I found a great funky version of LOUIE LOUIE online by a guy named Geno Henderson. He’s got quite a resume behind him, too! As a native of Los Angeles, Geno began playing guitar at the age of nine. He has toured and/or recorded with: The Gap Band, The Pointer Sisters, Billy Preston, Roberta Flack, and others.
As it turns out, Geno was one of the starts of the Broadway play, BABY IT’S YOU!, which is a musical production inspired by the life story of Florence Greenberg.
Florence Greenberg had quite an interesting life story, which actually ties closely into the LOUIE legend. In the 1950s, Florence was a 30-something housewife living in the New Jersey suburbs. Her two children were in high school, and she was looking for something to do during the day to get her out of the house. Dabbling around in the music biz for fun, she discovered some talented singers at her daughter’s high school. She worked with four teenaged girls that became the Shirelles, and wound up creating a record label, Scepter Records to sell this music. As luck would have it, the Shirelles became very popular and the Wand-Sceptor record empire emerged as a successful company with a roster of artists that included Dionne Warwick, Tammi Terrell, Chuck Jackson, and B.J. Thomas.
In 1963, The Kingsmen had a runaway hit recording on their hands, and Jerry Dennon realized that his Jerden record company wasn’t big enough to handle the success, so he contacted Wand-Sceptor Records. Initially ignored at the Wand-Sceptor office, executives eventually realized the “funny little song” by the Kingsmen had some serious marketability, the band was signed to the record label, and LOUIE LOUIE became one of the biggest selling records of their empire.
Such is the unlikely story of Florence Greenberg and her record label that inspired this new broadway production.
In this production, Geno Henderson played the role of Jocko, Chuck Jackson, Ronald Isley, Bass Man, and Gene Chandler. His performance was dedicated to the memory of his beloved cousin, Mr. Roscoe Lee Browne.
Check out this version of LOUIE LOUIE that Geno shared on YouTube…
Geno Henderson Sings “Louie Louie”
Elsewhere on YouTube, you can see a preview of the Broadway production, which includes a snippet of LOUIE LOUIE…
Baby, it’s You – preview of Broadway show
Unfortunately, it looks like the Broadway production didn’t last. The final show took place on September 4, 2011.
I have no idea how factual or entertaining this production was. I was hoping I’d be able to make a trip to New York to see this show, but it looks like I missed that chance….
You can learn more about this production by visiting the official website at:
BabyItsYouOnBroadway.com