Kim (ed.). Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans. University Press of Mississippi. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-4968-1741-9. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  14. ^ Leadbitter, Mike; Slaven, Neil (1968). Blues Records, January 1943 to December 1966. New York: Oak Publications. p. 116. ISBN 0-8256-0110-X.
  15. ^ Wilonsky, Robert (1995-04-06). "Good rockin' last night". Dallas Observer. Dallas, Texas. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  16. ^ Sampson. "Star Talent Records: History and Discography". Spontaneous Lunacy - The History Of Rock 'n' Roll Song By Song. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  17. ^ "Advance Rhythm & Blues Record Releases". Billboard. 1950-05-20. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  18. ^ a b Sampson (2020-04-20). "Professor Longhair: "She Walks Right In"". Spontaneous Lunacy - The History Of Rock 'n' Roll Song By Song. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  19. ^ Holtje, Steve; Lee, Nancy Ann, eds. (1998). MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Musichound Series. Schirmer Trade Books. ISBN 978-1-57859-031-5. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  20. ^ Wirt, John (2014). Huey "Piano" Smith and the Rocking Pneumonia Blues. LSU Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8071-5297-3. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  21. ^ Stephens, Ronald J. (2013). Idlewild: The Rise, Decline, and Rebirth of a Unique African American Resort Town. University of Michigan Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-472-02920-4. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  22. ^ Byrd, G. Houston (1954-04-10). "Bristoe Sets Pace With 850—Bearden Moves Up". Detroit Tribune. Detroit, Michigan. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  23. ^ "Great Lakes Records Formed In Detroit". Cashbox. Vol. 15, no. 12. 1953-12-12. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  24. ^ Goldberg, Marv. "The Imperials (Great Lakes)". Yesterday's Memories Rhythm & Blues Party. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  25. ^ a b Ross, Anna Juliet (1984-12-16). "Amusement Around Town: Cha Cha to provide you with the 'ha ha' and more". Singapore Monitor. Singapore. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  26. ^ "The Coat Puller". Ann Arbor Sun. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1976-08-12. p. 16. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  27. ^ Lane, Bill (1972-02-03). "Hollywood Beat". Sacramento Observer (ProQuest Historical Newspapers). Sacramento, California.
  28. ^ "Music, January-June 1961". Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series. Vol. 15, no. 5. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress/U.S. Copyright Office. 1962.
  29. ^ "Music, January-June 1964". Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series. Vol. 18, no. 5. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress/U.S. Copyright Office. 1966.
  30. ^ a b "Cha Cha Hogan". Discogs. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  31. ^ Oken, Rebecca (2016-10-31). "Little Bit o' Soulville: The search for the little-known story of Soulville Records". TheBurg. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  32. ^ "Record Reviews". Cashbox. Vol. 31, no. 15. 1969-11-08. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  33. ^ Brother Cleve (November 2008). "Rudy Ray Moore: Raw, Rude & Unrepentant: R.I.P." Brooklyn Rail. New York City. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  34. ^ a b "4 Star". Billboard. 1971-02-20. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  35. ^ "Richard Pryor, Cha-Cha Hogan* – "CRAPS" (After Hours) / Brother Eatmore & Sister Fullbosom". Discogs. 1971. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  36. ^ "Funniest Yet". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1971-03-06. p. 59. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  37. ^ "Laff Records: A Parade Of Clowns & Jesters". Rassoodock. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  38. ^ Fearn-Banks, Kathleen; Burford-Johnson, Anne (2014). Historical Dictionary of African American Television. Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 411. ISBN 978-0-8108-7917-1. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  39. ^ "Cha Cha Hogan". IMDb. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  40. ^ Goldberg, Marv. "The Ink Spots Evolution: Group Members". Yesterday's Memories Rhythm & Blues Party. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  41. ^ Goldberg, Marv. "The Ink Spots Evolution: SM#10". Yesterday's Memories Rhythm & Blues Party. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  42. ^ a b "The Ink Spots – Best Of The Ink Spots". Discogs. 1979. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  43. ^ "Louisiana Parish Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJZ-KM7K : 18 February 2021), Sumter Joseph Hogan and Marribell Imogene Shelton, 05 Nov 1950; citing Orleans, Louisiana, United States, various parish courthouses, Louisiana; FHL microfilm 2,322,671.
  44. ^ "Nevada Marriage Index, 1956-2005", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VVL4-4FK : 20 September 2019), Sumter J Hogan and Dorothy Elaine Beacham, 1972.
  45. ^ "Various Artists: The Star Talent Records Story". AllMusic. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  46. ^ "Various - Soulful Sounds From Soulville". Discogs. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
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