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Cosimo Matassa

 

Cosimo Matassa | Telegraph | tc794

Cosimo Vincent Matassa was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on 13 April, 1926. At the age of 18, in 1945, he opened his recording studio, J&M, on Rampart Street, New Orleans. The studio moved to larger premises in 1955 on Gov. Nichols Street. Often working with Dave Bartholomew and Allen Toussaint, he was a key figure in the development of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll, soul music and rhythm and blues music. Among the many hits he produced were Domino’s “The Fat Man”, “Tutti Frutti” by Little Richard, and records by Lee Dorsey, Ray Charles, Dr. John, Smiley Lewis and many more. He retired from recording in the 1980s to run the family food store. Cosimo Matassa died from complications after suffering a stroke in 2009, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 11 September 2014.

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