“The Happy Organ” #1 5/11/1959

His hair was perfect. Dave “Baby” Cortez (David Clowney) had a bigger pompadour than Little Richard. This #1 instrumental from May 1959 came literally out of nowhere. Dave lost his voice early on at a recording session so the engineer said “Try the organ in the corner.” They fired it up and Cortez started a rock variation on “Shortnin’ Bread.” Dave could only play the organ in one key but it worked. He would have another Top 10 hit in 1962 with “Rinky Dink.”