Dave Baby Cortez

David “Baby” Cortez Clowney was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 13, 1938. He was a prominent artist from the 1950s through the 1970s, working with soul, doo-wop, and vocalist groups like the Pearls, the Valentines, and Little Anthony and the Imperials. His works, along with other artists, were assumed destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios Hollywood fire. According to music critic Ron Wynn, “There has been no domestic reissue of Cortez’s songs, but there are import anthologies available.”

Cortez pursued a musical career as a pianist for 10 years, later becoming an R&B organist and pop instrumentalist. Cortez had his first major success with his instrumental composition “The Happy Organ” in 1959. It was the first pop/rock song to feature the electric organ and the first instrumental to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Shortly after, Cortez reached No. 9 and No. 10 on the R&B and pop charts respectively for his 1962 instrumental “Rinky Dink” on his self-titled album. This tune was the theme song on the British programme Professional Wrestling every Saturday afternoon. Though the song was popular, due to it having the same guitar riff as the 1957 song “Love is Strange” by Mickey & Sylvia, not many from the UK knew its origins.

Cortez had his final hits in the early 1970s with the vocal track “Unaddressed Letter” and pop song “Someone Has Taken Your Place” before taking a 38-year hiatus from recording. In 2011, he returned with a new album with Lonnie Youngblood and His Bloodhounds, featuring fellow Detroit musician Mick Collins of The Dirtbombs and The Gories.