R.I.P. Dave “Baby” Cortez

Today would have been the 87th birthday of Dave “Baby” Cortez (David Cortez Clowney, 1938-2022). Cortez passed away back in 2022, but was reclusive, so the news wasn’t reported or publicly known until last month. Sadly, he was buried on Hart’s Island, which is NYC’s Potter’s Field. Thanks, Eve Golden, as always, for the intel! Her personal take is worth a read, for it conveys exactly what Cortez’s significance was in the late ’50s and early ’60s at the micro level.

A Detroit native, Cortez had studied piano, sang with doo-wop groups like the Pearls and the Valentines, and was musical director of Little Anthony and the Imperials, who had hits with “Tears on My Pillow” (1958) and “Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Pop” (1959).

Cortez’s own claim to fame occurred that same year when he recorded the instrumental “The Happy Organ”, which went all the way to #1 on the pop charts. This energetic little number incorporates portions of the old folk tune “Shortnin’ Bread” and stars a Hammond B3 organ where a vocal might otherwise be. It’s just the kind of tune that must have excited kids when it came on the juke box — it demands to be danced to. It caused a sensation. When we think of the sound of the sixties, a Hammond organ is often part of the equation. Cortez was largely responsible for the popularization of that instrument in pop music. Prior to that it was mostly used in religious music.

Cortez followed up “The Happy Organ” with the cha-cha tune “Rinky Dink” in 1962, which went to #10. But honestly, this is a case where LPs were the true measure of popularity. Back in the day, people used to love an entire albums of instrumentals to play at parties, both to dance to and because could converse without talking over lyrics. Cortez continued to put out albums through the early 1970s. And after that (in my day, in fact) there were mail order albums of his greatest hits advertised on television. Being teenagers, we laughed at his name, and we roared especially at the double entendre suggested by his most popular tune.

But that was 40, 50 years ago. From where we sit now, the man really ought to be recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.