PROFESSOR LONGHAIR

< Class of 1992

YEAR

1992

INDUCTED BY

Aaron Neville

Early Influences

Get schooled by Professor Longhair.

Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint did. Professor Longhair rattled the keys with a mélange of boogie-woogie, New Orleans parade beats and Caribbean rhythm.

Professor Longhair

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By Jeff Hanusch

“The Bach of Rock,” New Orleans composer Allen Toussaint called him.

The cornerstone of New Orleans rhythm & blues piano, Professor Longhair’s astounding music influenced the work of Fats Domino, Dr. John, James Booker, Huey “Piano” Smith, Art Neville, and Allen Toussaint himself. Longhair’s unique appeal lay in his offbeat songs, his warbling voice and the infectiously syncopated piano style which he once described as a blend of “rhumba, mambo and calypso.”