Chris Kenner was born in Kenner, Louisiana, not far from New Orleans, in 1929. He later moved to the city to work in the port. He started to write songs and made his first recordings on Baton Records in 1955, followed by releases on Imperial and then Ron Records. One song “Sick and Tired”, which he recorded with Dave Bartholomew for Imperial, reached number thirteen on the R&B chart, before Kenner moved to Instant Records and began working with Allen Toussaint.
In 1961 Kenner recorded “I Like It Like That”, which went to number two on the Pop and R&B charts. The song sold over a million copies, earning Kenner a gold disc and a Grammy nomination. This was followed by “Something You Got”, which didn’t chart for Kenner, but has attracted a lot of attention from later artists. Fats Domino covered “Sick and Tired” and “I Like It Like That”. The million-seller was also recorded by Wilson Pickett, Alvin Robinson, and Bobby Womack. Its enduring success was sealed by covers by artists from later generations: The Moody Blues, The Searchers, the Dave Clark Five, and Fairport Convention in the UK, plus Bruce Springsteen and Jimi Hendrix in the USA.
Kenner’s next success was in 1963 with his song “Land of 1000 Dances”, which entered the charts, but only reached number seventy-seven. Fats Domino covered the song (again!), as did Wilson Pickett. Pickett’s version of the song was recorded at Stax Records and has become a soul standard. Other artists who covered the song include Roy Orbison, Sam & Dave, Tina Turner, Rufus Thomas, and Tom Jones. Unfortunately, Chris Kenner was unable to make the same kind of impression. He had problems with alcohol and was sentenced in 1968 to three years in Angola prison. That ended his career in music. He died in 1976.
