Immersed in music from a young age, he was an avid radio listener, and his father, who sold records in his appliance store, sometimes took his son along to nightclubs when he worked on their sound systems.
The finger did not heal sufficiently for proper guitar playing right away, but was less troublesome on a piano, and eventually Dr. John would become an heir to the New Orleans keyboard tradition of Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair, Huey “Piano” Smith and Fats Domino.He also was a successful record producer, session player and songwriter in New Orleans before a lifestyle of hanging around addicts, hustlers and thieves while working as a pimp caught up with him.
That was how he ended up in Los Angeles, nearly 2 000 miles from his hometown, creating the persona of Dr. John the Night Tripper, a shaman-like figure draped in furs and feathers, beads and Mardi Gras Indian-style headdresses who would make his entrance in a cloud of smoke. The record, named for a protective amulet worn in voodoo culture, was inspired by the city’s music with his own twists, making it moody and mysterious with a tinge of psychedelia. It was not a big seller but found a cult audience among rock fans.
“Music is the one thing that keeps me alive and happy. If it don’t be for music, I think I would have threw in the towel,” he told the Times-Picayune newspaper in a 2011 interview.