Huey “Piano” Smith, whose sound was influential in the development of rock ’n’ roll, died peacefully in his sleep on Monday night in Baton Rouge, he was 89.

Among his many songs, “Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu,” “Don’t You Just Know It” and “Sea Cruise” were his most famous.

The major artists who performed and recorded Smith’s songs include Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Tom Jones, Paul Simon, Johnny Rivers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Herman’s Hermits, Boz Scaggs, Patti LaBelle, and many others.

A full obituary will be published in OffBeat’s March 2023 issue.

OffBeat contributor John Wirt wrote the biography Huey “Piano” Smith and the Rocking Pneumonia Blues that was published by LSU Press in 2014. Wirt also wrote about his story for OffBeat’s Masters of Louisiana Music series.