Longhair's career in music began in the 1930s, dancing for tips. "The very first instrument I played was the bottom of my feet, working out rhythms, tap dancing. We used to dance all up and down Bourbon Street."
He learned guitar and piano and began to take music seriously when he found he could get out of work by playing piano for his fellow members of the
Civilian Conservation Corps. He also worked as a
boxer, cook, and professional card player.
In the late 1940s, he sat in on piano at the Caledonia Club while
Dave Bartholomew's band was taking a break. He was an immediate hit and Bartholomew, later famous as
Fats Domino's bandleader and collaborator, was fired. The band all had long hair and were dubbed
Professor Longhair and the Four Hairs.
He began recording the following year. His signature song, "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" (still the theme song of
New Orleans Mardi Gras) was recorded in
1949 under the name
Professor Longhair and the Shuffling Hungarians. "I had one Hindu in the band, but there weren't no Hungarians," he explained.
Longhair's only national R&B hit was
1950's "Bald Head". In the early
1950s, he released several more minor hits, including "
Tipitina" and "Ball the Wall".
He appeared under many names, including
Roy Byrd and his Blues Jumpers,
Roy "Bald Head" Byrd,
Roland Byrd,
Professor Longhair and his Blues Scholars, and
Professor Longhair and the Clippers. These name changes were often related to problems with recording contracts.
Byrd also played some of Ray Charles' songs. His career greatly slowed down in the
1960s, with "
Big Chief" his biggest hit. He returned to card playing and even worked as a janitor in a record store until located by Allison Miner, Parker Dinkins and Quint Davis, who rehabilitated him and prepared him for a performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The
1971 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival marked a comeback, and he began making a series of critically acclaimed albums throughout the
1970s. Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) was an important booster. He also appeared in the
documentary Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together with
Allen Toussaint, and
Tuts Washington, three generations of New Orleans keyboard men.
He was the headliner at the
Montreux Jazz Festival in 1973, and in 1975,
Paul McCartney flew him to play a private party on the
Queen Mary.
He died of a
heart attack in
1980 and was buried at Mount Olivet.
Following his death, he was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The famed New Orleans night spot,
Tipitina's, is named after one of his songs.
Albert Goldman recorded Longhair at Tipitina's in 1978.
