Pianist, singer, and songwriter Willie Tee was one of the unsung heroes of New Orleans R&B — a musician whose elegant piano style and soulful voice produced some of the most refined records to come out of the city in the 1960s and 1970s, and whose influence on the city's keyboard tradition was profound.
Biography
Born Wilson Turbinton in New Orleans in 1944, Willie Tee (and his brother Earl, who performed as Earl Turbinton) came up in the city's R&B scene in the early 1960s. His debut single 'Teasin' You,' released on Atlantic in 1965, was a soul classic — sophisticated, rhythmically subtle, and beautifully sung. He recorded for a series of labels through the 1960s and 1970s while also working extensively as a session musician, and his influence on the generation of New Orleans keyboard players who followed him was significant. He died in 2007, somewhat underrecognized outside New Orleans, but deeply beloved by those who knew his work.
Discography
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