Laboe is also credited with helping end segregation in Southern California by organizing live DJ shows at drive-in eateries that attracted w
Art Laboe, the pioneering DJ credited with helping end segregation in Southern California, has died. He was 97.
Laboe died Friday night after catching pneumonia, said Joanna Morones, a spokesperson for Laboe’s production company, Dart Entertainment.
Laboe’s last show was produced last week and broadcast Sunday night.
Laboe is credited with helping end segregation in Southern California by organizing live DJ shows at drive-in eateries that attracted whites, Blacks and Latinos who danced to rock-n-roll and shocked an older generation still listening to Frank Sinatra and Big Band music.Laboe is also credited with coining the “oldies, but goodies” phrase. In 1957, he started Original Sound Record, Inc. and in 1958, released the compilation album “Oldies But Goodies: Vol. 1,” which stayed on the Billboard’s Top 100 chart for 183 weeks.
He later developed a strong following among Mexican Americans for hosting the syndicated “The Art Laboe Connection Show.” His baritone voice invited listeners to call in dedications and request a 1950s-era rock-n-roll love ballad or a rhythm and blues tune from Alicia Keys.
His radio shows gave the families of incarcerated loved ones, in particular, a platform to speak to their relatives by dedicating songs and sending heartfelt messages and updates. California and Arizona inmates would send in their own dedications and ask Laboe for updates from family.It’s a role Laboe said he felt honored to play.
“I don’t judge,” Laboe said in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press at his Palm Springs studio. “I like people.”
He often told a story about a woman who came by the studio so her toddler could tell her father, who was serving time for a violent crime, “Daddy, I love you.”
“It was the first time he had heard his baby’s voice,” Laboe said. “And this tough, hard-nosed guy burst into tears.”
