Harold Hog Cowart was one of the busiest bassists working in New Orleans in the late 1960s, and within a decade had worked on some of the biggest selling records of his era. Cowart's first major gig was as a member of the Playboy Band backing New Orleans singer John Fred, starting in 1967. He, drummer Tubby Ziegler, guitarist Jimmy O'Rourke, and keyboard-player Billy Carter -- all members of Fred's band -- soon formed an instrumental unit of their own, called Cold Grits, who got to record behind other artists and played a lot of gigs in and around Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler brought the band to Miami and installed them at the label's new Criterion studios, where they backed artists such as Aretha Franklin and Brook Benton. By 1971, Cowart was working on his own, though still occasionally in tandem with Ziegler, across the '70s working on stage and on record with some of the top artists in the music world, including the Bee Gees, Petula Clark, the Rascals, and Irma Thomas. He also played with Ziegler on the Grease original soundtrack album, one of the biggest selling albums of the decade, and as late as the mid-'80s was still working with Barry Gibb. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi