Bobby Charles
Musician · 1938–2010 · Abbeville, Louisiana
Best known for
Songwriter
Bobby Charles — born Robert Charles Guidry — was a Cajun-French Louisiana swamp-pop singer-songwriter whose 1955 song “See You Later, Alligator” became a million-selling 1956 hit for Bill Haley and the Comets, and whose “Walking to New Orleans” (with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew) reached the country, R&B, and pop charts simultaneously in 1960.
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- Born February 21, 1938, in Abbeville, Louisiana, to an ethnic Cajun family.
- Grew up listening to Cajun music and Hank Williams records.
- Heard Fats Domino perform at fifteen, an event he later credited as life-changing; pioneered the south Louisiana swamp-pop idiom.
- Wrote “See You Later, Alligator” in 1955 and cut the original on Chess Records (as “Later Alligator”); Bill Haley’s 1956 Decca cover reached the pop Top 10 and sold more than a million copies.
- Co-wrote “Walking to New Orleans” with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew; Domino’s 1960 Imperial single reached the country, R&B, and pop charts.
- Wrote “(I Don’t Know Why) But I Do,” which Clarence “Frogman” Henry took to the early-1960s pop chart and which was used on the 1994 Forrest Gump soundtrack.
- Did not play any instruments and could not read music; worked with collaborators to set his lyrics to chord changes.
- Recorded a self-titled 1972 Bearsville album in Woodstock, New York with members of the Band.
- Inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
- Died at his home in Abbeville on January 14, 2010, at age 71.
