US singer and songwriter Bobby Charles, who penned the hits See You Later Alligator and Walking to New Orleans, died aged 71 at his home in Abbeville, Louisiana on Thursday, his spokeswoman told Variety magazine.
The cause of the rhythm-and-blues musician’s death was not yet known. He had been suffering from cancer and diabetes for the last few years and was recovering from a fall, the report said. A white singer from the Deep South, Robert Charles Guidry grew up under the influence first of Cajun, and later rock and blues styles.
As a teenager he wrote the lyrics and music for See You Later Alligator. The version released by Bill Haley and His Comets reached number six in the US charts in 1956.
Four years later the pianist and singer Fats Domino covered Charles’s Walking to New Orleans, reaching the second slot in the charts. Charles recorded several albums, including Wish You Were Here Right Now (1995), Secrets of the Heart (1998) and Homemade Songs (2008).
