Larry Darnell

Larry Darnell was born Leo Edward Donald in Columbus, OH, on December 21, 1928, and achieved local fame as a gospel singer at the tender age of 11. When he was 15 he left home to tour as a dancer with a burlesque road show, Irwin C. Miller's Brownskin Models. Underpaid and even underfed when company funds were low, Donald did not hesitate when offered a steady gig in New Orleans as a singer at the famous Dew Drop Inn, a feature spot for Afro-American entertainment. He stayed on for several years, changing his name to Larry Darnell and gradually developing a persona that began to attract quite a following. The handsome young vocalist was most often accompanied by the Dew Drop's house band, Edgar Blanchard's Gondoliers. One night in 1949 Darnell's act was caught by Fred Mendelsohn, co-founder and A&R director for the Regal record label, an enterprise based in New Jersey. Mendelsohn, who was in town scouting for new talent, later recalled: "Darnell was doing a song called 'I'll Get Along Somehow' originally popularized by Andy Kirk. He added a recitation that sent the dames screaming and hollering." Darnell was hired on the spot and whisked up to Newark where three titles were cut in early September 1949 and issued on 78-rpm records bearing the Regal label. Presented in two parts, "I'll Get Along Somehow" made it to number two on the Billboard R&B chart not long after "For You My Love" hit number one, staying up there for eight weeks. Other hit titles were "I Love My Baby," "Lost My Baby," and even a rendition of Louis Prima's "Oh Babe!" Backed by excellent musicians, some of them quite famous in the world of jazz, Darnell's powerful and passionate voice caused a sensation and contributed to the development of a trend in popular music soon marketed nationwide as rock &...