“The Happy Organ” may be one of the most accurately descriptive titles ever on a pop hit. From its opening notes, Dave “Baby” Cortez’s rollicking recording is a happy, exuberant, organ-based ...

His “The Happy Organ” reached No. 1 in 1959, but his pop stardom was short-lived, and his death in 2022, with an anonymous burial, remains a source of mystery. By Alex Williams It’s not that Dave ...

We do not know anything but the basics of his years in Detroit: born here, attended Northwestern High, sang some doo-wop. We do know that Dave "Baby" Cortez had a groundbreaking No. 1 hit in the early ...

Dave “Baby” Cortez, a piano player and songwriter best known for his rollicking 1959 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “The Happy Organ” has died at 83. According to The New York Times, Cortez actually ...

In 1959, the year after Billboard launched their Hot 100 chart, Dave “Baby” Cortez scored his only #1 hit with a silly two-minute tune he wrote called “The Happy Organ.” He released a handful of ...

Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer - a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single - by taking an ...