| LaTour | |
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LaTour in 2011 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William LaTour |
| Origin | Lowell, Massachusetts |
| Genres | Electronica, Dance, house, pop, punk, parody |
| Occupations | Musician, composer, songwriter, voice over actor, production director, voice over producer and engineer |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboard, drums, guitar, bass, programming |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels | Polydor (1989 - 1993) Smash Records (1989 - present) |
| Website | LaTour YouTube Channel videos[1] |
William LaTour, better known by his stage name LaTour and also known as "Bud" Latour, is an American singer, songwriter, and voice over artist. His musical genres span electronic, house, glam, rock, dance, punk, and parody.
He is best known for the 1991 Number 1 Billboard electronic dance hit "People Are Still Having Sex."[2] and for his instrumental trance track, "Blue."
"Blue" was featured in the motion picture film Basic Instinct[3], as well as being featured on the ABC television series Alias. He was a producer of house music when he released his first album, titled LaTour. He released a second album, Home on the Range, in 1993.
His initial single climbed to number one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and became a Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hit (#35). In the UK, the song became a Top 20 hit in the UK Singles Chart (#15)[4] after he performed on Top of The Pops alongside Bette Midler and Cher. He has also had other hits on the U.S. Hot Dance chart, including the songs "Cold," "Hypnomania," "Craziaskowboi," and "E."
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In 1997, LaTour wrote a rock album. He called the band Muzloh[5] and conceived the demos in his home recording studio, Chateau LaTour Studios. He enlisted Squids drummer Dave Hunt, Don Batryn on lead guitar, and Pete Shorner on bass to formally record at Chateau LaTour and play live. In the Chicago area, Muzloh played The House of Blues, The Metro Chicago club,[6] Gunther Murphy's, The Chicago Free Fest, and many others. Muzloh released an album in 1997 titled Supersonic Gold on Spoon Records.
LaTour was co-founder, keyboardist, and composer for the Chicago based punk band The Squids[7] from 1990-2002. The original line-up included co-founder Joey Spatafora who is a Chicago-born vocalist and lyricist.
Other band members included Bolander Davis on guitar (Davis passed in 1996 from liver cancer. He was replaced in the line-up by Bob Fesus), Judy Johnson on bass, and Jimmy Vass on drums. The bands more noted line-up changes include the addition of Emery Yost on bass in 1994, Dave Hunt on drums in 1996, and keyboard player Scot Bahry who would sit in for LaTour when he was on tour to promote the LaTour albums. The Squids toured and recorded 5 cassettes, 1 vinyl EP called RUSH 2112, which was released in 1995 from Squid Productions, and a greatest hits CD, which was released in 2000 on Hot Dog Water Records.
During the 1990s when LaTour was most recognized for creating dance music, he teamed up with fellow house music producer, Terry "Housemaster" Baldwin sometimes only known as Housemaster Baldwin to create a number of Chicago House singles for the underground house scene. The L&B Project[8] was aptly named for the letters of both artist's last names.
LaTour collaborated with Mark Mumford of the UK's Mr. Roy and Terry Baldwin to form the aptly titled The LBM Experience under a white label series.
LaTour performed as a studio musician for many House music record labels in Chicago during the '90s and musicians including Ralphie Rosario, White Knight, Terry Baldwin, Frankie Hollywood Rodriguez, DJ International Records, SOS Records, Underground Construction Records, and Trax Records.
As a child, LaTour found a talent in writing parody songs. He recalls his first parody song being conceived at the age of five.[9] Working at a radio station created the environment to record comedy songs and feature them on the air for skits. Like many parody songwriters, The Dr. Demento Radio Show played a large part in showcasing the early talents of LaTour. A parody version of Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" entitled, "Rock Me Jerry Lewis" was credited to Bud Latour and fellow Phoenix, Arizona disc jockey, Mike Elliott. To the dedicated parody community, LaTour is mostly only known as 'Bud LaTour'.
"Rock Me Jerry Lewis" climbed to Number 1 on The Dr. Dememto's Funny Five chart and grew to a notoriety that prompted mentions and airplay on Casey Kasem's Top 40 Radio Show as well as a call from Jerry Lewis himself. Furthermore, Jerry Lewis would begin to use the song at his personal appearances and stage shows. While in Phoenix, Arizona for a muscular dystrophy benefit at a bowling alley, Jerry Lewis invited 'Bud' LaTour and Mike Elliott to bowl with him. He was kind enough to sign 500 copies of the 'Rock Me Jerry Lewis' 7" record.
Since most of the recordings were done on cassette tape, many of the releases were thought to be lost but recent digital copies of the parodies have been found on The Mad Music Archive.[10] These include "Wrapping the Bear" (1985 Mike Elliott and Bud LaTour doing a Teddy Ruxpin parody), "Hit Me Baby" (original), "School's Back" (1986 parody of School's Out by Alice Cooper), "Nightmare on Sesame St." (1986 original by Mike Elliott and Bud LaTour), "Puka" (1987 parody of Suzanne Vega's "Luka" by Bud LaTour and Chicago radio deejay Scott Childers), "The Way You Make Me Squeal" (1988 parody of Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel"), and "You Always Poke My Eye" (1989 parody of The Pet Shop Boys "You Are Always On My Mind").
When not creating solo parodies, LaTour often created his work with a tight-knit group of radio personalities and satirists that would include Mike Elliot and Mark Davis to create a group they called 'Tri-5'.
LaTour's radio work began at an early age, spending many hours at Trevor Browne High School's[11] high school radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. The station was broadcast into the school's lunchroom and quad area. During those high school years, at the age of 16, LaTour became licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and secured a job at KUPD 97.9 in Phoenix. He joined as their weekend on-air personality from 1979–1983 and would begin to hone his skills as a voice over actor,[12] parody music songwriter,[13] and musician.
In 1983-1986, LaTour joined KZZP as their weekend on-air personality on the FM station and did the midday shift on their AM frequency. It was at this station that on-air personality, Chris Shebel[14] coined him William "Bud" LaTour.
After leaving KZZP, LaTour, now known primarily as "Bud" LaTour went on to Mesa, Arizona's KDKB as their morning show personality while also the station's Production Director. Only there for the year, LaTour moved to Phoenix's KLSX as the evening personality and then joined Chicago's WRXR. Climbing the ranks of radio, LaTour secured a position at a larger station, WBBM-FM also known as B96 as their weekend personality and Production Director from 1987-1992.
From 1998-1999, LaTour joined WXXY as their evening personality using the name Bill LaTour. He later moved to one of Chicago's only dance-format radio station, WKIE otherwise known as Energy 92.7.[15] The station released two full length music CD's due to their popular format. He was their Production Director and midday personality, where he went only by the name LaTour.
When the station changed formats, LaTour joined Chicago's CBS Radio station WJMK, otherwise known as Jack FM, and continued as their Production Director. In the middle of 2009, LaTour acted on a lifelong goal to work in the Los Angeles radio market. He resigned from WJMK and moved to Los Angeles in June 2009 to pursue radio and voice acting while still handling voice over spots for WJMK. He is heard in Chicago daily.
In January 2010, LaTour was offered the position of Production Director for KSWD 100.3, The Sound.