Willie Egan

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.