His family's bayou home was separated from the main road by swamp, the travails of which claimed Egan's father's hand and his brother's foot to the perils of ever-present alligators en route.
It generated little notice and Egan returned to performing in local clubs, before a short-lived pairing with the guitarist Lloyd Rowe, saw the release of "Don't Know Where She Went" (1955) on Mambo Records.
"Sometimes I Wonder" and 1956's "I Can't Understand It", were follow-up releases, although the latter's jump blues B-side, "Wear Your Black Dress", was deemed to be Egan's stand-out offering.
[2][5] Conversely, poor distribution and scarce airplay, coupled with lack of managerial expertise kept him from flourishing outside of small local markets.
In 1982, a British record label, Krazy Kat, compiled most of his solo singles on an album called Rock & Roll Fever.
[6] A R&B promoter, Steve Brigati, managed to find Egan subsisting on handouts in South Los Angeles and told him his album was a hit.
[8] On August 5, 2004, and following a long struggle against the effects of cancer, Willie Egan died at the age of 70 in Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, California.