Born Ernest Kador, Jr. on 2/22/36 in New Orleans. R&B singer/songwriter. Recorded with the Blue Diamonds on Savoy in 1954. First solo recording for Specialty in 1955. (From “Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles, 1955-1990”)
Ernie was the ninth of eleven children born to the Reverend Ernest Kador, Sr., a Baptist minister. At age seven, he began singing in his father’s choir. At age fifteen, he entered and won a local talent show. A year later he began his professional career in night clubs. During this time he finished high school, where he starred in football, basketball, and track. After graduation he began traveling around the country and singing at various supper clubs. It was during this time he began to record some of the songs he had written. In 1961 he signed with Minit Records and recorded a song called “Mother-In-Law,” which became a number one song in April of that year. (From “Rock On,” Norm N. Nite, 1974)
Managed by Minit co-founder Larry McKinley, Ernie K-Doe was the son of a Baptist minister, and his gospel roots shone thru on a number of his early sides. His real surname is Kador and he was billed simply as K-Doe on his first Minit 45. Allen Toussaint’s tongue-in-cheek MOTHER-IN-LAW was Ernie’s breakthrough song and the background vocals were provided by Willie Harper and Calvin LeBlanc (two of the Del Royals) plus Benny Spellman, who delivered the memorable base-voice. Ernie rembers that Allen had initially thrown the song in the trash can, but K-Doe insisted that he rescue it just for him. Clarence Carter charted with a revival of MOTHER-IN-LAW on Fame in ‘73 and among the other artists who have cut the song have been Gary Paxton (on Capitol), The Newbeats (Hickory), The Kingsmen (Wand), and Herman’s Hermits on UK Columbia. Much more recently, Huey Lewis revived it for his 1994 Elektra album “Four Chords and Several Years Ago”; talking about the original record, he told UK Record Collector’s Peter Doggett: “I went back and played the orignal and I’d forgotten how funky that record was!” Incidentally, on Huey’s revival, Dr. John sang the bass part.
K-Doe cut a couple of sequel songs, namely GET OUT OF MY HOUSE (Minit: 1962) and two years later, MY MOTHER-IN-LAW (IS IN MY HAIR AGAIN) on Duke. There were also some answer records to MOTHER-IN-LAW including BROTHER-IN-LAW (HE’S A MOOCHER) by Paul Peek (Fairlane: 1961) and SON-IN-LAW on Challenge that same year by the Blossoms, of whom Darlene Love was a member.
A CERTAIN GIRL was covered at the time by The Yardbirds
and revived by Warren Zevon in 1980. HELLO MY LOVER was one of four
songs which K-Doe recorded on his first Minit session and Allen thought
it was an absolute winner. Toussaint also liked TAIN’T IT THE TRUTH,
because, he says he dreamed of it two days before they were in the studio;
he heard the bridge in his head and, even though it was in the middle of
the night, he got right up and played it on the piano. He wrote the
rest of the song when he woke the next morning. I CRIED MY LAST TEAR
was re-cut four years later by the O’Jays for Imperial and then by British
rockers, Brinsley Schwarz. (From liner notes of “Crescent City Soul,
The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974,” a four CD collection on EMI)
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