Willie Egan

Rhythm and blues pioneer Willie Egan was born October 1, 1933 in Minden, Louisiana. The product of grinding poverty, his bayou home was so isolated from the rest of civilization that each year, members of the community were forced to forge a path through the swamp just to reach the main road -- alligators were a threat as well, with Egan's father losing a hand and his brother sacrificing a foot. When Egan was nine-years-old, his family sent him to live with his grandmother in Los Angeles; there he began playing the piano parked on his uncle's front porch, learning to play by a...