Dave "Baby" Cortez

David Cortez Clowney, known by the stage name Dave "Baby" Cortez (born August 13, 1938, Detroit, Michigan), is an American pop music and R&B pianist and organist. Clowney made his first record in 1956 under his own name but it was not until three years later that he scored a major success using the stage name Dave "Baby" Cortez. His instrumental, "The Happy Organ", was the first pop/rock hit to feature the electronic organ as lead instrument. The 45rpm single went to No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. Cortez had another Top Ten hit in 1962 with "Rinky Dink" on Chess Records. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.